Althouse: At the Allium Café...

May 15, 2020

At the Allium Café...

... you can talk all night.

185 comments:

Ken B said...: Spem in alium is a 40 part motet by Tallis. Well worth a listen.; 5/15/20, 8:32 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Two items of note in the "Valley Morning Star" this morning. New levels of shamelessness.

Bottom of page A-2. "Three Rio Grande Valley congressmen are joining a growing chorus of elected officials calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to freeze 2020 property tax valuations....Ten members of the Texas Democratic Congressional delegation — including U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo — sent a letter to Abbott on Wednesday...."

Ordinarily I am in favor of freezing property valuations. Presently appealing four valuation increases: 34%, 47%, 48%, and 52%. But let us follow the money here. Cuo bono?

Ad-valorem tax money goes to City, County, and School District - plus small handfull of local jurisdictions like Hospital District, Public Transportation District, Drainage District. Ad-valoren tax is a major, but by no means the only, income for these entities. Much funding comes from State, and much from Federal - either directly or through the State.

Is it really in the best interest of local citizens that more power over budgets of local public service entities be shifted to control at State and Federal level? I think not. The primary beneficiaries here are the "three Rio Grande Valley congressmen" themselves who will be more empowered to pick winners and losers in distribution of money to local entities. State Governor and Legislators also benefit from the shift.

Although locally elected, those officials are insulated from direct accountability. Their decisions are obscured in the giant wash of legislative wheeling and dealing.

The hook here, the attraction, is that local and State budgets must balance. Ad-valorem tax income is local and can only increase by raising tax rates or property valuations. Federal money is unlimited. The money is simply created and spent, to be balanced by inflation effectively devaluing the currency - stolen from the cash savings of current citizens and the future earnings of their progeny.

Next, on page A-5 a quarter page bold black+white ad with red hearts caught my eye. What is this? Can the newspaper be shamelessly soliciting donations to itself? The crowdfunding website
https://givebutter.com/valleymorningstarcovid19localnewsfund
fleshes out the story.

The newspaper, as a public service amid the Wuhan Flu pandemic, has made the web based e-Edition free to all. Fidonly node, woodna paid frit.* Concurrently, staff hours to report on the daily briefings by City and County officials, rule changes, and press releases have vastly increased. Please support us with your donations.

Givebutter.org - in graphic that seems to be a rolling log of donations - lists a single entry of one donor, anonymous, a week ago. Another graphic - likely intended as a "donatometer" - suggests total contributors: 1, total contributions: $25.00.

In this at least do Valley residents know whereon their bread is buttered.
--------------------------------
*Newspaper style of the future; transliteration of spoken English. Current style mainstreams words such as "gonna." In future, constructs like "werguna" and "eyemuna" can be expected. Current standards do encourage apostrophe addiction with double possessives such as "a friend of Bob's" and contractions such as "he'd." It is reader option to interpret as "he had" or "he would."; 5/15/20, 8:33 PM
Ken B said...: Jeez but PJMedia has become a sump.; 5/15/20, 8:35 PM
Ray - SoCal said...: There seems to be a deliberate effort with Covid 19 data at a County, and even state level to focus on data that is not very meaningful.

Questions For LA County:

1. Where are the new infections in LA County coming from,? Since we have been on a lockdown, I don't understand what is causing the spread.

2. What is the age breakdown of deaths?
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/locations.htm

3. Am I correct that about 40% of deaths are from nursing homes? Is this due to the CA Order, which I think was revoked, requiring nursing homes to take Covid Positive Patients? NY, NJ, and MI all has similar insane requirements.

4. Why is it a requirement for testing to show symptoms, when at least 75% of Covid 19 cases don't show symptoms?

5. What is the status of use of hydroxychloroquine with zinc in California? It seems to have an effect if given early. Studies are needed, and it has been prescribed over 20 million times in 2018, so there are limited side effects.

6. Can history such as https://covidtracking.com/ be provided for LA County to see trends?

7. Can http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/ be made more like:
https://covid19.biglocalnews.org/county-maps/index.html#/

.biglocalnews (powered by Google and Stanford) is a nice site to see trends down to a county level, such as LA surrounding Counties. My only complaint about it does not show testing. An increase in cases due to increased testing is not as important. The more important number is % of tested that are positive. CA is currently at 7% tested positive for the last 2 weeks, which is a huge improvement from the 12% from a month ago.

8. What is the current estimated Rt Value for LA County? Per this site CA is at .84 https://rt.live/ (means 1 person infects .84 people, so on a downward trend).

9 What is LA County about 50% of the CA overall new infections?; 5/15/20, 8:36 PM
daskol said...: Hey Ray, I thought we had the worst big city mayor in America. Strictly speaking, that may be true, but he's a powerless figurehead. It appears that LA mayor is a far more powerful job, and Garcetti is a creepy neurotic wannabe tyrant, so he's probably even worse. The thing with guys like that is they need to be ignored and mocked a lot, because they have thick skin, so if they don't get a constant stream of scorn they're liable to think people like them.; 5/15/20, 8:40 PM
daskol said...: You basically need at least one, preferably two, dailies that reliably do mayor mocking every single day to keep these assholes, if not humble, then at least wary.; 5/15/20, 8:42 PM
Drago said...: You know what we need more of?

Open borders, payments to illegal aliens and hospitals shutting down.

Also known as the democrat virus response plan.

Oh, and more abortions....but no other procedures.; 5/15/20, 8:42 PM
Inga said...: How much was that haircut worth?

“New York barber who defied stay-at-home orders and continued to "illicitly" cut hair tests positive for coronavirus

A New York barber who defied stay-at-home orders and continued to "illicitly" cut hair has tested positive for coronavirus, county officials said in a public health notice this week. Ulster County officials are now recommending anyone who received a haircut from the barber in the past three weeks should seek a coronavirus test.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-barber-diagnosed-coronavirus-kingston-stay-open-illicitly-cut-hair/; 5/15/20, 8:45 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Yesterday (5/14), Los Angeles County requires masks when outside - even walking the dog, even if practicing social distancing.

The County is much larger than the "city".

In other news, my various FB friends/family that live outside the city, but within the county - ALL sanctimoniously preaching for the last 9 weeks about the absolute necessity for following government "orders" - are radio silent all of a sudden. Sanctimony doesn't get you very far in LA.; 5/15/20, 8:51 PM
J. Farmer said...: Some Covid-19 good news: my 20-year high school reunion, scheduled for this summer, has been cancelled.; 5/15/20, 8:52 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Cuomovirus.; 5/15/20, 8:52 PM
Darkisland said...: No, Drago, what we need more of is Booka-fes

I've been working this week installing productivity monitors and a bit behind on my reading.

I've not finished Coopers Creek about the Bourke-Wills expedition.

I did finish Manning Coles' Dangerous by Nature which is a bit different from other MC books I've read. Excellent but a bit different setting and attitude.

I've also made a pretty good dent in "a knife for the juggler"

Both absolutely top notch.

John Henry; 5/15/20, 8:55 PM
Grant said...: Spem in alium is indeed a magnificent motet—and the second thing, after Yuri Slezkhine’s books, that Ken B. and I have seen eye to eye on—but it ain’t got nothin to do with garlic.; 5/15/20, 8:58 PM
Inga said...: Well! This is good news. All those colds you’ve had? You may actually have gained some immunity to the New Coronavirus Covid 19.

“The researchers were surprised to find some patients who had never been expoised to COVID-19 also showed an immune response to SARS-CoV-2. As part of a control group, Sette's lab tested blood samples taken from people between 2015 and 2018, before the virus was circulating, and found about half of those had immune memory that could recognize the COVID-19 virus.

"This was really, really striking. It was actually unexpected," Sette said. "The most reasonable explanation for that is that there is some immune reactivity originating from being exposed to the common-cold coronavirus. There's a number of more benign human coronaviruses that cause just human colds."”

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/may/15/coronavirus-patients-recovery-immunity-likely/; 5/15/20, 9:05 PM
mandrewa said...: Some big news about hydroxychloroquine. But first some context.

The CDC, FDA, NIH, and many doctors want magic bullets that you can give to seriously ill people that have been admitted to a hospital and that will immediately cure them. There is nothing wrong with that desire. But there is something wrong with ignoring things that are not magic bullets but yet can still save many, many lives. Unfortunately that is exactly what the regulatory agencies are predisposed to do.

Hydroxychloroquine is a case in point. Hydroxychloroquine was developed and approved for the treatment of malaria many years ago. But about a decade ago it was discovered that it moves zinc ions across the cellular membrane. This is important because elevated cytoplasmic zinc ions interfere with the action of RNA dependent RNA polymerase. And that is important because there is a long list of viruses that depend on RNA dependent RNA polymerase for their replication.

Both the Covid-19 virus and the SARS virus use RNA dependent RNA polymerase. It was back in the SARS epidemic or rather the aftermath of it that it was discovered that chloroquine plus zinc slows down the replication of the SARS virus approximately 200 fold in various studies. The subject was dropped when the SARS virus, which never even reached the United States, disappeared.

In a rational world the study of this effect would have continued since there are a great many viruses that depend on RNA dependent RNA polymerase. But it was dropped for I suspect two reasons. Number one, the regulatory agencies aren't interested in prophylatic medications, that is something you take when you suspect you are ill but before you actually get seriously ill. And it was already pretty clear that hydroxychloroquine plus zinc was most likely a prophylatic treatment. And number two, it literally costs billions to jump through the hoops the FDA demands for a new drug, particularly if it really is a new thing, and not a variation on something old. Since both zinc and hydroxychloroquine
were already generics, there is no way a drug company could recover the billions they would have to spend.; 5/15/20, 9:06 PM
mandrewa said...: So that gets us to where we were a week ago. The FDA only wants magic bullets, that is something that will cure a very seriously ill person. When people like Roger Seheult pointed out that hydroxychloroquine plus zinc had the potential to perhaps dramatically change the course of the epidemic if it was given to people as soon as they experienced a symptom, the people that want magic bullets responded by doing a bunch of studies using hydroxychloroquine on seriously ill people in hospitals and often that were actually in intensive care units. It was quickly established that hydroxychloroquine was not a magic bullet.

These studies of course completed ignored the actual context for which we suspected hydroxychloroquine would be appropriate.

There's one study in France that included people that had early symptoms in addition to
people in intensive care units and that showed promising results in the French context but
there were and are many issues with that study.

So that's it. That's where we were. A good idea was proposed. A bunch of studies dismissed it by answering the wrong question. Only one study tried to address the real question and it had a number of flaws.

But this week we have a new study and it is a lot more solid than the one from France. New York University Langone Health, one of the top research hospitals in the United States, did a retrospective study on their patients. It will be hard to replicate this because now that we know this it won't be ethical to not give people zinc. Back then it made sense.

