The Other McCain

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

IMHE Lowers COVID-19 U.S. Death Projection Again, Now Down to 60,000

Posted on | April 9, 2020 | Comments Off on IMHE Lowers COVID-19 U.S. Death Projection Again, Now Down to 60,000

 

While MSNBC hosts were busy spreading conspiracy theories, the doomsday forecasters were revising their numbers again:

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model cited by the White House Coronavirus Task Force lowered its projections for coronavirus deaths in the U.S. by 25 percent from 81,766 to 60,415 early Wednesday morning.
The IHME model has come under withering criticism for vastly overstating projections of regular and ICU hospital beds needed, but its death projections to date have closely tracked with actual data.
Wednesday’s dramatic reverse in the model’s projection of U.S. deaths was made without a press release from IHME explaining the reasons for the reduction. It marks the second reduction in the model’s U.S. deaths projections since April 1, when it forecast 93,765 U.S. fatalities.
On April 5, the death projections were lowered to 81,766. . . .
The April 8 iteration of the IHME model has reduced the projections of coronavirus deaths in New York State to 13,307, down from the April 6 projection of more than 15,000.
It persists, however, in claiming there will be a shortage of regular hospital beds in New York State on the peak day of Wednesday April 8, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s statement at Tuesday’s press conference the state has “more than enough beds available.”

So, in one week, the forecast has been reduced more than 30% and the IHME’s scary predictions of a crisis caused by a shortage of hospital beds has been proven false. Now, we have Chris Hayes suggesting to his Twitter audience of 2 million followers that somehow the IHME — an institute funded by Bill Gates, who handpicked a Harvard professor (Chris Murray) to lead it — was in cahoots with the Trump administration. Alex Jones is banned from Twitter for promoting “conspiracy theories,” but paranoia is OK when MSNBC hosts do it.

Also, it is important to note that “social distancing” cannot explain the failures of the IHME model projections, as Sean Davis points out:

“The IHME models assumed ‘full social distancing,’ including school closures, business shutdowns, and stay-at-home lockdowns from the beginning. It requires abject stupidity or outright dishonesty to claim ‘social distancing’ caused the model revisions.”

Nobody likes to admit they were wrong, but when you are as wrong as badly as Chris Hayes was wrong — and as I’ve pointed out, he was speaking in terms of “millions of lives” just three weeks ago — it’s sociopathic to double-down and blame others for your own errors.

UPDATE: Great minds think alike and, while I was writing this post, Ace of Spades was about a half-hour ahead of me:

One month ago, Chris Hayes accused Trump of “personally pressuring” health officials to “manipulate the numbers downwards.” . . .
Now he says Trump has manipulated the numbers upward.
So which is it, Chris? It can’t be both.
The media and the social media monopolists conspire to control the public discourse by deplatforming and censoring anyone who utters a “conspiracy theory,” the true definition of which is any speculation that the leftwing corporate media disapproves of.

Beware of angry ewoks.




 

Category: Health Care, Media Bias

Boris Survives, Bernie Quits

Posted on | April 9, 2020 | 1 Comment

There’s encouraging news across the pond:

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third night in intensive care in a London hospital having been admitted for persistent coronavirus symptoms, although his condition is said to be improving.
Culture Minister Oliver Dowden is the latest U.K. lawmaker to comment on Johnson’s condition, telling the BBC Thursday morning that the prime minister is “stable, improving, sat up and engaged with medical staff,” adding, “I think things are getting better for him.”
Johnson is receiving “excellent care” at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London where he is being treated, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said at the government’s daily press briefing Wednesday afternoon. . . .
Johnson, 55, was moved to the intensive care unit at London’s St. Thomas’ Hospital on Monday evening after his coronavirus symptoms worsened.

The news is not so encouraging for the Bernie Bros:

Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential campaign, he announced Wednesday, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the apparent Democratic presidential nominee.
“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign,” Sanders told supporters in a livestream, saying he wished he could provide supporters with “better news” but “I think you know the truth.”
“We are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden and the path to victory is virtually impossible,” he said. Sanders, I-Vt., called Biden “a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.”
Calling the decision “difficult and painful,” Sanders said he had to make an “honest assessment of the prospects for victory.”
He added that he understands some supporters want him to fight on through the convention, but he could not “in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour” as the COVID-19 outbreak grips the nation.
He pledged to have significant influence over the party platform this summer, as he did during the 2016 convention.

My college-senior son is a Bernie Bro — don’t ask, it’s a painful subject — and he greeted the news of Bernie’s withdrawal by blasting the Soviet national anthem on his stereo, followed by “The Internationale.”

