The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A ‘Granular’ Re-Opening Plan

Posted on | April 17, 2020 | Comments Off on A ‘Granular’ Re-Opening Plan

 

During the past couple of weeks of daily briefings, Dr. Deborah Birx has popularized the word “granular” to describe how the COVID-19 task force is tracking the spread of the disease. While the news media remain focused on the Big Numbers — the cumulative total of cases and the death toll — those whose job it is to try and control this contagion must pay attention to a series of small-scale pictures: What is causing the increase in cases in one particular county? Are local health officials able to do complete contact tracing on new patients? Does the task force need to move more resources into this region?

During the discussion of when and how to “re-open the economy” (a misleading phrase, because large segments of economic activity have not been restricted by “stay-at-home” orders), the anti-Trump media seemed to be under the impression that a one-size-fits-all approach would be imposed by the White House, which never made sense. There are many parts of the country where rates of COVID-19 infection are still very low, and there is no reason why these communities cannot be permitted to ease restrictions, while at the same time keeping the viral “hot spots” under lockdown orders. For example, in Florida, no one is suggesting that the Miami area should just “go back to business” anytime soon, but it doesn’t make sense to maintain indefinitely the same restrictions in Lakeland and Kissimmee.

If the level of infection, on a per-capita basis, is comparatively low in a community, and if the number of new cases is small enough that each individual case can be contained via quarantine and contact tracing, then a return to something like “normal” life is possible. Of course, there must be measures to protect the elderly and other high-risk individuals, but let me quote something from an Associated Press article:

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

That’s from an article about Brazil, whose president fired the health minister this week, but it is a fair summary of what we know: Most people who become infected with COVID-19 are never hospitalized; some are asymptomatic, or nearly so, while a relatively small percentage of those infected develop serious problems which may be fatal. Thursday’s report from Florida, for example, shows 23,340 known coronavirus cases since March 1, of which 3,458 (14.8%) have ever been hospitalized, and 668 (2.9%) have died. Keep in mind, of course, that some unknown percentage of Floridians have actually been infected already, but experienced few or no symptoms, and recovered without ever being tested or treated by any medical professional. So the actual death rate is probably lower than what has been reported, and Florida’s 668 deaths in a population of more than 21 million are but a fraction of the per-capita death rate in New York, New Jersey or Michigan. Letting states and local communities manage their outbreaks, under guidance based on “granular” metrics, is what the Trump plan is about:

President Donald Trump gave governors a road map Thursday for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.
“We’re starting our life again,” Trump said during his daily press briefing. “We’re starting rejuvenation of our economy again.”
He added, “This is a gradual process.”
The new guidelines are aimed at easing restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while holding the line in harder-hit locations. They make clear that the return to normalcy will be a far longer process than Trump initially envisioned, with federal officials warning that some social distancing measures may need to remain in place through the end of the year to prevent a new outbreak. And they largely reinforce plans already in the works by governors, who have primary responsibility for public health in their states.
“You’re going to call your own shots,” Trump told the governors Thursday afternoon in a conference call, according to an audio recording obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re going to be standing alongside of you.”

My guess is that we’ll see a resumption of spring training games in Florida in a matter of weeks. Just keep watching the numbers.




 

Category: Donald Trump, Health Care

In The Mailbox: 04.16.20

Posted on | April 16, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 04.16.20

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Today’s Page Three Girl is Maria Demina.

From rekt.mag

OVER THE TRANSOM
Red Pilled Jew: Wednesday Whittle
357 Magnum: NJ Governor Vs. The Bill Of Rights
EBL: So How Long Until Democrat-Run Businesses Revolt Against The Coronavirus Shutdown?
Twitchy: Elon Musk OWNS CNN Comms Dude In Ventilators Debate & Then Does His Job For Him
Louder With Crowder: Northern Michigan Sheriffs Say They Won’t Comply With Governor’s Overreach
Vox Popoli: The Devil Mouse Is Dying, also, The Financialization Of The U.S. Economy