The results are remarkable. It falls short of what Roger Seheult was suggesting in that people were only treated with zinc + hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin (versus others in the same situation treated with hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin but not zinc) just a day or two before it would have been too late but still that short treatment late in the progression of the disease was enough to cut fatalities pretty much in half.

This is very strong evidence. Although of course the clueless are going to pretend it's not.

Who knows how much we could decrease the death rate if we treat people with this when they first show symptoms?

See Coronavirus Pandemic Update 71; 5/15/20, 9:06 PM
Darkisland said...: I found a new follow in Threadreaderapp.com Twitter handle @COsweda (carlos sweda) for some reason he keeps insisting that his name is Carlos and not Thomas. I also get the impression that he knows some things about flame throwers that he is keeping mum about.

In any event, afteronly a couple of days reading his threads, he already feels like a long lost friend.

Something that caught my eye was this. I'm not clear what he actually said and what is Carlos reading between the lines:

Trump met with al the tech giants.

Here's what he said to them:

"I know you're under tons of pressure to do certain things. But the problem is that you've gone from being PLATFORMS to being PUBLISHERS. That means a totally different set of laws apply. So here's the deal:"

The GOP is going to take back the House and keep the Senate. They're going to come after you, and they'll win. Again, I understand the pressure you're under, but after the election, the people pressuring you won't be in a position to do that any more."

"How about you gradually change your approach without making a big deal out it? Believe me, everybody's going to be looking in other directions. I'll make sure of that. You won't get any flak at all. I don't need an answer. It's just something to think about."

See?

John Henry; 5/15/20, 9:06 PM
Gahrie said...: @Inga:

You do realize that eventually we're all going to get the virus...right? The purpose of quarantine is to slow the rate of infection, not prevent infection.

The number of people who don't understand this basic fact is staggering.; 5/15/20, 9:08 PM
Darkisland said...: Then today I'm listening to Tim Pool on Timcast. He is always interesting.

Remember James Damore? He was a Google engineer wh was fired for raising a rather mild question about Google's diversity policy. He sued Google for a bunch of money for wrongful termination.

Yesterday or the day before Google settled.

It could just be coincidence.

Or not.

John Henry; 5/15/20, 9:13 PM
etbass said...: J Farmer said, "Some Covid-19 good news: my 20-year high school reunion, scheduled for this summer, has been cancelled."

Amen! I so love it when one bad thing conflicts with another so one has to be canceled, and all without having to argue with the wife.; 5/15/20, 9:14 PM
Inga said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/15/20, 9:23 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: One advantage to having lots of friends is that when they are out and about, not in your immediate social distance, they have a good chance of running into one of your doppelgangers, whereupon they'll take a picture to show it to you.

You may think it trivial, but I don't believe it gets much better than that.

So when it happens, please try your best to have and appropriate amazed reaction.

I failed miserably.; 5/15/20, 9:24 PM
Inga said...: “You do realize that eventually we're all going to get the virus...right? The purpose of quarantine is to slow the rate of infection, not prevent infection.”

If there is never a vaccine I agree. However, infected people can be treated before we actually get a vaccine. Delaying the inevitable might be in your favor, as health experts, healthcare providers, scientists etc. are learning more and more about the virus itself and what it does to the body. Delay gives the medical world more time to develop ways to treat Covid to save lives or make a vaccine. The inflammation of the endothelium that Covid causes can be treated by various different medications and even supplements like NAC, Vit D, Zinc, and various other anti oxidants. This virus causes massive amounts of oxidative stress in the body. This is all being discovered in real time.

Why are you so negative, let’s hear some hopeful things.; 5/15/20, 9:25 PM
stephen cooper said...: if he says his name is Carlos and not Thomas you should trust him; 5/15/20, 9:26 PM
Inga said...: “This is very strong evidence. Although of course the clueless are going to pretend it's not.

Who knows how much we could decrease the death rate if we treat people with this when they first show symptoms?

See Coronavirus Pandemic Update 71”

Good news!; 5/15/20, 9:28 PM
Mark said...: Went to Adoration today. Was there at the end for Benediction. Only about 10 people allowed to be there. But sang liturgically in a communal setting -- Tantum Ergo -- for the first time in two months.

Having gone to Antietam last Sunday, tomorrow I was planning to go to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Maybe I'll stick around and go to Mass, which has reopened down there, also for the first time in two months.; 5/15/20, 9:31 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Remember, in 2011 Obama secretly amended the FISA Act
to allow warrantless surveillance

... and now
https://threader.app/thread/1261421996111392768; 5/15/20, 9:32 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Inga said...
. . .
Why are you so negative, let’s hear some hopeful things.

There is no longer any reason for the stay-at-home orders.
Hallelujah!; 5/15/20, 9:32 PM
Achilles said...: Inga said...
How much was that haircut worth?

“New York barber who defied stay-at-home orders and continued to "illicitly" cut hair tests positive for coronavirus"

Make sure you and your other Nazi friends chase this person relentlessly all their life for trying to make a living.

This person did not obey their masters.

Inga wants him to be dead and ruined forever.; 5/15/20, 9:32 PM
Darkisland said...: I do, Stephen, I do.

As I say, he feels like a long time friend. A friend I always found trustworthy.

John Henry; 5/15/20, 9:33 PM
Mark said...: Meanwhile, NY officials refuse to identify the barber so that people can know if they were exposed or not.; 5/15/20, 9:37 PM
Inga said...: So John Henry, will your wife go out into the backyard now? Is she feeling less frightened with the lifting of social distancing?; 5/15/20, 9:37 PM
stephen cooper said...: He has been on a roll for the last month or so at least.

He explains better than I can quite a few things. He has made a few predictions lately, too, and that is interesting.

I doubt he is one person, I think he is fronting the ideas of several people with various levels of intuition and insight.; 5/15/20, 9:37 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: @Inga,

I live 5 miles from Kingston.

The local newspaper has officially taken back the story of a dozen infections.

Infections, in any event, are not a death sentence. The vast majority of those infected as asymptomatic. Of those who show symptoms, most suffer cold or flu symptoms.

We’ve had 60 deaths in Ulster County out of a population of 184,000. Those figures are fudged up for political and financial reasons.

You’re lying by omission. You lie in so many ways. Ulster County has virtually no problem with the virus. We’ve been shut down for two months now, with the loss of thousands of business and jobs. Which was, in fact, the Democrats (and your) goal. You’re a saboteur.; 5/15/20, 9:38 PM
narciso said...: Wictor grew up in venezuela in the pre chavez era as montes bradley, did in 70s argentina i met the father of the latter in south florida a historian and one time music producer.; 5/15/20, 9:39 PM
Quayle said...: Let’s try to find some common ground, on which we as a commentariat can build this weekend.

Everyone is going to die. Can we all at least agree with that?; 5/15/20, 9:39 PM
Lars Porsena said...: 1. Diamond Princess cruise ship: A new study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine shows that 72% of those infected aboard the Diamond Princess were asymptomatic. Previously, the estimated percentage of asymptomatic individuals onboard was 46.5.
2. mUSS Theodore Roosevelt: Of the 1,102 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, 60% were asymptomatic. Only seven were hospitalized, and one person died.
3. mCharles de Gaulle: 1,046 sailors out of 1,760 on board the French aircraft carrier tested positive for the virus. There were zero deaths, and two remain hospitalized. According to the NYT, about half were asymptomatic.
4. Prisons: Prisons seem to have an especially high rate of asymptomatic cases. According to Reuters, a tally of 3,277 inmates in state prison systems in Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia who had tested positive for the virus showed that 96% of those who tested positive were asymptomatic. 1,300 tested positive in one Tennessee prison: 98% were asymptomatic, six were hospitalized and one died. An entire female prison in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, was tested, and 85% were positive, but three-quarters were asymptomatic.; 5/15/20, 9:40 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: @Inga,

I’m calling on you, as a matter of conscience (if you have one) to stop spreading panic.

This is an evil, stupid, obnoxious thing you’re doing. You’re our problem.

This effort to sabotage the economy that you’re cheerleading is murderous. You’re one evil shit.; 5/15/20, 9:42 PM
Michael K said...: You do realize that eventually we're all going to get the virus...right? The purpose of quarantine is to slow the rate of infection, not prevent infection.

Shame on you for asking the intellectually handicapped to do some thinking,

The figures thus far suggest that only 20 % or so get infected. There is some natural resistance that keeps the total down.

A vaccine might help but it does not prevent the flu from infecting many. We live with viruses and bacteria and might even need them.

Do not expect the marginally educated to understand this.; 5/15/20, 9:42 PM
J. Farmer said...: It's amusing to me to hear people complaining about the "panic" and fear-based responses to coronavirus, as if this is a novel development. Outsized fear and anxiety towards foreign threats has been the default position of Americans for decades. Perhaps it is a consequence of our fantastic geostrategic position. Relatively trivial threats are not only hyped but become "existential" threats. Hysteria permeates media, policy-making, and public opinion. The notion that the world is a "very dangerous place" is incessantly pushed.

And then there are the domestic campaigns. GMO's. Chem trails. FEMA camps. Communist takeover. Going for our guns. Fluoridated water. Islamic infiltration. Insidious cabals of all stripes. And if any of those won't do, we can always fall back on the "international bankers."

America isn't so much the "home of the brave" as it is the "home of the scared shitless."; 5/15/20, 9:42 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Quayle:

Everyone is going to die. Can we all at least agree with that?

As with so much in life, timing is everything.; 5/15/20, 9:43 PM
Michael K said...: America isn't so much the "home of the brave" as it is the "home of the scared shitless."

No, just the Democrats who had trouble with toilet training, as well.; 5/15/20, 9:44 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Outsized fear and anxiety towards foreign threats has been the default position of Americans for decades.

It’s been the “default position” of just about every human society in history, and more often than not, for good reason.

Perhaps you’ve never read Russian history? I have a degree in it.; 5/15/20, 9:45 PM
Achilles said...: Cuomo forced nursing homes to take COVID-19 positive patients.

Several other governors did as well.

What could they possibly think was going to happen?

Everyone who wrote those orders and was in that chain of command should be executed.

Publicly.; 5/15/20, 9:45 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: The threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union was not a paranoid fantasy.

On at least two occasions, we came within seconds of it happening.; 5/15/20, 9:46 PM
narciso said...: 1962 perhaps 1983 with able archer

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1282583/EU-protests-Spain-Madrid-Salamanca-lockdown-coronavirus-police-restrictions-latest; 5/15/20, 9:47 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts) by Stacia Kane

Wow, this was a great book! And unexpectedly so..

