Althouse: At the Sun-and-Moon Café...

October 5, 2020

At the Sun-and-Moon Café...

... you can write about whatever you want.

55 comments:

Achilles said...: The Covid nightmare is about to end one way or the other.

People are tired of this and we are all finding out it has all been lies.; 10/5/20, 8:18 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: ahhh--- that beautiful orange glow is returning!

...oh-- and nice sunrise pic, AA; 10/5/20, 8:23 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: look what they do to the Trump supporter on the bike.
Restored/Colorized video of a snowball fight in Lyon, France. 1896.; 10/5/20, 8:31 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Enjoy this week's BidenWatch.; 10/5/20, 8:33 PM
stevew said...: I love this time of year.

The moon always looks so much smaller in the photo than it did in the sky through my naked eye. Likewise the sun just above the horizon at sunrise.

Headed to a work dinner meeting tomorrow night. First time I've seen these folks in person since mid-March. We are all pretty excited. I hope there is no talk of Covid other than the broadly expressed disdain for the ineffectual and burdensome lock down. I'll have my mask so that I can enter and exit the facility, but that will be it. The attendees are all sales people, used to traveling weekly, often with overnight stays away from home. Personally speaking the time since mid-March is the longest I've gone without traveling for work in thirty years.; 10/5/20, 8:35 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: 2016: The Escalator Ride

2020: The Escalade Ride; 10/5/20, 8:43 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: 2015--our bad; 10/5/20, 8:52 PM
narciso said...: How we entered the matrix

https://www.bitchute.com/video/FgSALTfZCT0/; 10/5/20, 8:56 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Generalissimo Donald Trump is still valiantly holding on in his fight to remain dead.; 10/5/20, 8:59 PM
narciso said...: Ha

https://mobile.twitter.com/beyondreasdoubt/status/1313302188467290114; 10/5/20, 9:31 PM
walter said...: Cancer dx in "sharp decline".
Got that goin' for us..; 10/5/20, 9:31 PM
Big Mike said...: I just love the autumn. Crisp air. Trees turning red and yellow. Big Ten football.

Oh, wait.; 10/5/20, 9:32 PM
HT said...: Great video on exponential growth from Medcram.

https://youtu.be/2wJdB5tTKeg?t=106; 10/5/20, 9:47 PM
boatbuilder said...: Trump seems to like this dexamethawhatever stuff. I can’t wait for the next debate.

No, Joe, those are the rules you asked for-no drug tests! How do ya like me NOW!; 10/5/20, 9:54 PM
Roughcoat said...: we are all finding out it has all been lies.

Well ... I dunno about that. I'm a little over four weeks out from being as sick as I've ever been in my life. Whether I had COVID or not could not be determined with any certainty. COVID, or Son of COVID, or COVID 2.0, or a mutation? Unknown. I had all all the symptoms (except the lungs part) and I had them bad. Very bad. For five days. Then, BOOM, the fever broke and I started to get better. I'm still kinda tired, fatigued. It was bad while I had it -- and that's no lie. Tell me I'm wrong.; 10/5/20, 9:56 PM
boatbuilder said...: One of the big pluses of the Covid lockdown social distancing thing for the Biden campaign is that there are no chances for Joe to publicly grope any young women. Not that the MSM would show it, but you know he would do it, especially in his present addled state.; 10/5/20, 10:05 PM
n.n said...: Generalissimo Donald Trump is still valiantly holding on in his fight to remain dead.

He's viable and unPlanned, much to the consternation of liberal forces arrayed against him for the past 16 trimesters and progressives seeking a hook, a frame to spin their yarns.; 10/5/20, 10:06 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Orange Man Bad-ass; 10/5/20, 10:32 PM
bagoh20 said...: If you compare leftist outlets to conservatives ones right now, it's two different worlds. One optimistic, loving, and supportive wanting life and freedom. The other a dystopian world of fear, hysteria and hatred, angry at the prospect of losing control over complete strangers. How can anyone vote for that shit on the left. It's just ugly, sad, and pathetic. I'm sad about what Trump did to the Democrats, but it was their choice, and they chose hate.; 10/5/20, 10:43 PM
Big Mike said...: Wife and I were thrilled that our little gym within easy walking distance of our house reopened when this county went into Phase III. Pretty no frills gym operation, with ample exercise machines, plenty of free weights, very clean, but no fancy locker rooms, no large screen TVs. Just the sort of thing we like. But it is closing, the owner has another facility over a half hour away, and he’s consolidating operations in the hopes he can keep one of them going. Some restaurants have closed. I feel for the people who are out of work, which means I could never be a Democrat — they no longer bother to disguise their glee at people out of work and suffering.; 10/5/20, 10:52 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: So Boeing is moving all 787 production to SC. On the one hand, great! (Though as usual, the Midlands gets left out). On the other hand -- is this like Ford moving Edsel production?; 10/5/20, 10:56 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "If the President does declassify more documents related to Danchenko, and the dossier is even further discredited, will Dems then pivot to accusing Republicans of helping fund and disseminate the dossier?"

