Zed Head

No Trump bump.

They can't be depended upon, is my point. Remember back to election night. Everybody was shocked. I have heard that only a single poll, of the hundreds out there, predicted that Trump would win.

I wonder what Barr was thinking when he volunteered for the AG spot.

Polls have never been right. The media needs them to talk about. Polls did not predict that Trump would come close to winning. Don't believe any polls.

You need to watch just for the expressions of the people behind him. And even watching his BS can make you laugh just because he's trying to sound like a real person. It's just amazing that he is the President.

Press conference about to start. Sad-sack Barr is moping around already. It's on... He finally stopped with "Chinese" virus. Just said the virus. 73 "pallets" of supplies to NY. Trump is recommending his own cures for "the virus". He really thinks that he knows medicine. Telling story of one guy who didn't die. He took the drug, didn't die, woke up and felt good. Chloroquine for everyone! Gift from god! Big game changer! He's thanking Bolsonaro. See previous post about Brazil. Trump tries to pronounce the word scourge. Skorj. Barr speaks. Hoarding and price-gouging. Boring... Deborah Birx has drank the Koolaid. Downplaying the severity of the virus. Young people will be okay! Only old people die. Over 50. She actually said "I think that this is reassuring to all of us". I think that she's about 65. DIY testing is coming! Yay. She's implying that NY is a special case. Downplay.... Pence. New FEMA guy. Still sounds not like a guy who knows what he's doing. Explaining too-little-too-late principle, indirectly. Questions... Trump says words to soothe the stock market. The country will be "open" again soon. It's not working. Talking about states as countries. The country of Iowa. Birx sounded reasonable but she's still being bent to Trump's will. Sad. She is basically saying that each hot spot will last eight weeks. And we might have to isolate old people. Trump compares the virus to the flu. We've circled back around to "it's just the flu".. Who knows. Idiot reporter still focused on why Rand Paul got a test. He's a Senator. Trump talks about himself... Trump goes in to simpleton mode. Trying to explain complex issues with a tiny tool box. Seriously, he can't really form a complete thought and explain it. The talking heads have taken over. Summary - Trump will be "reopening" things in a week or two. Not clear what, exactly, he would reopen.

Kind of pointless. Look inward (or southward for you). The US passes itself off as the world's super-power and savior. Look at us now.

WH press conference ni 10 minutes supposedly. Probably talk about executive order to stop gouging. Which probably won't be enforced. AG Barr will be at the briefing. What would the Justice Department's role be? Proclaiming the Constitution invalid and crowning a King?

Here is the "herd immunity" experiment in action. Brazil. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/brazils-jair-bolsonaro-says-coronavirus-crisis-is-a-media-trick

This whole thing is playing out about like Katrina (New Orleans) and Maria (Puerto Rico). Except the players are much more powerful. New York and California, to start. Unexpected consequences expected for the future.

Anti-rattle (mouse trap) springs?

Here's something on the role of big government, and price "gouging". With no oversight, the "free" market automatically diverts resources to the "rich". The people with the most money. It's how the machine works, like an engine with no governor. On Monday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the scramble to supply health workers with more equipment has lead to a state-against-state bidding war, and reiterating his call for the Trump administration to nationalize the production of medical equipment.Before the pandemic hit, Cuomo said New York state paid $0.85 per respirator mask, but the cost was now $7. And that is why he wants the federal government involved.“Order the production of masks and gowns and ventilators,” from private industry, Cuomo said. “Give them a deadline, don’t get into this mad bidding war… The president can do this.”

Kind of humorous. Calling an ophthalmologist a medical doctor. No offense to the eye doctors. "How could a medical doctor be so ignorant?", they say. The conversations are about Senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist when he's not causing havoc in DC. Spreading the virus around the Senate gym while he thought he might have it.

The curve is not flattening. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

The fatal flaw in your argument. Overall, I don't think that anyone is surprised at how things are turning out, with COVID-19. None of this is really unexpected. It's just shocking that it's real. Things could be better though, that's undeniable.

Sorry. Can't accept defeatist comments.

You can lower it to the ground from under the hood then reach under the car and slide it out. No need to raise the car. On the other hand, it might be easier to reach the bolts with the car raised. Make sure that you disconnect your negative cable at the battery first. Don't want the positive cable hanging loose if the negative is still connected.

How does the choice get made? Who oversees the choice? Who manages implementation of the choice? You need to offer something to replace what's here.

Maybe it's the sausage. I had breakfast in a German airport and it was all sausage. Ten different kinds of sausage. Actually, they're proposing that it might just be the care that the sick people are getting. The hospitals aren't full and they were ready. Some expect the numbers to go up as they get over-run. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/germany-low-coronavirus-mortality-rate-puzzles-experts

I can't figure out what this means. Sorry. Is that Ozzy Osbourne upper right? I did have my haircut by a PHD though. Professional hair dresser.

You're still talking about distance. "Local". What is the magical distance, the break-even distance? If the Walmart is 20 miles away instead of next door is that okay? What your locality needs is Federal assistance, it sounds like. And, the remedy for you is to vote the bad local government out. Get out the vote. Make some noise.

I've been mulling a theory that the virus actually came from people that let their dogs lick their face. It's plausible, I think.,

Wouldn't be a surprise to find that Trump has been exposed to Rand Paul and they're trying to get him to quarantine. Crazy times. You know the press is going to ask, and it's a reasonable question. Here we go, the podium is loading up with the usual suspects. The President arrives... Really weird that Trump just has to be the one that reads the piece of paper. Bizarre. Pence has the look of somebody watching his boss take credit for all of his hard work. Watch his face. Some of us have been there. Pence is going to get caught, his mask is slipping... Trump is done and he just burned Pence. Ignored him completely and brought up the FEMA guy instead, who has been a complete BS'er from the beginning. Looks like Fauci is out too. Fauci and Pence were both getting great reviews and being compared to Trump. So they have to be diminished. There's a new guy, Navarro, who seems like another BS'er. Get rid of the guys that know and bring in the BS. And the brown-noses... Pence did get to speak and he sounded even more human than usual. It's a transformation. He's a real person. Taking questions but Trump has to BS for a while first. He seems to be as orange as I've ever seen him. The more he talks the more you realize how little there is in there. It's incredible, as he himself would say. Trump just copied Cuomo almost verbatim. "If it would save one life". In Trump's brain the problem can be simplified down to things like hand sanitizer. Now he's talking about he gave up his $450,00 salary. I think he has forgotten what the meeting is about. Now he's talking about "trying" new things on the sick people. No testing. "We have thousands of sick people we can try these things on". He doesn't understand medicine. The Surgeon General shows that he is a BSer also. Asked if undocumented people can be tested without fear, he BS'ed completely around it. Not even close to answering. Pence steps up and gives a real answer. Don't know if he can be believed though. The press is down to the dumb questions. Can't believe that some of these people are journalists. Now it's down to Trump talking about Trump. Signing out, can't watch any more...

It's hard to have a discussion about these things unless you decide beforehand what the final result is supposed to look like. Many people and politicians see things as a competition with winners and losers and they just want to be sure that their side wins. Others try to find a way where everyone wins. I think that is the basis of most political problems, they're talking about different goals. Your argument above is really just about distance, 600 feet versus 600 miles. But in the end it's the same thing. One is just more obvious.

You left out the Chinese - 1,000 years.