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Antisocial Distancing
American Conservative: What If The Coronavirus Really Did Originate In A Red Chinese Lab?
American Greatness: Are We Witnessing A Targeted Hit Against Trump Voters?
American Power: Social Distancing In College Classroom
American Thinker: Hydroxychloroquine – A New Low For The Liberal Media
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily When I Fight Authority News
Babalu Blog: NYPost Confirms & Fleshes Out Ethel Kennedy Story We Broke April 13 But doesn’t Give Us Attribution
BattleSwarm: Red China’s Lies Part III – More Songs About Viral Labs & Propaganda
Cafe Hayek: There Really Is No Such Things As A Free Lunch
Da Tech Guy: The Democrats Held Up The Coronavirus Stimulus So They Could Try And Steal Elections
Don Surber: Outrage Of The Day
The Geller Report: Coronavirus Death Numbers Are A Complete Fraud, also, Pennsylvania State Senate Votes To Override Governor’s Stay-At-Home Order
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, I’m Not Making This Up, You Know
Hollywood In Toto: The Quarry Director Shares Indie Film’s Cold Truths, also, Endings, Beginnings Makes Millennial Love Look Lousy
JustOneMinute: Do Tell
Legal Insurrection: Pelosi Continues To Block Clean Expansion Of Payroll Protection Program, also, Stacey Abrams Campaigning To Be Joe Biden’s VP
Megan McArdle: Why The Lockdown Skeptics Are Wrong
The PanAm Post: Mexican Company Helps Maduro Avoid U.S. Sanctions
Power Line: Domestic Violence Soars Due To Lockdowns, also, Steele’s Russian Disinformation
Shark Tank: Laura Loomer Outraises Dem Rep Lois Frankel For Third Straight Quarter
Shot In The Dark: The Real Virus
STUMP: Non-Taxing Non-Tuesday – A Hit To State Revenues
The Political Hat: Reasonable Measures Don’t Justify Abuse Of Power
This Ain’t Hell: Justice Kavanaugh Vs. Joe Biden
Victory Girls: Trump Shows Leadership, Kamala Harris Fails To Recognize It
Volokh Conspiracy: The Art Of The Troll
Weasel Zippers: Small Business Loan Program Runs Out Of Money, Stops Accepting Applications – Thanks, Democrats! also, Ilhan Omar Funnels Nearly $300,000 More To Husband’s Firm
Mark Steyn: Achoo-Choo Ch’Boogie

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Category: Linkagery

‘Feminist’ Jessica Valenti: Vote for Biden Because ORANGE MAN BAD!

Posted on | April 16, 2020 | 2 Comments

 

When last we took notice of “feminist” Jessica Valenti, she was “despairing” about the failure of Elizabeth Warren’s campaign:

I knew going into Super Tuesday that Elizabeth Warren was unlikely to win big. I had prepared myself for that. What did take me by surprise, though, was just how poorly she fared: Even in her home state of Massachusetts, she finished third. . . .
It’s enough to make me feel, well, despairing: that we had the candidate of a lifetime — someone with the energy, vision, and follow-through to lead the country out of our nightmarish era — and that the media and voters basically outright erased and ignored her. . . .
Whoever the nominee is, their campaign is going to have to come to terms with the intense misogyny so many female voters have dealt with — and understand that it’s an issue we care deeply about. And their supporters are going to have to let us be sad — depressed, even — that once again we’re going to watch a race to leadership between old white men.

Cry more, bitch. Anything that makes you unhappy is objectively good.

By the way, what’s the COVID-19 rate in your posh Brooklyn neighborhood? But never mind that, there’s your latest personal disaster:

On election night in 2016, my six-year-old daughter and I wore matching “feminist” T-shirts, ordered a pizza, and sat glued in front of the television with my mother. Assuming three generations of women were about to watch the first female president be elected, I bought a bottle of champagne. (It’s still sitting in a dusty corner of my bar.)
This November, there won’t be buzzy excitement or matching T-shirts with my daughter. On election day, my choice will be between Donald Trump, a dangerous bigot who has been credibly accused of rape, sexual assault, and harassment by more than two dozen women over a more than four-decade period, and Joe Biden, a man recently accused of sexually assaulting a Senate aide in the 1990s, and who has made fun of the women who complained about his penchant for unwanted shoulder rubs.
Biden is the better choice by a mile, and I’ll do what’s right for the country and vote for him. But I’m still furious: I can’t believe that when faced with the most dangerous president of our lifetime, Democrats are moving ahead with a nearly 80-year-old moderate who has shown himself time and again not up for the fight. I am livid that Democratic women will be called on, once again, to cast our vote in the name of reducing harm to the country rather than moving it forward.
Most of all, I’m angry that people who want Trump out are expected to just vote without airing our concerns about the man who stands between him and another four years. . . .