He’s an ironic socialist, I guess. And this is doom for the Democrats.




 

Category: Bernie Sanders

Wanted for Murder: Ace of Spades

Posted on | April 8, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

Ace has been killing it lately. He’s a homicidal maniac, with his jab at “Hot Air’s Resident Expert on All Matters Which Could Negatively Affect Trump’s Reelection Chances” — Allahpundit, obviously.

If you’re late to the blogosphere, there’s history between these two, going back to when Allah was a stand-alone blogger and quit, only to be resurrected by Michelle Malkin as lead blogger at Hot Air. This was in Dubya’s second term, when the right-side blogosphere was riding high after the glorious triumph of RatherGate and the relentless “Swift Boat” fisking of John F. Kerry’s military record. There was no Twitter back then, and Facebook was in its infancy, so the blogosphere going “corporate” was a big deal. There was kind of an informal network of bloggers — everything was about “blogrolls” back in the day — but the idea of “citizen journalism” was in its infancy, and the idea of blogging as a full-time job? Wow, that was a Great Leap Forward circa 2006.

Ace and Allah were both OG bloggers, back in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, during the Iraq War fury when Islamic jihad was the enemy that united conservatives, and when domestic social and economic issues were riding in the back of the bus. After the Occupation of Mesopotamia went sideways, and Barack Obama emerged as the Democratic nominee in 2008, there was a period of . . . Well, demoralization might not be the exact word, but the mood on the Right became rather gloomy, and the OG blogosphere reflected that. And then Obama was elected, and in early 2009, the Tea Party movement emerged as the rallying point of the Right. That was around the time when everybody discovered this new doodad called “Twitter,” which was a freewheeling Wild West back in the day, before the SJW Thought Police took over. But I digress . . .

Ace and Allah have been online acquaintances more than 15 years, and Ace used to link and quote Allah a lot. However, somewhere in the trajectory from Tea Party populism circa 2009 to Trump-style populism now, Ace has apparently lost all respect for Allah, who is basically #NeverTrump, over there in the Charlie “Three Wives” Sykes/David French/Bill Kristol cul-de-sac — the pathetic Bulwark “ahoy” crew.

It makes me sad, really. The one thing you never want to do, as a conservative media personality, is to become a punching bag for Ace, because when he starts punching, it’s like Rocky Balboa working over a side of beef in the freezer. He’s breaking ribs over there. It’s brutal.

Anyway, here’s Ace on Democrat plans for a “stimulus” for the media:

We’ll either voluntarily watch their propaganda, or we’ll be forced at government gunpoint to make charitable contributions to them?
Fuck these people, and fuck anyone who votes for this.
Here’s my plan for the media:

LEARN

TO

CODE . . .

If the Republicans fold on this, I’m officially done with the party and can be classified as hostile enemy forces.

My advice to Republicans: Don’t test him.

Nothing is more ferocious than an angry ewok.




 

Category: Ace of Spades

In The Mailbox: 04.08.20

Posted on | April 8, 2020 | 1 Comment

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Today’s Page Three Girl at The Other McCain is Cobie Smulders, perhaps best known as Agent Maria Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ready for action!

OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #950
Red Pilled Jew: Wednesday Whittle
357 Magnum: Felony Murder In Illinois
EBL: John Prine, RIP
Twitchy: NBC News’ Scoop On Hydroxychloroquine Latest Example Of “By Far The Worst Thing The Press Has Done Because Orange Man Bad”
Louder With Crowder: Sweden Didn’t Lock Down, Didn’t Tank Their Economy, & Didn’t Suffer From COVID-19