"EXPECT NO HELP FROM THE SENATE GOP EXPOSING SPYGATE AND YOU’LL NEVER BE DISAPPOINTED"

Here's why....per @seekerOtl

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1312919050406764545.html; 10/5/20, 10:56 PM
Yancey Ward said...: This is the level of insanity on the Left. Here is the quote from Maureen Dowd:

"When Trump walked through the doors, Walter Reed had a stellar reputation. As he walks out 72 hours later, its reputation is in tatters. There's nothing Trump can't ruin."

Seriously- the man walked out of the hospital after treated. Would their reputation have been better if he had been taken out tits up? What the fuck is wrong with people like Dowd? Do they have any fucking awareness of how the things they write appear to normal people?; 10/5/20, 11:49 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I am beginning to think that people like Dowd, Readering, and others really did expect Trump to die. What level of obtuseness and ignorance would lead one to such a conclusion?; 10/5/20, 11:51 PM
Joe Smith said...: So just think about it...we live in the age of fucking miracles..

Anywhere on the planet in less than a day...over mountains and oceans.

A device in your pocket that's more powerful than any computer on earth in the '80s...the modern-day library of Alexandria at your fingertips...

Realistically planning the colonization of the moon and mars.

But we never do stop to think about it...it's just everyday life.

Odd, that.; 10/5/20, 11:56 PM
Jon Ericson said...: 3 things:
Thing 1.
Thing 2.
Thing 3.; 10/6/20, 2:56 AM
buwaya said...: Current US employment situation -

Summary - The employment recovery HAS been "V-shaped" until September. However in September the employment rate recovery came to a dead halt.

St. Louis Fed Employment-Population Ratio (EMRATIO)

Jan 2020 61.2
Feb 2020 61.1
Mar 2020 60.0
Apr 2020 51.3
May 2020 52.8
Jun 2020 54.6
Jul 2020 55.1
Aug 2020 56.5
Sep 2020 56.6
EMRATIO is the simple proportion of the civilian population that is employed. This avoids the complications and inaccuracies, or sometimes the misleading nature, of figuring out the labor force numbers to use for an unemployment rate.
Covid has had a tremendous effect on employment, through restrictions implemented through public policies. This is of course similar to what has been observed worldwide. Relaxation of lockdowns, to a degree, has permitted a very rapid recovery of employment, "V-shaped" indeed, but it seems that the remaining public policy restrictions (restaurants, retail, entertainment, personal services, etc.) have put a near-halt to improvements in the employment situation. This probably affects some states more than others, as naturally for the US, state policies vary. But there is no state-by-state EMRATIO to analyze this unfortunately.

There are state unemployment rates, but they suffer from the labor force calculation problem (as above) and there is a lag in reporting these. The Sept numbers should come out mid-month. For what its worth, spot checks in August data show TX 6.8% CA 11.4%, which is probably due to the tighter lockdown regime in CA vs TX.

Europe in general has not seen a V-shaped employment recovery at all. Partly this is due to people not officially losing employment status while locked down. International data is also lagged vs the US in most cases.; 10/6/20, 3:40 AM
rehajm said...: Maureen Dowd: When Trump walked through the doors, Walter Reed had a stellar reputation. As he walks out 72 hours later, its reputation is in tatters. There's nothing Trump can't ruin.