Suppose that sometime in the 1990s, the dead came back and the ghosts killed three-fourths of the worlds population. The government could do nothing, the military could do nothing, and the ghosts had no respect for the holy places or rites of any religion. *Almost* any religion. A small, fringe cult called "The Church of the Truth" had been predicting such a thing for years, and had worked at codifying the rules of magic. When the time came, the Church was ready, and after a hellish week ("Haunted Week") they were able to banish the ghosts to the "City of Eternity".

Flash forward 20 years, and the Church of the Truth has replaced the discredited governments and religions, serving as both. They stay in power through their demonstrated ability to control the ghosts, and the threat that anyone trying to overthrow the Church risks releasing the ghosts again.

Chess Putnam is a Church witch and "debunker". Since the Church accepts responsibility for controlling ghosts, it pays a penalty for any which escape (or were never caught in the first wave) and which take to haunting. Since the penalty is fairly substantial, many people try to fake hauntings to collect from the Church. Chess's job is to "debunk" such fake hauntings, or, for the few that prove real, to banish the ghost involved.

Chess, an orphan like very many after Haunted Week, is the product of a hellish upbringing in a series of foster homes where the best she suffered was neglect and the worst was sexual abuse from multiple foster parents of both genders. Passing the tests for Church training could have been her ticket out, but she has many issues, self-esteem and other that have led her to the life of a functioning drug addict.

The plot is kicked into motion, when the drug lord, Bump, to whom Chess owes a good bit of money, plans to add to his supply sources by landing planes at an old disused municipal airport. Unfortunately, it seems to be haunted, and he will clear Chess's debt if she either debunks the haunting or banishes the ghosts.

This book was a total surprise to me. My previous experience with Stacia Kane was with her Personal Demons series of books. I considered the first lackluster and romance-y and the second I could not recall a day after finishing it. In point of fact, I was not planning to read a Kane book again, and it was pretty much chance that I read this one. I was in a book-buying mood and already had half a dozen in my arms. The endorsements looked promising, and I read the back cover before really noticing who it was by. Even after buying it, it was not near the top of my stack, but I needed a pocket sized book to carry with me, and it was sitting on top of several trade-paperback sized ones.

This book is so much better than Personal Demons and follow-up that it's hard to believe the same author wrote it. It has the same third person point of view, unusual in Urban Fantasy as those do, but the similarities end there. While I never warmed to the Megan Chase character in the PD books, and never really bought that she (or Kane) knew anything about therapy, Chess is an absolutely fantastic character. Drug-addled but determined, she runs the race through her unbelievably screwed-up personal life and to the end-goal of banishing a very dangerous ghost and maybe stopping a revolution fueled only by sheer force of will (and plenty of "speed").; 5/15/20, 9:49 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: In a book of this sort you expect that at some point, the heroine will shake herself up, get clean, and *then* solve her larger problems, but Chess *enjoys* her addictions so much that that never even occurs to her. (She even stops in terrifying escape through underground tunnels to pick up a bag of drugs from an old corpse, enthused when she finds drugs now banned even from medical use). In fact, it seems that everybody she deals with outside the Church is an addict of one sort or another, including an old WWII vet who apparently stayed so high all the time that he forgot to die. During her episodes of paranoia or babbling, you want to grab her and shake some sense into her, but somehow she stays endearing all the same.

The main secondary character, "Terrible", the drug lord's enforcer is a real find too, a man who is more than what he seems, and perhaps sees more in Chess than she thinks is there.

I was left wanting much more when I finished this book, as Kane has left a lot of the world to be explored, as well as any resolution to the tangled web of Chess's life.

For one thing, since Chess lives outside the Church housing by choice, what we see of the world is skewed by her lowlife environment, so it's hard to say exactly what the world situation is. We know that there are still optometrists and they still go to conventions, but it would seem that a large part of society lives outside the norms of 21st century civilization. How large a part remains to be seen.

For another, there is the Church. As portrayed in this first book, it's an ambiguous institution. We know its members and hierarchy are human with various petty weaknesses as well as strengths, but as a whole it's enigmatic. Generally in a story like this, (and especially since it does seem to be trying to control access to history to some extent) you would expect it to be corrupt to the core, but if there is any indication of this we have yet to see it.

For a third, there is the Ghosts and the City of Eternity. Why did ghosts suddenly turn lethal after millenia? What do they want? What do they tell to Church liasers?

All reviews are subjective, and to me a Five-Star rating is how much I *enjoyed* the book -- It doesn't imply perfection (or there could only be one Five Star book ever in that case..). There are a few minor flaws in Unholy Ghosts that I'll just note in passing.

It's a little unconvincing that people would abandon their old religions just because they couldn't protect them from the ghosts. In particular, it's hard to imagine Jews giving up Judaism just because it didn't stop Bad Things from happening to them. It may be that some of what we are told is "Church of the Truth" spin, but otherwise it doesn't totally convince.

While the street patois used by Chess's demi-monde friends and enemies is well done, and interesting, it's hard to explain where it came from given the relatively short period of time from our society to theirs.

Finally, it's hard to believe how many drugs Chess does without wrecking her body in fundamental ways. I don't know any drug addicts, but I have a hard time believing *anyone* could keep it together as well as she does (which, granted, is not always *that* well), and still have all her teeth, work a sometimes demanding job and still be considered attractive. It's just something you have to buy into to make the book work, and for me it was well worth it.; 5/15/20, 9:49 PM
daskol said...: 4. Prisons: Prisons seem to have an especially high rate of asymptomatic cases. According to Reuters, a tally of 3,277 inmates in state prison systems in Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia who had tested positive for the virus showed that 96% of those who tested positive were asymptomatic. 1,300 tested positive in one Tennessee prison: 98% were asymptomatic, six were hospitalized and one died. An entire female prison in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, was tested, and 85% were positive, but three-quarters were asymptomatic..

please please please let it be all the smoking. as a long-time nicotine enthusiast, who quite smoking a long time ago but still vapes a bit and uses various nicotine patches, I am enjoying this thread of COVID-19 a lot because my most outspoken, loving relatives thought the virus was another chance to persuade me to kick my habit. Nicotine is the best. Like coffee, I'm often left wondering lately, is there anything it can't do?; 5/15/20, 9:51 PM
Darkisland said...: Wictor? Isn't that kind of a non-sequetor?

Wictor has been banned from Twitter for most of a year now.

John Henry; 5/15/20, 9:51 PM
Achilles said...: I wonder what would happen to a Hospital and it's administrators if they had knowingly put a bunch of COVID positive people into immediate contact with older sick patients in their hospital and large numbers of them died?; 5/15/20, 9:51 PM
stephen cooper said...: Enoch and Elijah and Mary of Nazareth did not die, and as God is a God of abundance, there will be many more than that, before the end of the world, who did not die.

Don't be envious of them, try to be as much like them as you can.; 5/15/20, 9:51 PM
Inga said...: “You do realize that eventually we're all going to get the virus...right? The purpose of quarantine is to slow the rate of infection, not prevent infection.”

“Shame on you for asking the intellectually handicapped to do some thinking”

Says the senile coot. Tell me what in my answer to Gahrie was wrong? Point out anything that I got wrong about Covid in any comment I’ve made about it on this thread. Or would that take some thinking and your old shrinking brain just can’t do it. Try anyway.; 5/15/20, 9:52 PM
daskol said...: Farmer, life is a tragic condition.; 5/15/20, 9:52 PM
code said...: nice
---
Nam
Buy 4000 hours youtube; 5/15/20, 9:52 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Few Americans give a hoot about your geopolitical crap, Farmer. They are scared shitless of whatever clickbait garbage comes through their social media feeds, and the latest boogeyman is the virus. I've had to mute all the parenting groups I'm part of on Facebook because half the moms, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary, are convinced that if they let their kids out of their house they're going to have dead kids.; 5/15/20, 9:54 PM
narciso said...: Hes on the quorum site, along with heshmat and montes bradley

https://www.leighbardugo.com/book/six-of-crows/

This is largely influenced by russian mythology and stories; 5/15/20, 9:54 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: You’re lying constantly by omission, Inga.

Infection is not a death sentence. Over 99% either have no symptoms, have minor symptoms or recover.

You’re a compulsive liar, and you lie in a variety of ways.

Your presentation of infection as a horrific event is a lie in almost all cases.

Stop lying and spreading panic, saboteur. Your motives are evil.; 5/15/20, 9:55 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: narciso, you mentioned that book The Flight Attendant. I have it on my Kindle for brain candy purposes - I think I picked it up for a buck or something. A decent read? Airport thrillers are fun sometimes but most of the time I get twenty pages in and can't handle the amateur writing.; 5/15/20, 9:56 PM
Darkisland said...: Inga, we still have social distancing here.

And masks.

And lockdowns

And hardware stores open 2 days a week curbside pick up only.

Our governor is on the case.

And my wife sits and watches cnn and the local channels all day scaring the bejabbers out of her with their 24 hour CHIVI IS GOING TO KILL YOU TOMORROW!!! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!! YOU ARE ALREADY AS GOOD AS DEAD!!!

if I thought i could get away with it id set the tv on fire.

John Henry; 5/15/20, 9:57 PM
narciso said...: Well there are some interesting elements that make it an international suspense thriller.; 5/15/20, 9:57 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Shouting Thomas:

It’s been the “default position” of just about every human society in history, and more often than not, for good reason.

Perhaps you’ve never read Russian history? I have a degree

Russia is pretty effectively landlocked and lacks significant geographic barriers to threats. America has not really faced anything comparable to the French, German, or Mongol invasions of Russia. The most comparable situation in America was our relentless drive westward to gain "strategic depth." The establishment of a foreign power west of the Mississippi would have greatly contributed to American insecurity.; 5/15/20, 9:57 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/15/20, 9:58 PM
stephen cooper said...: me and Carlos Osweda share interests - before I ever heard of the guy I paid almost 20 bucks for my copy of the Osprey Press WWI artillery tactics book - but I paid cash so I can't corroborate it, but you can trust me, I have my faults but I am accurate about the past, which is innocent and cannot protect itself from dishonesty, so I stay honest, out of RESPECT; 5/15/20, 10:01 PM
stephen cooper said...: or as Blake Snell would say Keepin' it REAL; 5/15/20, 10:02 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Oddly, the Russians were paranoid about Britain for most of their history.

Peter the Great tried to build a great naval fleet out of fear and admiration of the British.

Russian history is stark raving mad. And was long before the revolution. That’s what makes it so entertaining.

You see why you remind me of my freshman and sophomore students? This desire to present the U.S. as unusually stupid or backward was a constant theme that struck the kids as incredibly sophisticated.