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: George Pell Was Always Innocent
American Conservative: Will Pandemic Finally Unleash The American Populist Revolution?
American Greatness: Trump’s Leadership In Pandemic Paves Way To Reelection, also, The Inspector Who Never Inspected Anything
American Thinker: The Wuhan Virus Reminds Us – Beware Scientism & The Technocrats
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: Mexico Begs Cuba For Slave Doctors, Castro Regime Grants Their Wish
BattleSwarm: Active Central Texas Amber Alert
Cafe Hayek: Answer Me This
CDR Salamander: Frigates, Now More Than Ever
Da Tech Guy: Big Media Want You Scared, also, The Zoom Boom & Bust
Don Surber: Shut The Country Down But Not The Subways?
First Street Journal: Bernie Sanders Proves To Us Why Hillary Clinton Is A Private Citizen
The Geller Report: Tennessee Muslim Stabs Three Women To Death, also, NBC Faces Mass Backlash After Promoting Red China’s Propaganda
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, A Campaign Crashes & Berns
Hollywood In Toto: Woody Allen, Unexpected Culture Warrior, also, Sea Fever Moves Past Tired Genre Beats
JustOneMinute: The Comeback Kids
Legal Insurrection: Pelosi & Schumer May Stymie Payroll Protection Program Expansion Over Unrelated Spending Demands, also, Sandernistas Obliterate Warren After Bernie Drops Out
Megan McArdle: Insurers Can’t Cover The Cost Of The Pandemic Shutdown, And Shouldn’t Be Asked To
Michelle Malkin: The Grand Farce Of American Social Distancing
The PanAm Post: Former Socialist President Promotes Coup D’Etat In Brazil
Power Line: More Good COVID-19 News, also, Ms. Stuckey Reports
Shark Tank: Former Marine Casey Askar Raises $500K In 11 Days To Run In FL-19
Shot In The Dark: This Is Today’s DFL
This Ain’t Hell: Crime Never Sleeps, also, Modly’s Farewell
Victory Girls: Trump Done With WHO
Volokh Conspiracy: Making Sense Of The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Decision
Weasel Zippers: Trump Cleaning House Of Obama IGs, also, NYC Reportedly Auctioned Off Extra Ventilators Due To Maintenance Costs
Mark Steyn: Pandemic Passover, also, Remote Acquaintance

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

COVID-19: The Fight Against Fear

Posted on | April 8, 2020 | 2 Comments

 

Mike Rowe: “We’re told to fall in line, trust the experts, and wait patiently for the all clear. Okay, fine. But for how long? What are the criteria for turning the country back on?” Many conservatives have become gun-shy about the COVID-19 outbreak. They don’t want to seem dismissive of the threat, or to undermine the message about the importance of “social distancing,” and I get that, completely. We must consider the influence of our words, but at the same time, I am beginning to hear, in the “social distancing” amen chorus, a creepy tone that reminds me of the rah-rah cheerleading for the Iraq War. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania:

A York County woman this week was the first person in Pennsylvania to be cited for violating Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order, according to state police.
The 19-year-old woman was given a nontraffic citation for allegedly “going for a drive,” according to the citation obtained by Pennlive.
State police spokesman Ryan Tarkowski said Friday the woman initially was pulled over because of a vehicle code violation. Warnings have been issued by troopers in Troop A, which includes Westmoreland County, and Troop E in the Erie area, he said.
Troopers can use their discretion to decide if a citation is warranted, but they have been encouraged to use contacts with the public as a way to promote voluntary compliance, Tarkowski said.

She was alone in her car, but if this “going for a drive” business gets out of hand, people might start “going for a walk,” and next thing you know, they might peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances, or something. The state police can’t allow that.

Remember my Monday column at The American Spectator about how the IHME (“Murray model”) projections were absurdly wrong? That got a lot of attention, including a link from Real Clear Politics, a substantial quote-out by Instapundit, and tweets by Megyn Kelly and Rush Limbaugh’s legendary producer James Golden a/k/a “Bo Snerdley.”

 

Of course, I was not alone in noticing the failure of the IHME projections (see Derek Hunter’s Sunday column at Townhall, for example), and it would be wrong to think I had any exceptional influence, but watching Tucker Carlson’s opening monologue Tuesday . . .

 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson pointed out that, even with the coronavirus infection and death toll “receding,” it’s still “taboo” in many circles to discuss getting things back to normal in the United States.
Beginning a lengthy monologue on Tuesday night’s edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Fox News host discussed how once-dire COVID-19 projections “have been scaled back dramatically” in the wake of far lower numbers than any of the models anticipated, even taking social distancing measures into account.
“Whatever’s happening, this epidemic appears to be doing less damage than anticipated and it is receding more quickly.” . . .
“Now it’s time to look ahead,” Carlson said. “If the virus is doing less systemic damage to our system than expected, then presumably we can begin to consider how to improve the lives of the countless Americans who’ve been grievously hurt by this, by our response to this. How do we get 17 million of our most vulnerable citizens back to work? That’s the task.”

You should watch the whole thing, if you didn’t see it last night.