Joe Biden is the Democrat you deserve, Jessica. Your particular hustle — two decades of promoting a brand of “feminism” that is, in fact, nothing but partisanship aimed toward mobilizing women to vote Democrat — has finally been exposed as the shabby grift is always was. You have about as much credibility as Bill Kristol, Rick Wilson and the rest of the #NeverTrump crew, which is to say, no credibility at all.

Amazing what Trump Derangement Syndrome does to people . . .




 

Category: Donald Trump, Feminism, Joe Biden

In The Mailbox: 04.15.20

Posted on | April 15, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #957
357 Magnum: Welcome To The Police State
Ammo.com: Patriots’ Day – Its Forgotten History & What It Commemorates
EBL: It’s Time To Resist The Coronavirus Shutdown!
Twitchy: WaPo Updates Its Story On Stimulus Checks Being Delayed Because Of President Trump’s Signature
Louder With Crowder: NYC Adds Thousands To COVID Death Count Who Never Tested Positive

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: You Gotta get With The Program
American Conservative: Rich & Healthy Vs. Poor & Dead
American Greatness: Coronavirus Racial Disparities Miss The Bigger Picture, also, Hope Without Change
American Power: Competition, The Coronavirus, & The Weakness of Chairman Xi
American Thinker: The Media Controls The “Crisis”
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Eleven Cuban Refugees Interned & Quarantined In The Bahamas
Baldilocks: The Illegal And/Or Unconstitutional Acts Of President Barack Obama, Part III
BattleSwarm: Wuhan Coronavirus Origins Part 2 – The Timeline Of Red China’s Lies
Cafe Hayek: Cleaned By Capitalism XLI
Camp Of The Saints: Remembering 15 April 1865
CDR Salamander: Red China Rings The Nuclear Bell
Da Tech Guy: The President’s WHO Declaration Is An Instant GOP Ad Generator On Twitter
Don Surber: Press Finds A COVID-19 Cure It Likes
First Street Journal: Another Republican Who Doesn’t Care About Your Constitutional Rights
The Geller Report: Pelosi Brags About Blocking Funding That Would Save Millions Of American Jobs, also, Democrat Mayor In Mississippi Forced To Cancel Fines On “Drive-In” Churchgoers After DOJ Intervenes
Hogewash: This TKPOTD Proves Schmalfeldt Knew Exactly Who He Was Getting Involved With, also, Just Passing By
Hollywood In Toto: Red Pilled America Challenges Hulu’s Schlafly Series, also, How The Tenant Captured A Disgraced Auteur’s Mindset
Legal Insurrection: Virginia Is Gone – Gov. Coonface Klanrobe Signs Far-Left Agenda Into Law, also, #OperationGridlock Shuts Down Lansing To Protest Gov. Whitmer’s Shutdown Overreach
Michelle Malkin: Phyllis Schlafly, Godmother Of America First
The PanAm Post: WHO’s Director General Is Beijing’s Stooge
Power Line: Another Dishonest Smear By The Washington Post, also, Coronavirus In One State
Shark Tank: FL AG Ashley Moody Cracks Down On COVID-19 Price Gouging
Shot In The Dark: Blue Fragility, Part III
The Political Hat: Science & Medicine?
This Ain’t Hell: Cooking The Books, also, Bernath’s Crash Analysis
Victory Girls: Matt Gaetz Tells NIH – Stop Funding Wuhan Lab
Volokh Conspiracy: PA Supremes Reject Takings Challenge To Coronavirus Shutdown Order
Weasel Zippers: NYC Adds Nearly 4000 Who Never Tested Positive To Coronavirus Death Toll, also, Sen. Gillibrand Says Illegals Should Get Coronavirus Stimulus & Unemployment Benefits
Mark Steyn: Extra Matzoh – Hold The Bat Soup, also, Fevers, Faith, & Folly