So, you see the Russians as rational actors and Americans as silly paranoids? Classic midnight dorm room bullshit.; 5/15/20, 10:02 PM
Darkisland said...: J. Farmer said...

And then there are the domestic campaigns. GMO's. Chem trails. FEMA camps. Communist takeover. Going for our guns. Fluoridated water. etc.

Don't forget global whatsit (warming, cooling, both, flooding watever it is this month)

John Henry; 5/15/20, 10:02 PM
J. Farmer said...: @I Have Misplaced My Pants:

Few Americans give a hoot about your geopolitical crap, Farmer.

Yeah, that was kinda my point. I just wish there had been a few more sober, stiff upper lipped conservatives while everyone was pissing their pants about 9/11. Instead, they were debating if it was the start of the "new Cold War," WWIII, or WWIV.

Mandatory face masks in public for some jurisdictions is tyranny(!), while the US unleashing tremendous amounts of violence and destruction against millions of people is no more worrisome to most Americans than a cloudy day.; 5/15/20, 10:03 PM
Inga said...: Wow. Who are these people?

“Law Firm Hackers Claim to Have Dirt on Donald Trump, Up Data Ransom to $42M”

UPDATED: The cyber-extortionists who stole a trove of private data from entertainment law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks now have a new target in their sights: President Donald Trump.

In a blog post Thursday on the dark web viewed by Variety, the hacker collective that is holding thousands of the law firm’s documents hostage — allegedly including private info on Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Ella Mai, Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey — said they were increasing their demands for payment to $42 million. That’s double their initial $21 million ask. The group is threatening to publicly release more data if they’re not paid within a week.

Trump will be the next subject of a data dump, the unidentified ransomware attackers claimed. “The next person we’ll be publishing is Donald Trump,” the blog post said. “There’s an election race going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry on time.” The hackers added, “And to you voters, we can let you know that after such a publication, you certainly don’t want to see him as president. Well, let’s leave out the details. The deadline is one week.””

https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/donald-trump-hacked-law-firm-ransom-42-million-1234607832/; 5/15/20, 10:04 PM
narciso said...: Poland hungary czech republic romania what do those countries have in commom.; 5/15/20, 10:06 PM
daskol said...: Maybe, Farmer, we think about more about our domestic affairs and in particular how our leaders uphold and fail to uphold their oaths because our locus of control and our sphere of interest and influence is not global. Maybe it would be nice if we thought more about the rest of the world, but it makes total sense for Americans to be preoccupied primarily with the shit American leaders and elites are doing to Americans.; 5/15/20, 10:06 PM
Mark said...: Mary of Nazareth did not die

There is a beautiful . . . what's the word . . . artistic device? . . . in paintings of the Bodily Assumption of Mary into heaven where Jesus is depicted holding a baby. The baby is Mary, His mother, inasmuch as she has been called "daughter of her Son." Anyway, in these artistic depictions, they are standing by Mary's body. Mary's dead body. With lots of other mourners around.

While it is true that there is a small minority of thought that Mary did not die, the far greater belief since the early Church is that she did. That is the great preponderance of Catholic thought and, of course, most Protestants think, well, they think what they think.

I used to wonder, but now realize that there is no reason why she should not have died. After all, Jesus the Lord died. But the glory of it all is this -- by her Assumption, she is the first to know the resurrection of the body. Of course, since the body of Jesus is made up entirely of her body, then when He ascended to heaven, a part of her was already there. And wherever He is, so must she be.; 5/15/20, 10:06 PM
narciso said...: Answer they were occupied by the soviets for forty five years.; 5/15/20, 10:07 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Amazingly, one of the reasons I voted for Trump was that he campaigned on limiting U.S. military adventures abroad, a promise he has more or less kept.

Withdrawing from the military dependencies of being the world’s greatest ever empire presents a host of mind boggling problems.

For instance, the ChiComs are eager to step in and they don’t tolerate domestic dissent.; 5/15/20, 10:07 PM
gilbar said...: I'm reading Amy Shira Teitel's new book,
Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight

The basic gist is that women weren't qualified to be astronauts; but wanted to anyway.
If you Ever wanted a detailed description of Why women shouldn't be astronauts, you should read it.

I don't think that's what Amy was going for, but that's what she got; 5/15/20, 10:07 PM
Mark said...: After watching Sharon Stone shoot herself last night, Magnum now has this COVID lockdown look going -- scruffy beard and hair and all.; 5/15/20, 10:08 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Congratulations on moving on from outright, deliberate lying to rumor mongering, Inga.

It’s an improvement for you.; 5/15/20, 10:08 PM
Mark said...: "Death is part of life," says Higgins.; 5/15/20, 10:08 PM
narciso said...: I think thats a fair assumption, she was without fault so she could be very close to her son, at this point.; 5/15/20, 10:09 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Shouting Thomas:

The threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union was not a paranoid fantasy.

I never said it was.

You see why you remind me of my freshman and sophomore students? This desire to present the U.S. as unusually stupid or backward was a constant theme that struck the kids as incredibly sophisticated.

Except I don't believe and have never said that we are "unusually stupid or backward." That's probably more a consequence of you insisting on seeing anyone with a different position than you as being your "freshman and sophomore students." You seem to operate on the assumption that anti-interventionism must always be of the variety of Vietnam-era counterculture protests. The anti-interventionist tradition in America has little to do with believing that America is "unusually stupid or backward."; 5/15/20, 10:11 PM
Inga said...: “And my wife sits and watches cnn and the local channels all day scaring the bejabbers out of her with their 24 hour CHIVI IS GOING TO KILL YOU TOMORROW!!! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!! YOU ARE ALREADY AS GOOD AS DEAD!!! “

So sorry John Henry, that’s gotta be tough living that way. Tell her there’s a liberal lady in Wisconsin that says she needn’t be afraid to go out without a mask, it’s safe to shop with a mask and hand sanitizer and to relax a little. Life is too short and not because we’re all gonna get Covid, as some think. I watch TV, but I don’t like CNN. Tell her to watch MSNBC...lol.; 5/15/20, 10:12 PM
narciso said...: Magnum is haunted by many ghosts early on it was michelle who turned out to be alive, married to a vietcong officer, lt reynolds (lne) stones chatacter et al; 5/15/20, 10:12 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: No kidding. I was a leader of the Vietnam anti-war movement in the Midwest.; 5/15/20, 10:12 PM
narciso said...: The victim of ivan, ricks niece is next up.; 5/15/20, 10:14 PM
narciso said...: Spanish television is nearly as full of panic porn; 5/15/20, 10:15 PM
Mark said...: Wow. Who are these people?

Could be lawman Joe Lefors and tracker Lord Baltimore.

Or it could be the Chinese. Or the Russians.

Both have an entire malicious hacking industry, including ransomware, and both are muckrakers that want to wreak havoc in the U.S.; 5/15/20, 10:15 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: So, J. Farmer, tell me how the U.S. embarks on this anti-interventionism (a noble goal), with the ChiComs expanding throughout SE Asia and East Africa.

The ChiComs don’t allow anti-war activism. They just kill the activists after, often, harvesting their organs for sale to medical tourists from the West.

The ChiComs have been willing to murder 10s of millions of their own people in pursuit of long range goals. You think they’ll apply a different standard in dealing with the U.S.?; 5/15/20, 10:15 PM
narciso said...: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/05/15/leaked-data-from-chinese-military-shows-640000-coronavirus-infections-n394005; 5/15/20, 10:17 PM
chuck said...: If you Ever wanted a detailed description of Why women shouldn't be astronauts

Having known one of the early female astronauts I can say that she could handle herself in dicey situations better than practically anyone. And could work well on a team, an important qualification for the job.; 5/15/20, 10:19 PM
walter said...: I wonder when film production activity will be building in Georgia and Texas as L.A. swelters in place.; 5/15/20, 10:20 PM
Inga said...: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/05/15/leaked-data-from-chinese-military-shows-640000-coronavirus-infections-n394005

Those numbers are entirely plausible Narciso. We all knew China lied about their numbers.; 5/15/20, 10:20 PM
Andrew said...: I've been watching local news far more often than usual, since I now work at home. Mainly I'm curious about virus news on the local level, including economic developments.

Something that has always bothered me is now even more obvious: the peculiar style of speaking that journalists use. I don't even know how to describe it. There's a nasal tone, with strange modulations and dramatic pauses. Some of the journalists are so over the top I can barely listen to them. Why do they speak like that? Are they trained to use that type of contrived tone? Is it some type of method? Whatever it is, it's very annoying.

The other thing that bothers me in local news presentations is how they clip people's quotes. The journalists talk around the people they are interviewing, but the actual clip of the person is like two seconds long. Sometimes you can tell the person was not finished with their sentence. Why bother interviewing a person if you're only using a brief clip, and then telling us what else they said? It's very peculiar.; 5/15/20, 10:21 PM
Andrew said...: I've been watching local news far more often than usual, since I now work at home. Mainly I'm curious about virus news on the local level, including economic developments.

Something that has always bothered me is now even more obvious: the peculiar style of speaking that journalists use. I don't even know how to describe it. There's a nasal tone, with strange modulations and dramatic pauses. Some of the journalists are so over the top I can barely listen to them. Why do they speak like that? Are they trained to use that type of contrived tone? Is it some type of method? Whatever it is, it's very annoying.

The other thing that bothers me in local news presentations is how they clip people's quotes. The journalists talk around the people they are interviewing, but the actual clip of the person is like two seconds long. Sometimes you can tell the person was not finished with their sentence. Why bother interviewing a person if you're only using a brief clip, and then telling us what else they said? It's very peculiar.; 5/15/20, 10:21 PM
Mark said...: Thomas has shaved. Perhaps so he could eat that chili dog cleanly. Or because he's back on the PI job. And now he sees the dead Mac.; 5/15/20, 10:21 PM
Mark said...: Don't tell AA. Or, if you must, put her down on the fainting couch before you do.

But I was outside in shorts today. Shorts with my bare legs showing.

And I'm in shorts now.

And, not to make her hurl or anything, but I will be tomorrow too.; 5/15/20, 10:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Shouting Thomas:

No kidding. I was a leader of the Vietnam anti-war movement in the Midwest.

I believe you. Neoconservatism (not that I'm applying that label to you) was largely a reaction to the 1960's counterculture. Paul Berman has published a couple of good essay collections analyzing this phenomenon among the so called "68ers."

So, J. Farmer, tell me how the U.S. embarks on this anti-interventionism (a noble goal), with the ChiComs expanding throughout SE Asia and East Africa.