Perhaps some of you were worried by my lack of blogging Tuesday, and my apologies if anyone feared I’d been laid low by the ChiCom flu, but among other things, I was busy crunching through some interesting statistics about the coronavirus death rate in different countries:

Spain ………………………….. 311 per million
Italy …………………………… 283 per million
Belgium ……………………… 193 per million
France ……………………….. 158 per million
Netherlands ………………… 131 per million
United States ………………… 39 per million

The point should be obvious enough not to require comment. Anyone can look at those statistics and draw their own conclusions, but some in the media don’t want Americans to have an accurate perspective:

Two weeks ago, Dr. Deborah Birx warned against doomsday predictions that millions of Americans might die from coronavirus. At a White House press briefing on March 25, the coordinator of President Trump’s task force condemned media speculation based on claims that as much as half the country’s population might become infected with COVID-19. “I think the numbers that have been put out there are actually very frightening to people,” said Birx, adding that reported rates of infection in China, where the virus originated, were “nowhere close to the numbers that you see people putting out there. I think it has frightened the American people.”
Birx did not name MSNBC personality Chris Hayes, although he was one of the worst scaremongers in the media mob. On his March 23 program, Hayes warned that “millions of lives are on the line” if the economic lockdown response to the virus was not extended indefinitely: “There is no option to just let everyone go back out and go back to normal if a pandemic rages across the country and infects 50 percent of the population and kills a percentage point at the low end of those infected and also melts down all the hospitals.” . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.




 

Category: Health Care, Media Bias

In The Mailbox: 04.07.20

Posted on | April 7, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 04.07.20

– compiled by Wombat-socho

The late Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor website is still open, and they have a lot of good news. Unfortunately, there’s some bad news as well, and if you can help out, it would be a Good Thing.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Major Kim Campbell & A Shot-To-Hell A-10 Thunderbolt
EBL: White House Coronavirus Press Briefing 4/6
Twitchy: “Journalist” Who Called The Cops On Target Manager Over Toothbrush Now Concerned About Grocery Workers
Louder With Crowder: Mike Rowe Flattens Media Matters’ Attack Over Coronavirus
Shoe0nHead: Believe All Women…But Not THAT Woman!

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Kissinger Still Pushing The Myth Of  A Happy New World Order
American Greatness: Are COVID-19 Deaths Being Overreported?
American Thinker: Democrat Trump Derangement Syndrome Escalates Coronavirus Spread
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Ounce Of Prevention News
Babalu Blog: Cuba – Deprivation With A Face Mask
BattleSwarm: All Red China’s Lies
Cafe Hayek: Oily Protectionism
CDR Salamander: Africa & COVID-19
Da Tech Guy: Report From Louisiana – The Exponential Numbers, also, Quarantine Board Game Suggestions (Besides Dynasty Baseball)
Don Surber: Anti-Trump Reporters Trap Themselves On COVID-19
First Street Journal: The Sheeple Love Reichsstatthalter Andy Beshear!
The Geller Report: CDC Director Says Coronavirus Death Toll Will Be “Much, Much, Much Lower” Than Projected, also, Watch Media Go Berserk Over Hydroxychloroquine Taking Canter Stage. Many Clips!
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, M80
Hollywood In Toto: Louis C.K.’s Sincerely – You Can’t Cancel Him Again, also, We Summon The Darkness Trashes Christians, Tests Our Patience
JustOneMinute: That Was A Good Day
Legal Insurrection: #MeToo? Not When The Accused Is Joe Biden, According To Alyssa Milano, also, NYT Deceptively Reports That Trump Has “Financial Interest” In Hydroxychloroquine
Power Line: Sweden’s Coronavirus Numbers Vs. America’s, also, Coronavirus In One State
Shark Tank: Florida Democrats Critical Of DeSantis Extend Him “Help” During Pandemic
Shot In The Dark: Blue Fragility
STUMP: Know Your Models – COVID-19
The Political Hat: American Innovation In The Age Of Quarantine
This Ain’t Hell: Legislation Blocked To Deny Trump “Win”, also, Acting SecNav Apologizes
Victory Girls: State Department Refuses To Help Hillary Avoid Deposition
Volokh Conspiracy: FCC Rejects Petition To Censor Broadcasts Of Trump’s Coronavirus Press Conferences
Weasel Zippers: NYC Official Blames Trump For His Mother’s COVID-19 Death, also, Biden Now Tied Among Dem Voters With Person Who Isn’t Even Running
Mark Steyn: The Boarded River, also, Downing Street Down