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Category: Linkagery

Ace of Spades Murder Spree Continues

Posted on | April 15, 2020 | Comments Off on Ace of Spades Murder Spree Continues

 

It’s a hate crime, really. He hates him some #NeverTrump cucks:

We could split the anti-Hillary vote in 2016, because the election wasn’t binary.
But now we can’t split the anti-Trump vote in 2020, because the election is binary.
I think in 2016, Kristol, Sykes, French, Goldberg, Hayes, and the rest of the Losers Club thought they would one day be able to grift from conservatives again.
So pretending to not be dedicated to electing Democrats was an important fiction for them.

You’ll just have to read the whole thing to understand why he’s calling them out today. He calls them out every day, but their latest transparent grift is a new nadir of dishonest hypocrisy. Oh, they have “principles,” if you count getting paid as a “principle.”

Ewoks are dangerous, if you piss them off bad enough.




 

Category: Ace of Spades

‘It’s Her’: Cruz Ally Victoria Coates Identified as ‘Anonymous’ Author

Posted on | April 15, 2020 | 1 Comment

Ted Cruz campaign adviser Victoria Coates in a March 2016 TV appearance.

Oh, of course, the anti-Trump mole in the White House is a woman.

Victoria Coates, an art history Ph.D. who served as an adviser to Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, has been identified as “Anonymous,” administration sources tell RCP reporter Paul Sperry:

Ever since a “senior official in the Trump administration” penned an anonymous 2018 New York Times column attacking President Trump as unfit for office, Washington has been engrossed in a high-stakes whodunit. After an exhaustive investigation, the White House believes it’s cracked the case, identifying Trump’s turncoat as his former deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates, according to people familiar with the internal probe.
Rather than fire Coates, the White House has quietly transferred her to the Department of Energy, where she awaits special assignment in Saudi Arabia — far from the president.
Trump effectively demoted Coates just four months after promoting her last fall to the No. 2 spot on his National Security Council. The move was made amid a whisper campaign, started in January, that identified Coates as “Anonymous,” the person who wrote the Times Op-Ed and a subsequent book, “A Warning,” claiming to be part of a cabal of “fellow Republicans” resisting Trump and his policies from inside the administration. . . .

Read the whole story of how Coates was identified by a trail of clues, including her distinctive writing style. “Piss poor OpSec,” basically. Anyone familiar with the use of computer analysis knows that, if you are writing thousands upon thousands of words under a pseudonym, and you are also a published writer under your own byline, your mask of anonymity will eventually be penetrated. People who write for a living develop habits, and it turns out that using a pseudonym was one of Coates’s habits — she had written for Red State as “Academic Elephant.” As Sperry points out, former Red State editor Erick Erickson was, like Coates, a supporter of the Ted Cruz campaign, and there are many other dots like that in the pattern that identifies Coates as the “Resistance” saboteur who was embedded in the National Security Council.

Let me quote Elbert Hubbard here:

If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him, speak well of him, and stand by the institution he represents. Remember, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault — resign your position, and when you are outside, damn to your heart’s content — but as long as you are part of the institution, do not condemn it.

It is dishonorable to be two-faced toward your employer, to smile at your boss and then badmouth him behind his back, to collect a paycheck and then constantly demean your employer to others. This kind of gossipy, backstabbing behavior destroys the spirit of teamwork, and if you have ever been in a workplace when this vicious spirit takes hold, you know how damaging it can be to the morale necessary to successful organizations. Having witnessed such situations more than once in my career, I deplore the bitchy gossips and childish tattletales who do this stuff. It is disloyal and dishonorable, and if you ever encounter someone in your workplace acting this way, you need to shut them down.

Of course, everybody has their share of grievances to grumble about in any job, but slanderous backstabbing, such as Victoria Coates is accused of doing, ought never to be tolerated in the workplace. I have myself had to counsel people against such behavior, and let me give you a hint: If some gossip comes to you badmouthing another person, what do you think the gossip is going to say about you behind your back?

The habit of gossip is always a mark of untrustworthy character. Gossip is un-Christian, repeatedly condemned as sinful in the Bible.

Politics is a team sport, and success requires everyone on the team to be committed to victory. Sorry, Ms. Coates, you got cut from the team.