I tend to prefer solutions like Mearsheimer's "offshore balancing" or Bismark's pursuit of a "balance of power" arrangement. Concede a sphere of influence to China and check ambitions where they attempt to exceed it. Also recognize that China has a number of internal problems and external constraints that will check their ambitions. Ambitions are one thing; the ability to achieve them is another.; 5/15/20, 10:24 PM
walter said...: At the Cheddar curtain:
CHICAGO (CBS) — The debate over stay-at-home orders appears to be reaching a boiling point. Just 24 hours after Wisconsin’s Supreme Court threw out that state’s order, the debate is leading to tension on the Illinois-Wisconsin border.

While other border counties opted to issue their own restrictions, Walworth County is letting businesses reopen. It’s an easy walk to Illinois from Walworth County. But the story there is much different.

“You know, this our dream, this is our livelihood, this is our everything,” said Diana Reed, owner of Harper G! Mercantile in the heart of downtown Richmond, Illinois. “It’s devastating.”

And for two months her heart has been heavy as she has been trying to save her business. Her business in McHenry County is grouped with Cook County in Region 4 of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Restore Illinois Plan. Because of that there is no reopening in sight.

“I feel like if we can’t figure out a way around this, if we can’t get away from Chicago, this is going to be a ghost town,” Reed explained.

But just minutes from Richmond, across the Wisconsin border in Genoa City, the mood is much different.

“Come down to SpoonDoggers, have a drink or get something to eat!,” said SpoonDoggers owner Joshua Spooner.

Spooner is busy restocking his tavern after Wednesday’s surprise announcement and getting regulars and visitors from neighboring counties taking advantage of Walworth County’s decision to keep businesses open.

“It’s nothing new to us to keep a clean area,” he said. “I think any business can open responsibly. I just hope that they’re allowed to. A lot of people out there are hurting right now.”

Reed said she and others are trying their best to forge ahead.

“I know they’re all going to go up there, and the shops up there are going to do way better than we’re going to do here. I’m glad they have business. I’m glad they’re open, but it’s just not right. It’s just not right,” she said.

Walworth County, Wisconsin, has had 240 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. By comparison, McHenry County has over 1,000 cases and 56 deaths.

Business owners in Walworth County said they received a 38-page guide from the county with instructions for different types of businesses.

At one bar CBS 2 visited, for example, the tables were six feet apart. Sanitizer was at the front door, and servers were required to wear masks and gloves.; 5/15/20, 10:28 PM
Inga said...: “Walworth County, Wisconsin, has had 240 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. By comparison, McHenry County has over 1,000 cases and 56 deaths.”

So SpoonDoggy will welcome those FIBs with open arms! Refugees from Illinois. They’re mighty thirsty and have stimulus money to spend.; 5/15/20, 10:34 PM
narciso said...: Magnum is haunted back to his father who never came back from korea, he followed his father in the naval academy and naval intelligence.; 5/15/20, 10:35 PM
Mark said...: “You know, this our dream, this is our livelihood, this is our everything,” said Diana Reed, owner of Harper G! Mercantile in the heart of downtown Richmond, Illinois. “It’s devastating.” And for two months her heart has been heavy as she has been trying to save her business.

I've seen these kinds of stories in the Washington Post and other MSM outlets where they report some business owner terrified about losing their business or someone terrified about not having a job and wanting work, etc.

And then right next to these articles, they run other stories pushing this narrative that everyone, including business owners and workers, want the lockdown to continue, citing polls saying that most people say it's too early to reopen and it will be months before it is time.

It's fear and alarm turtles all the way down.; 5/15/20, 10:36 PM
narciso said...: When he hit his early 30s, he decided the duty was over.; 5/15/20, 10:37 PM
Mark said...: Magnum is haunted back to his father who never came back from korea

I thought that was Harmon Rabb, and it was the Soviet Union.; 5/15/20, 10:40 PM
stephen cooper said...: It does not make sense to believe that Enoch and Elijah did not die but that Mary of Nazareth did.

I mean, Death is brave, but not as brave as the unbelievers think.; 5/15/20, 10:41 PM
Mark said...: So if "Mac" (Magnum's Mac, not JAG's Mac) is just a ghost, how can he interact with other people?; 5/15/20, 10:42 PM
Narayanan said...: speaking of doppelgangers

Dr Birx and Jean Smart from designing women!; 5/15/20, 10:44 PM
narciso said...: Its not accidental, one might think of jag as an extension of magnum. Its conplicated, sonetimes hes jim bonnick; 5/15/20, 10:50 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: It's always struck me as peculiar when people expect what's important to them to be important to others. Isn't is a funny form of myopia?

I am aware of this in myself when I get annoyed with people for losing their minds over covid who have never given alcohol abuse a second thought. It's important to me, but others take it for granted. Nothing I can do about it.

Geopolitical events are important to Farmer, but not so much to most other people.

I'm wondering why the average American should care, really, about things that happen on the global stage. Does it affect his daily life in any but the most diffuse ways? Can he affect it in any way, shape or form? Then what good is there in worrying about it, particularly when there are more immediate concerns which occupy many more hours in the day than he has to spend?; 5/15/20, 10:55 PM
narciso said...: The reaction was overdone and dangerious shutting down the whole country for months a a time.; 5/15/20, 10:59 PM
walter said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/15/20, 11:06 PM
Mark said...: I am aware of this in myself when I get annoyed with people for losing their minds over covid who have never given alcohol abuse a second thought.

I've made this point many times before, but there are people "losing their minds over covid" with 1500 deaths yesterday, but they have never given the 7800 people who died of other causes yesterday a second thought.

And they won't give a second thought to the countless numbers who will die of malnutrition due to the intentional shutdown of the economy here and around the world.; 5/15/20, 11:06 PM
Clark said...: Mark 9x: Tantum ergo was my favorite chant when I was a kid. It's still very high on my list of favorites.; 5/15/20, 11:07 PM
Original Mike said...: Blogger Inga said...
"Wow. Who are these people?
“Law Firm Hackers Claim to Have Dirt on Donald Trump, Up Data Ransom to $42M”"

Russians, Inga! They're Russins!; 5/15/20, 11:08 PM
Inga said...: “Russians, Inga! They're Russins!”

I doubt it. Maybe they’re Ukrainians.; 5/15/20, 11:12 PM
Mark said...: So who here is scared of getting COVID?

Who is not all that worried about getting it?; 5/15/20, 11:14 PM
Craig said...: This is going to accelerate the population drain from Illinois, right? How can it not?

What percentage of Illinois's population will leave in the next 10 years?

Why pay high taxes to be somewhere that doesn't let you live your life?; 5/15/20, 11:14 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "Those numbers are entirely plausible Narciso. We all knew China lied about their numbers."

LOLOLOLOLOL

ARM was on this blog every day touting China's lower numbers as a way to hit Trump.

Every. Single. Day.

For months.

He was the Beijing Boy version of a russian collusion truther.; 5/15/20, 11:16 PM
Craig said...: I lived in Chicago for 14 years, and there were many things I loved about it. I'm in a red border state now, but every time I see JB it makes me sad for the people of IL.; 5/15/20, 11:16 PM
Ray - SoCal said...: LA County is different than LA City. I live in LA County, and actually in an unincorporated area, so I get ruled directly by the benevolent dictatorship of the LA board of supervisors. We can't become a city, because as a way to make sure LA City does not split, any new city has to pay back their infrastructure.

So what’s the background of LA’s Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Ed. who is making all these super smart decisions, such as wearing a mask if you go outside.

https://healthagency.lacounty.gov/leadership/

Highlights:
– PhD Social Welfare
– Chief Strategy Officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
– Focused on inequities in health outcomes, racial equity
– First Latina Health Director for LA!

And if you look at the map of LA County where the infections are happening, it's the poorer areas that are more highly infected.
http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/

I was surprised to find high Chinese population cities have a lower infection rate. My guess is due to mask wearing, they regard wearing masks as helpful. And with the stuff they saw on Chinese language TV from Wuhan, it makes sense.; 5/15/20, 11:16 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "Wow. Who are these people?"

LOLOLOLOLOL

They are the Nigerian Prince version of celebrity hackers who hit a firm that Trump has nothing to do with and have nothing on anyone.

But you just go on and believe in the Hoax dossier pee tape setup sequel!

Go ahead. Do it. You know you want to.; 5/15/20, 11:17 PM
Mark said...: Me?

Not particularly.; 5/15/20, 11:18 PM
J. Farmer said...: @I Have Misplaced My Pants:

I'm wondering why the average American should care, really, about things that happen on the global stage. Does it affect his daily life in any but the most diffuse ways?

Most things the federal government concerns itself with affect people "in any but the most diffuse ways." Foreign policy is intimately linked with domestic policy. The Vietnam War certainly had a domestic cost. Fifty-two American hostages in Tehran had virtually zero effect on Americans' "daily life" but was still a major international crisis. The trade and immigration policies we have pursued for the last several decades have been part and parcel of our foreign policy.; 5/15/20, 11:22 PM
walter said...: Oh, I'm havin' booze down at Spoon Doggers, Spoon Doggers, SpoonDoggers
I get to choose down at Spoon Doggers, Spoon Doggers, SpoonDoggers; 5/15/20, 11:23 PM
Ray - SoCal said...: WSJ just reported a rumor that the DOJ and States are going to file some type of monopoly against Google soon.

James Damore was in an arbitration process. My guess somebody at Google smartened up, and just paid to make this go away.

>Darkisland said...
>Remember James Damore?
>Google settled.

It's possible to win, as apparently VoxDay did with required arbitration with a major internet site. You just have to understand the rules to use them to your advantage.; 5/15/20, 11:29 PM
Narr said...: I see that historian of Russia and the Soviet Union Catherine Merridale has a new book out.

She wrote one back in the '90s about how the USSR coasted on the memory of the Great Anti-Fascist War for legitimacy, and how that had decayed by the '80s. I can't find it online but swear I read it! It's not Ivan's War or Night and Stone.

And one of the best personal war memoirs I've read is Gabriel Temkin's "My Just War."

Narr
What do you think of Sebag-Montefiore? I love his Stalin and Romanovs books.; 5/15/20, 11:43 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "The figures thus far suggest that only 20 % or so get infected. There is some natural resistance that keeps the total down."

I predicted this almost two months ago here and on Neo's blog. I even wrote that exposure to other coronaviruses would offer some major resistance to any new coronavirus. The same thing happens with influenza viruses- it is why their fatality rate is usually very low.; 5/15/20, 11:56 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Wow. Who are these people?"

“Law Firm Hackers Claim to Have Dirt on Donald Trump, Up Data Ransom to $42M”

Probably Russian agents working for Putin. The Democrats should offer to buy the information and put it in a dossier.; 5/15/20, 11:58 PM
Lurker21 said...: I was surprised to learn how many flowers and other plant parts are poisonous.