Mollie Hemingway: Imagine thinking a wonderful hospital lost its reputation because you and your peers lost their ever living minds and have a 4-year long temper tantrum

I'd also consider all the institutions they've already ruined for that reason. It's a huge list...; 10/6/20, 3:52 AM
rehajm said...: I watched some Biden gaffes from his stage production yesterday. With the mask on you can't tell if the crazy things he's saying are real or dubbed out of context. The mask creates deniability for his incoherent speech!; 10/6/20, 3:56 AM
stephen cooper said...: I like honest people BUT I MISS THE RATS.

If you are interested in my thoughts on politics (and of course you aren't), I recommend the twitter postings of Carlos Osweda, who basically explains politics the best way anyone is explaining them right now. Even if you disagree with the guy, you should be reading his twitter feed, if you are interested in politics.

DID I MENTION I MISS THE RATS!

Well, I miss a lot of things. Lots of people - even Stevie Nicks, whose singing voice is incomparable - are currently addicted to political news on the inter webs. I am never gonna write a self-help book, but may I make a recommendation? If I were to write a self-help book (which I never will) I would put this somewhere in the first chapter...

If you find yourself spending too much time listening to political news, or reading the latest "hot takes" on election strategies, don't sweat it. It is not an addiction, it is just a passing phase in your life ( a life, by the way, which is not only important to you but is also important to everyone who loves you, including God) ....All you need to do, to start your journey away from "having been a person who was overly addicted to politics", is to promise yourself to spend a few minutes every day "googling" inspirational quotes from really really good people.

For example, Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, specifically the quotes about how much God loves us, and how much God appreciates the way we accept the suffering in our lives without complaint because we love creatures that God, too, loves.

George MacDonald, who knew Poverty in a way I never will.

Or simply, at least once a day on the internet, look up a poem by Christina Rossetti or a similar poet. You will not have wasted your time.

There are many Americans I could mention but this is an American website, run by an American, with mostly American commenters, and so I am guessing you know which Americans have moved you, in the past, and you can easily spend the time that is needed to remind yourself of what it is like to be thankful to God you lived in the same world they lived in.

DID I MENTION I MISS THE RATS? I am tempted to adopt a few rats as pets, but I probably won't, that would not be fair to the one or two cats who live in my house. It would not be fair to make them live in a house where rats live, with me, who would not allow them to eat the rats.

Mark Twain may be, to you, a "writer" who was once famous, to me he is, first and foremost, a guy who did what I try to do: he adopted many many animals, welcomed them into his home, and made them happy.

It is no small thing to be a friend to a creature who never had a friend in this world.; 10/6/20, 4:31 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: Latest Facebook drama: I received a 30 day suspension for a meme that featured a photo of the Nazi war crimes. No swastikas in view. I appealed and they allowed it to be posted, saying it did not go against their community standards. But then they gave me 3 days without a reason. I go into my file and then I find dozens of posts in 2019 they just found against community standards. Now my suspension is 7 days. I stopped posting political stuff several months back, more for my mental health than anything else. So it's just dark humor and such. Yes, I know I should just quit, but I enjoy it. Such is life.

THEOLDMAN; 10/6/20, 5:51 AM
rehajm said...: Remember when the Democrats freaked out because the riots were hurting Joe Biden in the polls?
We never did see the polls Don Lemon was talking about.; 10/6/20, 5:51 AM
Clyde said...: (Looks at National Hurricane Center map with cone going over Louisiana)

So, where did you EXPECT a hurricane named Delta to go? (The other obvious answer is "Atlanta.")

They always retire the names of major hurricanes that cause a lot of deaths or damage. Can they retire a Greek letter?; 10/6/20, 5:54 AM
stevew said...: @buwaya: interesting stats there. Purely anecdotal but some other things affecting the employment numbers, including participation:

- Many businesses in my area (southern seacoast Maine) are shutting down for the season
- Several industries continue layoffs (travel, hospitality)
- Some large employers are hove to and not yet rehiring due to uncertainty of the economic picture

These factors offset any gains in employment, keeping the EMRATIO static?; 10/6/20, 6:33 AM
rehajm said...: I'm starting to think they Megyn Kellyed Joe Rogan- paid him millions to lure him to a place where he could be cancelled. We'll see...; 10/6/20, 6:35 AM
RMc said...: What the fuck is wrong with people like Dowd? Do they have any fucking awareness of how the things they write appear to normal people?