Enjoy your exile in Saudi Arabia. Bon voyage!

UPDATE: Linked by Vox Day — thanks!




 

Category: Donald Trump

In The Mailbox: 04.14.2020

Posted on | April 14, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 04.14.2020

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Gloria Sol, (originally) from the r/SexyButNotPorn subreddit. FYI, if you missed the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings, EBL has them all. Check ’em out.

Ukrainian actress & model Gloria Sol

OVER THE TRANSOM
Red Pilled Jew: Ignoring Hashem’s Wisdom (Part III)
357 Magnum: Liberal Assault On Christianity Comes Up Short
EBL: President Trump Meets With COVID-19 Survivors
Twitchy: Raleigh Police Remind #Reopen NC Protesters That Protesting Is A Non-Essential Activity
Louder With Crowder: Donald Trump Eviscerates The Mainstream Media & CNN’s Chyron Graphics Show It

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Podcast #140 – The Barbeque Episode
American Conservative: Inspectors General Drain The Swamp, So Why Is Trump Firing Them?
American Greatness: Barbara Streisand Claims 20,000 Dead Because Of Trump
American Thinker: Viruses 101 – How Overprotecting People From COVID-19 Could Make It More Lethal
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Supply Chain News
Babalu Blog: Prominent Member Of Cuomo Family Displays Famous Pic Of Che Guevara
Baldilocks: The Illegal And/Or Unconstitutional Actions Of President Barack Obama, Part II
BattleSwarm: Bill Maher Blasts SJW Opposition To “Wuhan Coronavirus”, also, Questioning The Official “Wet Market” Origin Of Corona-Chan, Part I
Cafe Hayek: Teaching Me Some Economics To The Economist
CDR Salamander: Keeping An Eye On The Long Game, Part LXXXV
Da Tech Guy: JonTron Vs. Goop & Other Thoughts Under The Fedora, also, Report From Louisiana – Passing Time
Don Surber: My Plan To Reopen America
First Street Journal: Apparently Only Republicans Are Concerned About Our Constitutional Rights
The Geller Report: Heinous News Hag Paula Reid Is Married To Red Chinese Operative, also, UK Cops Threaten Journalist Reporting On Mosque Violating Coronavirus Restrictions
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, Mental Illness On The Left
Hollywood In Toto: Anne Tyler Defends American Dirt Against The Woke Mob, also, Star Trek‘s Hope Went AWOL With Trump
JustOneMinute: Two Americas
Legal Insurrection: Missing In Action: Dems Have No Plans To Reconvene House Until May, also, Obama “Proud To Endorse” Biden After Months Of Silence
Megan McArdle: The World Will Reopen – “When” Is Not The Question To Ask
Michelle Malkin: The Council To Reopen…America’s Borders?
The PanAm Post: The COVID-19 Crisis Is The Result Of Decades of FDA Misrule, also, Remembering Andrew Cuomo’s Connections To The Castro Regime
Power Line: NYT Changes Biden Sexual Assault Story At Campaign’s Request, also, We Never Needed To Flatten The Curve
Shark Tank: Coronavirus Death Tolls In Miami, Broward/Dade, Don’t Match State Numbers
Shot In The Dark: The New Stasi, Part II
STUMP: Use Data Visualization Responsibly
This Ain’t Hell: That Covington Kid, also, President Trump Accused Of Not Acting Fast On The Coronavirus
Victory Girls: Media Burned By Own Words, CNN Goes Full TDS
Volokh Conspiracy: We’re All Federalists Now
Weasel Zippers: Trump Shows Supercut During Briefing Of Media Downplaying Coronavirus, also, Biden Wants To Put “Citizens On A Pathway To Citizenship”, Says He Needs Sanders’ Help To Govern
Mark Steyn: Stark Truths, also, Fire & Faith

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Category: Linkagery

“My hovercraft is
Full of eels.” Sure, I stole that.
But what else is new?
#BidenHaikus

Posted on | April 14, 2020 | Comments Off on “My hovercraft is
Full of eels.” Sure, I stole that.
But what else is new?
#BidenHaikus

by Smitty

Title attribution:

Category: Uncategorized
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