Onions, garlic, chives, and leeks are part of the Allium family and are poisonous to both dogs and cats. Garlic is considered to be about 5-times as potent as onion.

Chocolate is also supposed to be poisonous to dogs, even Chocolate labs.

It must suck to be a dog.; 5/16/20, 12:05 AM
Lurker21 said...: Spem in alium

Hope in the onion?

Whatever.; 5/16/20, 12:07 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Bagoh posted this in the previous thread:

"Officials in New York state admit that they tried to quietly change their coronavirus death count standards in such a way that would underreport those deaths at nursing homes.

The change would underreport the count of "nursing home" deaths at a time when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is under fire for the policy forcing nursing homes to take in coronavirus patients.

On Sunday, Cuomo rescinded the policy after scathing criticism.

New York has the highest number of nursing home deaths in the country, with 5,433 reported deaths as of reporting from Wednesday"

The Democrats' idea of an improvement over Biden. Cuomo actually knows what he's doing, but that just makes him worse."

I looked at the data last week, and it was very odd- the number of deaths essentially equaled the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in nursing homes. I knew right then that something had been done to the data, I just wasn't sure what it was, but the reason seemed obvious.; 5/16/20, 12:08 AM
Mark said...: So you see that the House Democrats voted today to make a farce of the Constitution and legislative process today.

They passed a rule whereby a bill can get a majority in the 435-seat House with only 20 members being present to vote for it. That's right -- 20 Dems beats 215 Republican votes, with those 20 being able to cast votes for 200 others.

Even the quorum requirement to do business -- which is a count of the members that are PRESENT -- can now be met with members NOT being present.; 5/16/20, 12:09 AM
Lurker21 said...: Lately, I picture Magnum partying with "Jennifer," "Tatiana" and Admiral Lynch in the old people's houses they stole for the banks.; 5/16/20, 12:16 AM
Rt41Rebel said...: @Lurker 21: Our chocolate lab once ate a pound of chocolate off of the counter. Of course I've heard that chocolate is dangerous to dogs so I looked it up and it turns out that our chocolate lab at his weight would have to eat about 12 lbs of chocolate to even show mild symptoms of poisoning such as vomiting. So the whole dogs can't have chocolate AT ALL is kind of overblown in my opinion.; 5/16/20, 12:19 AM
Yancey Ward said...: And for those who didn't realize Howard and Inga were lying in an earlier thread, here is the data for Texas.

The peak in deaths was in the last week of April/first week of May. Confirmed cases have risen this week because Texas is testing about 50% more people than they were 2 weeks ago, but their positive rate has been falling at the same time. Again, for the 50th time- the more tests you run, the more confirmed cases you will find, you will just find a lot more of them in people who are never hospitalized. The same is true throughout the entire US- we are almost at 400,000 tests/day this week, whereas two weeks ago we were at 175,000, but the positive rate has now fallen from over 20% to about 7% in that time, and so actual new cases have declined. The virus is abating and has been for almost a month now.; 5/16/20, 12:21 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: Hey kids!

What'd I miss? Got a new fire pit/table thingie and had some friends over for non-social-distancing conversation and good champagne. The Bay Area is fun because it gets cool at night, and one can enjoy a flame in a comfortable chair, with a glass of something-something.

Looks like we got a good book recommendation, some well-deserved aspersions cast at Dictator Garcetti (dry sand? wet sand? What the Actual Fuck)....; 5/16/20, 12:30 AM
Mark said...: Not many people interested in the destruction of representative government, huh?; 5/16/20, 12:33 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Mark,

Yes, I don't see how they evade the quorum requirement- it is right there in the Constitution- no business without a majority of the membership present. Any member can call for a count of those present, so maybe that is how they are doing it- just ignoring the call.

This could be challenged in court- bills being passed without meeting the requirements for doing business in the House might not be validly passed.; 5/16/20, 12:35 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: Milk chocolate is not poisonous to dogs--but dark chocolate is. Dark chocolate has a lot more cacao in it. Your dog could eat Hershey bars all day long. But don't give him the expensive shit.; 5/16/20, 12:36 AM
Yancey Ward said...: In my opinion, if you are unable to perform your duty because you are an 80 year old geezer afraid of a germ, then it is time you resigned your seat for a younger, braver representative.; 5/16/20, 12:36 AM
Ken B said...: Metamorphosis 2 by Glass, arranged for harp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV2-zFh3tAU
The way she keeps the ostinato note going is fascinating,; 5/16/20, 12:37 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Same goes for Joe Biden- if he is afraid to come out of his basement, why should anyone vote for him to lead the country?; 5/16/20, 12:38 AM
Mark said...: No, any bill "passed" by the House by such a fraudulent vote would be invalid.

My guess is that the Senate would refuse to recognize any such bill.; 5/16/20, 12:40 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: Mark,

The Democrats in the House aren't serious. Of course, their ideologue followers don't care. But I think, for once, some of the American people are paying attention. And they aren't pleased. I think the Dems are seriously over-reaching--and they think they won't pay a price for it; but they will. Knock wood and all that, but I think the Dems are going to be surprised in November.

Honestly, how can Garcetti, for example, think that the voters in LA aren't going to turn him out on his ass? Wet sand ok; dry sand taboo? Really? Wear a mask WHENEVER you are outside, even if there is not a single human being within sight of you? Shut down until August?

As other places open up with no DEATH DEATH DEATH, people in the shutdown areas are going to rebel. The media can't keep the news smothered forever. People are getting really, really pissed. (I am among them.). It is not going to be pretty.; 5/16/20, 12:40 AM
Mark said...: I can't find a clip, but apparently on the Lawrence O'Donnell show last night, Biden was particularly addled in talking gibberish about WWII and Roosevelt and some board.; 5/16/20, 12:42 AM
effinayright said...: arayanan said...
speaking of doppelgangers

Dr Birx and Jean Smart from designing women!
***************

How about Sidney Powell and Jar Jar Binks?; 5/16/20, 12:49 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: Mark,

Particularly addled. I like that. Adequately pickled?

My mom has been sliding down the dementia hill over the past 10 years. I called it much earlier than my siblings were willing to accept--because I sold drugs for dementia and knew what it looked like in the very early stages. She got lost driving to my house. That was at least 4 years before she got a diagnosis. But I knew right then. Biden reminds me of my mom in her early-middling years. Enough moments of lucidity that she couldn't get a diagnosis--but if you were trained to look for the signs...

I feel sad for him, because he probably has no clue. Those around him may not really understand what is going on. While I was saying that Mom was dementing, my siblings were telling me I was a crank. She had neuropsych testing that suggested mild impairment...but basically gave her a clean bill of health. But I KNEW. Then...it slowly became apparent. (Not that my siblings ever apologized to me.).

It is actually possible that those around him don't see the decay. The denial mechanism is incredibly strong--people do not understand dementia. The dementing process is an incredibly sad thing.; 5/16/20, 12:52 AM
Mark said...: On the Lawrence O'Donnell show last night, Biden was particularly addled in talking gibberish about WWII and Roosevelt and some board.

Starting at about the 45 second mark.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6157065139001#sp=show-clips; 5/16/20, 12:54 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Mark:

Not many people interested in the destruction of representative government, huh?

See Robert Michels' "iron law of oligarchy."; 5/16/20, 12:58 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: @JF,

Are you wearing pants today? (Joking, joking). You go back to work soon, yes? I am envious. I find myself getting angrier and angrier. I don't like it. I am a person who doesn't mind confrontation, but I don't like feeling randomly angry. I wonder if people like me, but who are really being hurt by this inane extension of the shutdown, are going to become violent. If I had children to feed, and no income, and some ass like Garcetti going on about dry sand versus wet sand, and not opening up EVER until there is a "cure"...I might become violent.

No government employee is going without a paycheck. No "journalist" is going hungry. I do not understand the will-to-power and animal enjoyment of control that these politicians must feel that leads them to push their boots onto the faces of the people they govern in the face of data that contradict the tightening of control. What the hell are these people thinking?; 5/16/20, 1:09 AM
Narayanan said...: @ daskol said...

for nicotine aficionados

Tobacco-Based Coronavirus Vaccine Poised for Human Tests; 5/16/20, 1:12 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: I expected the Ca Rep election If a Republican to have more of an impact on The Democratic Lockdown Politics.

My guess is the Democratic Governors are drinking too much of the msm KoolAid.

Now talk of until people can do a daily test or a vaccine cia available, the LA lockdown can’t be lifted. But what if that’s not possible?; 5/16/20, 1:15 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Anne:

It is actually possible that those around him don't see the decay. The denial mechanism is incredibly strong--people do not understand dementia. The dementing process is an incredibly sad thing.

Completely agree. Although it is not part of my professional practice, I had to conduct a number of evaluations for neurodegenerative conditions. Cognitive screening tools are not as sensitive to non-Alzheimer's dementias, and screenings that are overly concerned with issues like episodic memory can miss more focalized cases. For example, visuospatial deficits are uncommon in early progression and are thus not as screened as thoroughly.

I once evaluated a woman in her 90's who only spoke to ask if her husband was there. He had died a decade earlier. There is something terrifying about your biological life exceeding your biographical life.; 5/16/20, 1:18 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Anne-I-Am I had a similar situation in my family.

It’s heart breaking to deals with a relative, that is no longer there totally, but used to be brilliant.; 5/16/20, 1:20 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Anne:

I wonder if people like me, but who are really being hurt by this inane extension of the shutdown, are going to become violent.

In general, I tend to discount such outcomes, though of course they are not unheard of. It's one of the reasons I don't like post-apocalyptic themes, which often riff off Hobbes' bellum omnium contra omnes, the "war of all against all." One of the key characteristics of humans is our ability to cooperate on a large-scale. It it s a common notion that if social order were to break down, people would revert to more egotistical, self-interested, competitive behavior, but I think it is overblown. Times of crisis are just as likely to increase cooperation and pro-social behavior.; 5/16/20, 1:29 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: @JF,

I think you are correct, in the sense that people are feeling a kinship with their neighbors who are similarly afflicted by the shutdown. Where I think we are in uncharted territory is where people feel like their "rulers" are arbitrarily running roughshod over them. It is a case of neighbor vs neighbor--it is a case of the underclass versus the overclass.; 5/16/20, 1:36 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: At any rate...going to bed. Tomorrow is another day. I might win the Powerball, I might meet the man of my dreams, I might get demolished by a meteor. It's all up for grabs.; 5/16/20, 1:37 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Here's a book I haven't been reading.; 5/16/20, 1:50 AM
Gospace said...: Mark said...
So who here is scared of getting COVID?

Who is not all that worried about getting it?

My better half and I aren't the least bit worried. Well, we think she may have had it already with the crud that wouldn't go away in February. I read something about flooding the body with Vitamin D and zinc, and bought the 50,000 IU (yes, 50,000) D capsules from Amazon, WE already had zinc in the house. 2 of those 8 hours apart times 3 with a zinc tablet. Her crud went away, finally. Her blood level of D is 60 ng/ml, mine is 40. Hers was tested a few weeks after the megadose.

Me? I take 1,000 IU D a day over whatever is in my multivitamin. My multi has the the MDR of D2, the extra 1000 is D3. Two of my sons have had symptoms. The youngest, mild symptoms. Phone consults only, in the early phases of covid panic. Called our primary care office fist thing in the morning. After the FIFTH return call from the fifth different doctor, he was advised to self quarantine for 2 weeks. He took the D/zinc megadose. He's on his 1 week spring break extended to 2 weeks now to whenever. My 29 year old had all the symptoms, worse, including loss of taste. He wouldn't take the D/zinc megadose until his nose was swabbed. Took 5 days for the test to come back- negative. A day later he went to the ER and was admitted. O2 level measured by the ERs pulse oximeter dropped like a rock every time he stood up. Spent overnight. Another swab- overnight result. Negative. Released the next day and told by the doctors: "You have covid. The tests have a high false negative rate. But you've had 2 negative tests, and we're not allowed to give you a third." Medicine practiced as ordered by Dictator Cuomo- they can only do what's allowed, not what they think is necessary. My youngest takes the multis I bought for him. Can't convince my 29 year old he needs to take any supplements. He had worse symptoms... draw your own conclusion. I suspect, but of course cannot prove, that the D/zinc megadose I did convince him to take after the first swab kept him out of the ICU.

Me? In addition to the supplements I take, I practice nasal irrigation, daily, with xylitol in the rinse. (It's now allergy season, sometimes twice daily.) Xylitol has antiviral and antibacterial properties. So that reduces my virus load, if I have any. I also gargle each night with warm water and Xylitol. I've read that a lot of viruses travel down the throat before entering the lungs. So again, that reduced the viral load... and the lower the viral load, the easier the body handle it. I don't worry about covid, because even though I'm in a high risk age group, a month short of 65, and taking metformin, not for diabetes, but to keep from getting it, my overall health, my monitoring of blood level D, and the things I do daily anyway even if covid wasn't around, all make me less susceptible to getting it, and makes it easier for my body to fight it off if I do.

I don't wear face masks when out and about, despite Dictator Cuomo's edicts. The general population running around in face masks is the health equivalent of the TSA- theater that does nothing.

I look at numbers. The numbers are clear- covid is not a great threat to me. Nor to my better half. If you're in general good health, insist that the doctor test you for things he mat not routinely test for, IOW, monitor your own health, practice good hygiene, covid is going to be, at most, a minor annoyance for you. And the thing to remember is, Dictator Cuomo is not responsible for your health, nor is anyone else in government, nor your doctor or insurance company. You are.; 5/16/20, 2:11 AM
J. Farmer said...: The coronavirus crisis does bring into focus a perennial theme of human civilization. The city versus the village. The city is centralized, hierarchical, and divided along class. The village is diffuse, egalitarian, and divided along sex and age lines. The city is imposed on nature. The village is built within it. The city is cosmopolitan and culturally dynamic but also promotes dehumanization and degeneracy. The village is provincial and traditional but also close-minded and insular. The city prefers individualism and competition, while the village prefers collectivism and cooperation. The city is the engine of empire. The village is often the recipient of empire. The city is the fatherly sky-god. The village is the motherly earth-goddess. The city is Hamiltonian. The village is Jeffersonian.

It is undoubted that cities produce more per capita wealth than villages, even if a disproportionate amount of this wealth accrues to a narrow elite. Cities are richer but more unequal. And because wealth confers power, an emblematic feature of the city is corruption. Foreign and American villagers flooded into cities dominated by political bosses. The corruption and condition of the inhabitants helped inspire the progressive movement.

In the 20th century, we opted for the centrist compromise of the suburbs. Work in the city but live in the village. Unfortunately, we managed to get the worst of both worlds. Just cosmopolitan enough not to be traditional and just traditional enough not to be dynamic. Tradition and cooperation were replaced with consumerism and keeping up with the Jones's. The suburbs glorified bland, mass produced homogeneity.

Today, the city is technocratic, financialized, bohemian, self-indulgent, and phenomenally wealthy. The village is home to the deplorables the people who "cling to religion and guns," and the opioid epidemic.

Trump is an exurb.; 5/16/20, 2:39 AM
Temujin said...: J Farmer, interesting that you would end your last piece with "Trump is an exurb."

The population increase of the exurbs has been inexorable. While over last two decades the 'experts' on urban development kept detailing how we had to leave the suburbs and grow the cities upward, packing them even more densely than they already are, the people, in their instinctual wisdom, keep moving further out away from the cities. Those centers of wealth are now beginning to spread out as more and more corporate centers are placed in far out suburbs and into the exurbs. People are finding the trips to the city centers less necessary, with the exception of 'specialty' needs, such as a sporting event or museum. (but even sporting arenas are leaving city centers in some areas).

So, you could say that Trump, being an exurb, is actually on the pulse of things. The experts and financial power groups who live in the city will be left sharing their cities with those who are the least productive. And for the first time in history, the outer rings will no longer depend on the 'vitality of the city' to survive.; 5/16/20, 3:18 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Anne-I-am,
"My mom has been sliding down the dementia hill over the past 10 years"

Great post. My father (87) has been going through that, very gradually, for about 4 years. First sign I saw was when he made a couple of directional mistakes driving. He self-corrected, but that is something he never did.

I agree that I see very similar, very obvious symptoms with Biden. It is hard for people close to someone to acknowledge that, but with everyone else on the left (media, Demo "leadership") I think it's that they
1) Don't want to admit him being the candidate is a massive screw-up or
2) Are just riding the Biden train until the point where they think it will be safest to dump him and make someone else the nominee (i.e. Sanders, if they can get him to promise to back off on some of his wilder schemes)
3) Some combination of 1 and 2.; 5/16/20, 3:20 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Ann/Meade,
The moderation REALLY makes the blog experience less enjoyable. Strongly suggest that you change to immediate posts with moderation after-the-fact, accepting the negative that that will have some posts referencing other posts that no longer exist.; 5/16/20, 3:24 AM
madAsHell said...: I’m guessing that Obama’s library in Chicago is getting smaller.; 5/16/20, 4:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "The moderation REALLY makes the blog experience less enjoyable. Strongly suggest that you change to immediate posts with moderation after-the-fact, accepting the negative that that will have some posts referencing other posts that no longer exist."

You don't know the dimension of the problem we face. We're very aware that it hurts the commenting experience.

We're planning to make a big change in the format to this blog, with subscription access to this blog in a form that has comments — moderated only after the fact and with the ability to control membership. When that is set up, there will be no more comments on this Blogspot site, but the posts will still appear here.

You say "The moderation REALLY makes the blog experience less enjoyable," but it REALLY REALLY makes it less enjoyable for ME! I'm going to take a big step that will improve the experience for me and, hopefully, for you.; 5/16/20, 6:31 AM
stevew said...: For those of us that have been coming here for awhile - for me it's only been 3 or so years - the necessity of moderation is obvious. I've seen those comments that are long-winded personal attacks and repeat posted sometimes hundreds of times, consuming the entire comment thread. I've seen the invective hurled among commenters and at our hosts. To me that stuff is way worse than comment moderation. And it has to be exhausting drudgery to moderate that mess.

Personally looking forward to the change.; 5/16/20, 6:42 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Cuomo forced nursing homes to take COVID-19 positive patients.”

“Several other governors did as well.”

Is it really the governors giving those orders? Or the bureaucrats they put in charge? The NYC health czar, or whatever, seems esp a butthead, telling the NYPD to go suck eggs, in response to their request for more PPE.

I think that the problem here is that in much of the country, we have the equivalent of DMV clerks, with possibly relevant, possibly irrelevant (e.g. the diversity major running the LA system) advanced degrees and/or credentials, making the decisions. At the state or local level, they are likely not to be the best and the brightest, since the best and the brightest typically have much better options than government work. Most importantly, they are bureaucrats, and that means that they look at the world through bureaucratic glasses. And that means that they have a very hard time viewing the problem other than through very narrow apertures. Their narrow, very parochial, focus can, I think, be attributed to many of the problems we have seen with the different government responses around the country.

Maybe part of the red state/blue state divide on effectiveness of response, and making brain dead, often fatal mistakes, liking sending SARS-CoV-2 positive patients back into assisted living (by definition having high comorbidities) facilities, is a result of how much the bureaucrats are trusted, and how much power they are given. Blue State governments are, by their very nature and philosophy, statist, and much more trusting of bureaucrats and the bureaucratic state. Red States, on the other hand are less trusting of bureaucrats and the bureaucratic state.

I spent a year as an auditor for Denver then 15 years as a federal govt employee and contractor. I did time at most of a dozen agencies, but mostly Census, NOAA, and the USDA. And then the next 25-30 years dealing closely with dysfunctional federal agencies (esp the USPTO). The bureaucrats I worked with, or against, were more often than not well meaning, and some of the younger ones very idealistic. Mostly about average in intelligence, which was not the case on the other side of the public/private line, where I expect the average IQ was at least 10 points higher (though some of the very smartest people in the country work for the federal govt too). It is the bureaucracy that is dysfunctional. That turns normal people into the equivalent of DMV clerks, and in this case, DMV clerks with possibly relevant advanced degrees.; 5/16/20, 6:46 AM
stevew said...: "Some Covid-19 good news: my 20-year high school reunion, scheduled for this summer, has been cancelled."

Now that's funny. My 20 year HS reunion is the only one I attended; a very close friend begged, cajoled, and coerced me to go, so I did. Actually had a really good time. Never attended another one. Which was the right decision too.; 5/16/20, 6:53 AM
stevew said...: @Bruce Hayden: my guy Charlie Baker did that too, though more like his administration (Health Dept.). Do you suppose these folks can be held liable in some way? Wrongful death or something. I don't wish that on them, but holding them responsible for the outcome of their decisions could be one small step toward better decision making. It should be highlighted that many of these government department heads are political positions and people, they have no education, training, or expertise in the area they oversee.; 5/16/20, 7:01 AM
Darkisland said...: We're planning to make a big change in the format to this blog, with subscription access to this blog in a form that has comments — moderated only after the fact and with the ability to control membership. When that is set up, there will be no more comments on this Blogspot site, but the posts will still appear here.

Sign me up.

John Henry; 5/16/20, 7:24 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: There was some excitement yesterday in my life. As I have noted here, I bought our subdivision from the bank at the end of March. It’s now my biggest investment, outside stock in the family company. I sold much of my stock to buy it. The mistake I made, was holding onto stock in a big healthcare company. I expected that their stock would do well in the pandemic. I had no idea that our response to the pandemic would destroy hospital systems across the country by essentially eliminating any procedure that could be considered “nonessential”.

I think though that it was a serendipitous decision. Was talking to a good friend yesterday in N ID, and he told me that people from the Blue portions of the country are starting to bid up real estate like crazy around him. Dropping big bucks on real estate, sight unseen. Several mutual friends of ours, whose opinions I respect, thought that it was a shrewd move on my part. I have never thought of myself as overly shrewd, and the pandemic aspect, with so many people right now trying to flee the deadly big cities, never crossed my mind.

In any case, the excitement came from a call from the president of the HOA (who now arguably works for me, since I have half the finished lots, and thus votes - though I hope I don’t have to ever use that leverage). I had been worried about the extent of what I had purchased. The legal description called out the lots individually, but there were additionally maybe four chunks that were called out individually. My question has been what exactly is the “common area” that I supposedly own, and at some point should convey to the HOA, because it isn’t mentioned as such in the deed I received. I thought that I needed to know it’s exact boundaries, because I had to plan new lots around it. She told me that it probably didn’t matter, because all most of the residents are worried about are the roads. That seems to mean that if I want to move boundaries around a bit, put a road through the common area, no one can really stop me.

The other thing that was exciting was that she didn’t think that I would have problems with putting a large (30’x40’) manufactured garage on the lot next door, as long as paint, trim, and shingles matched. Last fall, the architectural review committee told me it wanted a similar pitch to the roof as the houses in the neighborhood have. That effectively eliminated the possibility of a prebuilt garage, probably requiring stick built, at probably twice the cost.; 5/16/20, 7:28 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ @Bruce Hayden: my guy Charlie Baker did that too, though more like his administration (Health Dept.). Do you suppose these folks can be held liable in some way? ”

Very likely protected by sovereign immunity. For the most part, governments only let you sue them to the extent that they want to, and that mostly protects their employees too. Much that would be legally actionable in civil court on the private side, isn’t on the government side. If a state doesn’t want itself or its employees to be sued for something, by and large, they just don’t let you do it. After all, they control the court system. (There are constitutional exceptions, such as 5th/14th Amdt Takings).; 5/16/20, 7:37 AM
iowan2 said...: Good news, I think, on the change of format. I saw you mention it earlier, and this further explanation makes sense. Yes I will subscribe. I hope the quality posters come along. The best stable of commenters I have found on the inter webs.
See you all at the new digs!; 5/16/20, 7:49 AM
iowan2 said...: It is undoubted that cities produce more per capita wealth than villages, even if a disproportionate amount of this wealth accrues to a narrow elite.

I have been told there are few, and finite, sources of wealth.
Farming, lumbering, fishing, mining. There may be a few more. The rest is adding value. Hedge fund managers don't create any wealth.; 5/16/20, 8:03 AM
Grant said...: The first thing farmer Cain did after murdering his brother and getting kicked out of Eden was to build a city. So there you go.; 5/16/20, 8:12 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Yesterday a poster at Volokh, whom I used to respect, before he came down with serious TDS, called me a Trumpkin and confidently asserted that there were never any missing 302s in the Flynn case. Coincidentally, there was also an article at CTH that I found more credible: Recently Released Comey Testimony Provides Further Evidence of The Original Flynn 302 Written by Pientka Before It Mysteriously Went Missing…

FBI Agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka interviewed National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on January 24, 2017. According to documents presented in the court case, agent Peter Strzok did the questioning and agent Joe Pientka took most of the notes.

Following the interview agent Pientka then took his hand-written notes and generated an official FD-302; an FBI report of the interview itself. There has been a great deal of debate over the first draft, the original FD-302 as it was written by Joe Pientka. In the case against Flynn the DOJ prosecutors never presented the original Pientka 302.

On May 2, 2020, the DOJ, using new information gathered by U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, declassified and released a segment of James Comey testimony that was previously hidden. Within the transcript Comey says Pientka wrote the Flynn 302 on January 24th immediately following the interview.

That January 24, 2017, version of the 302 is the one that has gone missing.

People defending the FBI have even said it never existed. However, the testimony of FBI Director James Comey proves the 302 was drafted on January 24th.

Pientka did as was standard procedure, almost immediately after his interview with Flynn, recorded his recollection of the Interview on FD 302s, and then presumably filed them with the FBI’s Sentinel 302 management system. This would have probably allowed the 302 to be entered into evidence, as an exception to the Hearsay Rule. The FBI apparently requires filling out and filing 302s w/I 5 days. Pientka did what a lot of FBI agents do, which is to fill and file that day, while the interview is fresh in their mind.

That though was not the 302 filed in the Flynn case as Brady information. That was from Strzok’s exit interview. Then fairly recently,this spring, they supplemented their response with the Feb 2017 version that was amended by Strzok and Lisa Page, and approved by McCabe before being filed.

The Jan 24 302s have yet to surface, despite the FBI having their Sentinel 302 change management system at least partially to prevent just this sort of thing from happening. I continue to contend that if this 302 is not in the Sentinel system, it’s deletion very likely required extremely high level access - likely at the D(Comey)/DD(McCabe) level. In any case, until Van Grack and the other prosecutors were yanked from the case, the govt was insistent that the contemporaneous 302s didn’t, and never existed. Of course they were lying through their teeth. Based on just released testimony by former Dir Comey and DAG Yates, she was briefed on 1/24 (and was surprised by the unscrupulous FBI tactics used) and appears to have received copies of the 302s the next day.; 5/16/20, 8:26 AM
Temujin said...: Frankly, I can't get my head around how you manage to doggedly post every day for years. Every morning. Every day. Years. When I see you are also moderating commenters, I figure it's like going back to having to read law student essays, but without the logic of law. It's a ridiculous assignment you have put on yourself. Do you ever just...hang out? You know, retirement and all? You and Meade just hanging out? Do you ever just look at the comments rolling in and say, "Screw it. I'm not posting any of them. They all suck. They have no logic. I cannot stand reading this pap any longer. Let's go out for a walk, Meade." Do you ever do that?

I suppose spending a life being an extremely productive person makes it hard to stop being a productive person upon 'retirement'.

Good to hear about your new subscription format coming around. It should prove interesting.; 5/16/20, 9:18 AM
tcrosse said...: Good to hear about your new subscription format coming around. It should prove interesting.

Let's see if some of the usual suspects tone it down in order to make the cut.
"Good morning, Professor Althouse. My, what a lovely frock you're wearing. Can Laurence come out and play?"; 5/16/20, 10:28 AM
Michael K said...: The subscription format might be interesting. I go from here to Ricochet, which is subscription.

An example of a ricochet thread that resembles the best ones here.; 5/16/20, 10:37 AM
Gospace said...: Apparently, J Farmer has never actually lived in a village.

The village is built within nature? That's a big laugh. Villages and farm communities are surrounded by nature, and hence, more in touch with it. They know the constant battle against nature to survive. Those neatly tended fields aren't nature. They're created by hard work, often over generations, conquering nature. Where I live now, pretty much the entire county was swampland before the civil war. Which is why it was divided up into "military tracts" and given, for free!, to veteran's. Swampland actually makes good fertile farmland. Once you've built the drainage ditched, put in the drain tiles, cut down the brush and scrub, and finally created a field. And if you leave some areas as muck, they're good for growing potatoes and onions. What you see in a neatly tended farm community is nature conquered, not nature unbounded.

The city prefers individualism and competition, while the village prefers collectivism and cooperation Rural and village communities practice cooperation on a grand scale. But reject collectivism. Collectivism is a big city idea, led by dreamers, who occasionally wander out and create collectivist communities. Like the one Bernie got kicked out of for being lazy. They see the cooperation, and confuse it for collectivism. We have a volunteer fire department. There are people who, for some reason, like doing that. The volunteers don't get paid. We have volunteer EMTs. A lot of things that people get paid for in cities, we have volunteers for. But it's not by any stretch collectivism. Even the Amish and Mennonites don't practice collectivism, but communal cooperation. I suspect that if you don't show up for barn raisings, no one is showing up for yours. No score card is kept, but they know who's slacking. I can see where outsiders viewing it can confuse widespread cooperation for collectivism, but they are two entirely separate things. There are well to do and poor alike in the VFD. They share the share the goal of firefighting and doing good; they don't equally share the fruits of their labors. Someone is elected Chief, and at the fire scene, he makes the decisions; it's not put out for discussion and collective decision making.; 5/16/20, 11:05 AM
J. Farmer said...: @gospace:

The village is built within nature? That's a big laugh. Villages and farm communities are surrounded by nature, and hence, more in touch with it.

My wording was poor. Your last sentence here was exactly what I meant to describe. By saying built "within nature," I meant to say that it is more intimately attached to nature. And it is regulated by sunrise/sunset and the seasons. All settled living involves some command over nature, but it is the difference in degree between villages and cities that I intended to describe.

Rural and village communities practice cooperation on a grand scale. But reject collectivism. Collectivism is a big city idea, led by dreamers, who occasionally wander out and create collectivist communities

I was not using collectivism in the modern political sense. I was referring to collectivism as the notion of prioritizing group needs over individual needs. Mediating this tension is part of what societies due and is why some societies are described as more "collectivist" (ie group-oriented) and others as more "individualist." What you describe subsequently are examples of that.

In short, it sounds like we pretty much agree ;); 5/16/20, 1:57 PM
FullMoon said...: Re subscription.

I followed a link and came here late 2013,I think. Remember commenting how nice it was without the trashy commenters that all other blogs seemed to have.

A babe in the woods.

Not gonna lie, eventually joined in occasionally arguing with the retards, for which I am ashamed and embarrassed.

JK.; 5/16/20, 2:30 PM
FullMoon said...: End of an era.; 5/16/20, 2:31 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Ann Althouse said:

"We're planning to make a big change in the format to this blog, with subscription access to this blog in a form that has comments — moderated only after the fact and with the ability to control membership. When that is set up, there will be no more comments on this Blogspot site, but the posts will still appear here."

Sounds good. I hope Laslo signs up!; 5/16/20, 3:37 PM
tcrosse said...: Sounds good. I hope Laslo signs up!

We could take up a collection to pay Laslo's way.; 5/16/20, 4:39 PM
Mark said...: So I see that Obama was his usual ass in his little graduation talk on the TV.; 5/16/20, 9:33 PM
Terry Ott said...: Mark, someone on Fox (Watters?) congratulated him on his debut performance as Biden’s Press Secretary.; 5/17/20, 3:12 AM