Dowd is writing for NYT readers, not normal people. (Hell, she probably hasn't talked to a normal person in years.); 10/6/20, 6:38 AM
iowan2 said...: President is literally Hitler. Terrible authoritarian. We've spent weeks war gaming, how to remove President Trump from the office when he loses the election. What a dictator.

No mention about the the Democrat Governor, declaring she is ignoring the unanymous supreme court decision, and will continue her one person rule of the state. Ignoring the legislative and judical branches of govt, and exercise her singular view of despotic control.

Leftist are continually warning about the seeds of tyranny taking hold with the Republicans, but it actually grows and flourishes with Democrats in power.

Witmer is the embodiment of tyrannical govt as used by Democrats.; 10/6/20, 6:45 AM
rehajm said...: Two new observations: One- we're hearing lots of stirring from the states about major tax rate increases, and not just on income, but wealth. Two- we're hearing lots of stirring from clients about major restructuring of their economic lives- not just asset mix but state of residence, and not just from the Republicans.; 10/6/20, 6:47 AM
AllenS said...: President Trump gets out of the hospital and the DOW goes up 465.83. Coincidence? I think not.; 10/6/20, 7:05 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “I am beginning to think that people like Dowd, Readering, and others really did expect Trump to die. What level of obtuseness and ignorance would lead one to such a conclusion?”

What I don’t think that they ever get is that Trump does follow the science. He follows it better than they do. It’s like they believe science only when it meets their preconceived expectations, and pretend that it doesn’t exist otherwise. He jumped on the prophylactic use of a hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc cocktail last spring, and the Dems, MSM, etc immediately started denying its efficacy. They still do - reporting studies last week that hydroxychloroquine alone can’t be shown to cure the disease. So what? A lot of front line primary care people still are taking the cocktail prophylacticly - including my doctor, whom I saw last Friday, and has the record for COVID-19 diagnosises in one day in this county. To cure the disease, instead of reducing the odds that you will get it, you probably need something like the monoclonal antibodies Trump apparently received.

Far from destroying the hospital’s reputation, I will suggest that their reputation should, if anything, be burnished by their treatment of the President. They apparently pumped him full of steroids and the monoclonal antibodies, and he was doing his victory lap in his Beast within a couple days, despite being considered vulnerable due to his age and weight. And then he went home the next day to the White House. What they did for him worked, and that is exactly what we expect of such a esteemed hospital. Think about it for a minute - the left is claiming that the hospital’s absolutely perfect treatment of the President is why their reputation is in tatters. It makes absolutely no logical sense. Serious TDS seems to rot their brains and make them incapable of critical thinking and logical thought. Their reputation would have taken a beating if they had lost their most important patient, instead of sending him home in 3 days. Idiots.; 10/6/20, 7:16 AM
Kai Akker said...: There is an Althouse commenter who said a few weeks back that he had caught Covid. Has he returned with an update? Perhaps I missed it. Does anyone else know?; 10/6/20, 7:34 AM
daskol said...: Those labor force participation rates are scary. And yet the markets go up, anticipating a "stimulus," because as you say, the data out of Europe is lagging and unreliable, so where else can that liquidity go? The irony of the Trump admin thus far: for 3 years, we saw the relative wages of working class people rise for the first time in 10-15 years (data are fuzzy), relative to the better off. And the past 9 months has seen the most aggressive transfer of wealth to the 1%, away from everyone else, that I hope this country ever sees again. If the first part of Trump's regime postponed the revolution, the last 9 months has escalated even more than it was cooled under his salubrious economic policies. We are probably fucked here in NYC, where we think we can just shoot our dick off and grow a new one anytime we want. That hurts, and it doesn't always grow back the same or very quickly. I'm not packing yet, but I'm trying to reduce exposure to NYC real estate.; 10/6/20, 7:47 AM
Jersey Fled said...: I am beginning to think that people like Dowd, Readering, and others really did expect Trump to die. What level of obtuseness and ignorance would lead one to such a conclusion?

Simple. Lefties believe that catching the virus is a death sentence. And they act accordingly. At least if my Lefty friends are any indication.; 10/6/20, 7:49 AM
Drago said...: rehajm: "I'm starting to think they Megyn Kellyed Joe Rogan- paid him millions to lure him to a place where he could be cancelled. We'll see..."

Megyn Kellyed/DrudgeReport-ed him.

Not a bad strategic move.

And then stay quiet about it so low information types like readering still think its some bastion of actual conservatism that has turned against Trump.; 10/6/20, 8:27 AM
Roughcoat said...: Kai Akker --

I think I'm the person you're referring to. I'm okay now.; 10/6/20, 8:38 AM
Francisco D said...: Mollie Hemingway: Imagine thinking a wonderful hospital lost its reputation because you and your peers lost their ever living minds and have a 4-year long temper tantrum

I like Mollie but there was a typo. It should read:

Imagine thinking a wonderful hospital lost its reputation because you and your peers lost their ever loving minds and have a 4-year old temper tantrum.

The Left must be getting tired of running around with their hair on fire, doncha think?; 10/6/20, 8:47 AM
Kai Akker said...: Roughcoat, you are! And I had just recalled your monicker and came back on here. Great, so glad to hear it. Anything else you have to tell us about it?; 10/6/20, 8:51 AM
stevew said...: My portfolio approaches and is very close to the target I set for retiring. I'm inclined to ride this employment horse a while longer just to be sure. One of my younger sisters (I'm eldest, they're all younger) retired last Friday. She worked for many years in a decent paying municipal job so she gets a pension of some size. She's really happy to be doing something else, though the specifics are not quite firmed up.; 10/6/20, 8:53 AM
Kai Akker said...: And, uh, I see now that you had already put an update on this thread. So I, uh, had missed it. Anyway, glad to hear you're better, Roughcoat.; 10/6/20, 9:30 AM
buwaya said...: Answers to comments re employment-

- Seasonality in EMRATIO should exist, but from what I have seen its usually masked by larger trend changes in employment.

-Travel, tourism etc. are also not back because of continuing restrictions. The world desperately needs to get back to normal policies.

- I am confident that it is continuing business restrictions that brought the US recovery to a halt. The test cases are Texas and California, that have had great differences in lockdown rules and strictness of enforcement.

We can see this in the unemployment rate track of the two states - in Jan, the "normal" case, in the April "depth" of the Covid lockdowns, and in the August case.

TX - Jan 3.5% April 13.5% Aug 6.8%
CA - Jan 3.9% April 16.4% Aug 11.4%

It is almost certainly the stricter lockdowns in CA that produced greater job losses there than TX, and ongoing strict lockdowns that have maintained an unemployment rate much worse than TX. Note that TX in Aug had 50% the unemployment of April while CA was at 70%.

It seems likely (granted the limitations of the unemployment rate as a metric) that it is states such as CA that are retarding recovery. As long as large states like CA and NY and etc. maintain strict lockdowns and liberalize very slowly the national economy will not recover. The US is an economic unit; even well run states like TX can be held back economically by problems in such a large part of the country.; 10/6/20, 9:53 AM
Michael K said...: I had all all the symptoms (except the lungs part) and I had them bad. Very bad. For five days. Then, BOOM, the fever broke and I started to get better. I'm still kinda tired, fatigued. It was bad while I had it -- and that's no lie. Tell me I'm wrong.

My wife had all that in June, plus the lung thing but no respirator. Five covid tests negative but she takes HCQ for rheumatoid arthritis. Glad you are better.; 10/6/20, 10:15 AM
Michael K said...: It seems likely (granted the limitations of the unemployment rate as a metric) that it is states such as CA that are retarding recovery. As long as large states like CA and NY and etc. maintain strict lockdowns and liberalize very slowly the national economy will not recover.

One factor in the jobs numbers is the refusal of teachers to return. Those numbers are part of the seasonal trends. The logical response would be to defund teachers and give the money to parents to find an alternative.; 10/6/20, 12:02 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: I hope your being "easily tired these days" doesn't mean you're dealing with the plague, Stephen Cooper. Glad that you others (Dr Kennedy, Roughcoat, and anyone else) who've had it, have gotten better.; 10/6/20, 3:55 PM
RobinGoodfellow said...: “Blogger Yancey Ward said...
I am beginning to think that people like Dowd, Readering, and others really did expect Trump to die. What level of obtuseness and ignorance would lead one to such a conclusion?”

I don’t know if they were expecting, but they were hoping and praying. No atheists with TDS.; 10/6/20, 5:03 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/6/20, 8:19 PM