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 04.06.20

Posted on | April 6, 2020 | 2 Comments

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Honor Blackman at the beach, because there’s no such thing as too much Honor Blackman.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Red Pilled Jew: Ignoring Hashem’s Wisdom (Part II of III)
Bacon Time: Things You Should Do After Buying Your First Gun
357 Magnum: It Was All A Big Mistake
EBL: Does Red China Have A Leadership Problem?
Twitchy: CBS News Offers Pathetic “Clarification” After Getting Busted For Bogus COVID19 Nurse Narrative
Louder With Crowder: Joe Rogan Chooses Trump Over Biden

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Friday Hawt Chicks & Links – The Working From Home Sucks Edition
American Conservative: The Coronavirus Monsters On Main Street
American Greatness: Corona Meltdowns, also, Whose Side Is Nancy Pelosi Really On?
American Thinker: Did Anyone Think This Through? also, COVID-19 Solution In Sight?
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: The WHO Director Has No Idea What Deadly Chinese Virus You’re Referring To
BattleSwarm: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update, also, Chicoms Demand Apology From Aussie Journalist Tim Blair, Who Sticks A Fork In Their Eye
Cafe Hayek: Trump – Too Easy An Excuse & Target, also, How Dependent Are Americans On Drugs Made In Red China?
Camp Of The Saints: #WUHAN – No Chief Executive Is A Dictator
CDR Salamander: Jones Act – National Security Asset Or Liability?
Da Tech Guy: Two Navies, Two Stories, One Choice, also, Quarantined Thoughts Under The Fedora
Don Surber: Making Red China Pay, also, Ignoring Experts, Trump Saves Lives
First Street Journal: Crime Rises In Philadelphia
Fred On Everything: Johns Hopkins, Dr. Stanley, Dr. Daoud, Surgical Disaster, & Me
The Geller Report: Muslim Clergy Agrees Jews Created Coronavirus, also, Hamas Boss Threatens Israel Over Ventilators
Hogewash: What To Learn To Code, also, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Milano’s BIden Defense Is More Pathetic Than You Can Imagine, also, Why Nick Searcy’s Hollywood Project Battles A Rigged System
JustOneMinute: Drafting Doctors
Legal Insurrection: Study Finds CNN Barely Paid Attention To Wuhan Coronavirus During Trump Impeachment Trial, also, NY Gov Andrew Cuomo Orders National Guard To Seize Ventilators From Upstate Hospitals
The PanAm Post: Pedro Sanchez, The Spanish Dictator
Power Line: No One Here Gets Out Alive, also, Ventilators Are No Panacea
Shark Tank: Wasserman-Schultz Wants DeSantis To Call Special Coronavirus Session
Shot In The Dark: Sort Of A Good News/Bad News Situation
The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday – Is There A Case For Private Property?
This Ain’t Hell: Schiff Whines That Trump Is “Retaliating” Against Enemies, also, Lies, Damned Lies, And What?
Victory Girls: Andrew Cuomo Licks Beijing’s Hand, also, Dem Rep Praises Red China, Blames Trump For Coronavirus Deaths
Volokh Conspiracy: Liberty Of Movement & Assembly
Weasel Zippers: Biden Completely Incoherent As He Explains His Coronavirus Response Plan, also, Video Montage – Democrats Say Coronavirus An Opportunity To Create Socialist Utopia
Mark Steyn: The Kids Are Alright, also, Yes! We Have No Bananas

Amazon Warehouse Deals




Category: Linkagery

Rule Five Monday: Honor Blackman, RIP

Posted on | April 6, 2020 | 2 Comments

– compiled by Wombat-socho

Today we bid farewell to one of the best Bond Girls, Honor Blackman, who was also no slouch as Patrick MacNee’s sidekick on The Avengers, where she preceded Diana Rigg. Here she is in a shot from Goldfinger.

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #944, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns.

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Signs Of Life Friday, also, the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Mira Sorvino, Oklahoma!, Tiger King, Eva Maria Westbroek & Michelle DeYoung, Dialogues Des Carmelites, Joyce DiDonato, Ariana Savalas, Nixon In China, Chanel Rion, Anna Netrebko, and Tess Mohr.

A View From The Beach: A Canukistan Cutie – Rachel McAdams, WuFlu Kills Pennsylvania Trout Opener, Fish Pic Friday – The Clown Knifefish, Tattoo Thursday, Pretty Package, Damaged Goods, WuFlu Sickens Plastic Bag Bans, Virtue Signalers Hurt Worst, Gritty Monday and Palm Sunday.

Red Pilled Jew: Fiery Ebony

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious linkagery!

Amazon Warehouse Deals
Visit Amazon’s Intimate Apparel Shop
Shop Sex & Sensuality Gifts




Category: Rule 5
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin