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U.S. approves first Sudanese ambassador in two decades
Today's Headlines
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2 15:35 CC Reader [6] 
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Page 6: Politix
4 18:39 European Conservative [8]
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Colorado man 'found with four pipe bombs at his house' told the FBI he wanted to protect himself from a potential home invasion
[DailyMail]
  • Bradley Bunn, 53, was arrested after agents found pipe bombs at his house

  • He allegedly told FBI he would use them to defend himself from a 'hard entry'

  • Bunn appeared in court briefly Monday represented by a federal public defender
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 15:57 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Chinese U of Pitt coronavirus researcher - murder-suicide.
Bing Liu "was on the verge of making very significant findings" in a SARS-CoV-2 research project at the University of Pittsburgh, his department said.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2020 12:08 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ross police believe that Mr. Liu was shot by another man who then got into his car parked about 100 yards away on Charlemagne Circle and killed himself.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 12:22 Comments || Top||


#3  I don't get it. What does this have to do with the Clintons?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/05/2020 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Now that's funny Abu. Snark-O'-the-Day?
Posted by: AlanC || 05/05/2020 13:59 Comments || Top||

#5  "Close to...significant findings"? Hmmm, well, let's hope he took good notes.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 05/05/2020 14:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Sympathies to his family and friends.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 05/05/2020 14:07 Comments || Top||

#7  About to announce the origin?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 14:56 Comments || Top||

#8  DooDahMan is right, of course. My remark was callous. But the suspicion must be that someone with Clinton-type morals and motives is behind this. Coronavirus emits a foul stench.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/05/2020 15:44 Comments || Top||


Fauci and Birx have alibis, right?
[Washington Times] A researcher who was reportedly nearing some "very significant findings" in his work on the coronavirus was found killed at his Pittsburgh-area home, a local TV station reported.

Bing Liu, 37, was fatally shot in his head, neck and torso over the weekend in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, in what police are calling a murder-suicide, according to CBS Pittsburgh affiliate KDKA.

A second man, who police say knew Mr. Liu but did not identify, was found nearby in his car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Ross Township detectives do not believe there is a suspect loose, KDKA reported.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/05/2020 10:30 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Clearly...his death was due to COVID-19 and should be reported as so...

/sarc off
Posted by: Warthog || 05/05/2020 14:08 Comments || Top||

#2  HA! And might as well ask Gilead execs what they were doing at the time.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 05/05/2020 14:18 Comments || Top||

#3  was fatally shot in his head, neck and torso

Kinda like, 'body, body, head'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 14:57 Comments || Top||

#4  ^Not "torso, neck, head"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 15:02 Comments || Top||

#5  was found nearby in his car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head

Right....
Posted by: Woodrow || 05/05/2020 21:31 Comments || Top||


Motorcycle Monkey Tries Kidnapping Young Child
[TMZ] Check out this video that was supposedly taken in an alleyway in Indonesia, where it shows a circus-like, small simian rolling up to a group of kids on a mini motorbike ... which it jumps off of right in front of them, and then attempts to take the runt of the litter.
Posted by: Dopey Thaiter8666 || 05/05/2020 08:29 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  Why? Food? Just wanted a baby of it's own? I find it amazing the monkey would snatch a child from a group, that include adults.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/05/2020 13:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Ask who the monkey was working for. Follow the monkey.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/05/2020 13:41 Comments || Top||

#3  ^ Clever
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2020 14:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Commentators on TMZ suggest the monkey has a rope tied to it and is grabbing to keep from being pulled back. It does look like that's what is happening.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/05/2020 17:39 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 by rjschwarz appears to be correct, I looked at the video again and it looks like the monkey was on its back being dragged for part of the way.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/05/2020 18:33 Comments || Top||


Women dressed as healthcare workers steal packages in Washington State
[NYPOST] What a couple of scrubs.

Two women, who were dressed up as healthcare workers, stole packages left outside homes in Washington State, police said.

The porch pirates were spotted on surveillance footage approaching houses while wearing blue scrubs and lanyards with ID badges.

One of the women wore gloves as she grabbed a package, according to images released by the Kennewick Police Department on Saturday.

Police said they don’t believe the women are real nurses.
On what evidence? Nurses can be just as larcenous as the rest of us.
"The nurses we are fortunate to know only give their time, lives, and take the vitals of their patients (not their property)," cops posted on Facebook.

Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damned nurses.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:08 Comments || Top||


The usual suspects act in predictable ways
[Truth About Guns] Home invaders certainly aren’t practicing social distancing or complying with stay-at-home orders. And once more in Illinois, another violent home invasion happened in recent days. In Urbana, three teens picked a Marine Corps veteran’s apartment to break into. One of them was armed with a rifle and another with pepper spray.

They chose...poorly.

In this case, the 25-year-old Marine disarmed the 15-year-old rifle-wielding intruder and crushed his windpipe. The other two, a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, fled. Police apprehended the two and the would-be rifleman died in the hospital a couple of days later.

After the wayward yoot’s death, nearly two dozen family members and friends of the deceased rallied in front of the home invasion victim’s apartment. And in this time of a statewide lockdown, the victim and his family were almost certainly at home.

The "mourners" ignored the governor’s social distancing rules, and the requirement that all persons wear masks if they can’t stay six feet apart in public. One can’t help but think their gathering was intended to intimidate the victim with possible reprisals.

As for 15-year-old Davontae Brown . . .

Assistant Public Defender Ramona Sullivan, who has previously represented Davontae, was clearly shaken by the news of what happened this week.

"I represent a lot of young kids. I can’t comment about any of them individually but I can say that they are often funny and sweet, frustrating and impulsive. And when they make the kind of mistake that can never be corrected, it is heartbreaking," she said.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The "mourners" ignored the governor’s social distancing rules

And the fact the Marine had recently acquired a rifle.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Like that guy from The Princess Bride says, never go up against a Marine with a rifle when Death is on the line.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/05/2020 11:52 Comments || Top||

#3  As our family's Marine Sargent says "we aren't trained to 'hurt' you".
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/05/2020 17:06 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Evgeniy Mikrin, General Designer of Manned Programs of Russia, died of coronavirus. ISS endangered.
[Twitter]


From yesterday's [IBT] some background:

Coronavirus Could Infect ISS After Senior Launch Official Tests Positive

KEY POINTS
A Russian launch official tested positive for COVID-19
The official attended the launch of Soyuz MS-16 to the ISS
COVID-19 may have reached the ISS


Fears of COVID-19 reaching space and the International Space Station (ISS) have emerged after a Russian launch official reportedly tested positive for the diseases. According to reports, the official was spotted standing near other Russian officers, cosmonauts and astronauts before the recent launch to the ISS.

On April 9, Russia launched the Soyuz MS-16 mission to transport two cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut to the ISS. The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a spaceport in southern Kazakhstan.

The event was attended by various officials from Russia. Some of them include Evgeniy Mikrin, the deputy head of Energia Rocket and Space Corporation. Along with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Mikrin oversaw the launch of the Soyuz MS-16 mission.

A source confirmed to the Russian news agency TASS that Mikrin recently tested positive for COVID-19. According to the report, Mikrin tested positive twice for the virus following the launch of the Soyuz MS-16. A different report by the news agency noted that he is one of the 30 Russian space personnel infected with the virus.

Due to Mikrin’s status, officials in Russia have already started contact tracing to check the individuals he had been in contact with prior to testing positive for coronavirus.

For the Soyuz MS-16 mission, Mikrin flew from Moscow to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in a government plane along with Rogozin. Then, after reaching the spaceport, the Roscosmos head was spotted standing next to the crew of the mission, which includes the cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy.


He was on the same plane with the head of the state space corporation Dmitry Rogozin who was later talking directly to cosmonauts,” local media outlet Moskovsky Komsomolets stated in a report.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2020 06:22 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  Did he give any of the cosmonauts a good-bye kiss?
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 10:59 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Kiawah Island woman violates alligator distancing, becomes lunch
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — A woman involved in a fatal alligator attack on Kiawah Island told her friend she wanted to move closer to the animal prior to the incident.

According to the police report, on May 1, 58-year-old Cynthia Covert saw the alligator in a pond behind her friend's house and said she was getting closer.

The resident told police that she repeatedly told Covert to get away from the animal before the alligator came up and attacked about four feet from the edge of the water.

The resident's husband grabbed a shovel and tried hitting the animal, but it kept pulling Covert back into the water.

She said Covert never screamed during the incident and that the victim was eventually dragged underwater.

The woman added that Covert hadn't seemed like her normal self prior to the incident.

Covert's body was eventually recovered and a deputy was able to shoot and kill the alligator.

An autopsy on Monday revealed that the cause of death was drowning. The manner of death was ruled an accident.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2020 04:50 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She sailed away on a lovely summer's day....
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2020 4:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Will somebody please tell me why the deputy responds by killing the damn animal every time ?!

Posted by: Dron66046 || 05/05/2020 7:04 Comments || Top||

#3  ^😊
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 7:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Darwin Award candidate for 2020.
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 7:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh well.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 05/05/2020 7:21 Comments || Top||

#6  #2 As there was no dog to shoot, the deputy had to make due with shooting the gator.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/05/2020 7:25 Comments || Top||

#7  ..Cause animal control isn't trusted with a elephant gun?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/05/2020 8:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Will somebody please tell me why the deputy responds by killing the damn animal every time ?!

Cause they make cool boots.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 12:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Covert? Any relation?
; )
Posted by: Jan || 05/05/2020 15:10 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Russia sees coronavirus cases rise by 10,000 for a third day as country becomes new European hotspot and domestic violence doubles during lockdown
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 11:28 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


New York reveals another 1,700 nursing home deaths since March 1 that were previously undisclosed amid growing uproar over how elderly residents have been treated throughout the pandemic
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 11:27 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Deport De Blasio to China?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 14:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Indict De Blasio.
Prosecute him for manslaughter.
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 20:50 Comments || Top||


De Blasio says NYC won't completely reopen until September despite declining deaths and hospitalization rates
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What does he care? He's still getting in his daily jogs and haircuts, peons.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/05/2020 13:24 Comments || Top||

#2  It's good to be the King.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/05/2020 14:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't need no stinkin' data. Or science, or logic
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 16:57 Comments || Top||

#4  At least no Yankees....
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 17:44 Comments || Top||


After Retesting Samples, French Hospital Discovers COVID-19 Case From December
[NY TIMES] A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had COVID-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.

Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told BFM TV that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for the flu.

"Of the 24, we had one who was positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 27," he told the news channel on Sunday.

The samples had all initially been collected to detect flu using PCR tests, the same genetic screening process that can also be used to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in patients infected at the time the sample is collected.

Each sample was retested several times to ensure there were no errors, he added. Neither Cohen nor his team were immediately available for comment on Monday.

Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2020 09:15 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  So if China had been more forthcoming, the world could've controlled the pandemic much sooner?

If OraneManBad knew this, perhaps he would've closed off travel from Europe a month earlier.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok... so the French trace it back to December, and Silicon Valley scientists trace it back to few weeks later... IIW the virus was circulating months before the lockdown occurred in mid-March.

What effect if any has the lockdown had?
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 20:54 Comments || Top||


Intelligence sharing warning of Trump's includes 5-Eyes
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2020 09:06 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  I see Senator Radcliff is undergoing confirmation hearing for DNI. The biggest problems are Dick Burr, Dick Feinstein and Dick Warner.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/05/2020 15:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Trump played them, Sundance says. The DS don't want Radcliffe, but if they turn him down, they get another year of Ric Grennell as Acting :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2020 16:43 Comments || Top||


Elvis Was King, Ike Was President, and 116,000 Americans Died in a Pandemic
[AIER] The year was 1957.

Elvis’s new movie "Jailhouse Rock" was packing the theaters. The last episode of "I Love Lucy" aired on television. The show "West Side Story" held tryouts in Washington, D.C., and opened on Broadway in September. Ford’s new car the Edsel rolled off the assembly line. The Cold War with Russia was on and "In God We Trust" appeared on U.S. currency. The first Toys R Us store opened.

Also that year, the so-called Asian Flu killed 116,000 Americans. Here is the full summary from the Centers for Disease Control:

In February 1957, a new influenza A (H2N2) virus emerged in East Asia, triggering a pandemic ("Asian Flu"). This H2N2 virus was comprised of three different genes from an H2N2 virus that originated from an avian influenza A virus, including the H2 hemagglutinin and the N2 neuraminidase genes. It was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and in coastal cities in the United States in summer 1957. The estimated number of deaths was 1.1 million worldwide and 116,000 in the United States.

Like the current pandemic, there was a demographic pattern to the deaths. It hit the elderly population with heart and lung disease. In a frightening twist, the virus could also be fatal for pregnant women. The infection rate was probably even higher than the Spanish flu of 1918 (675,000 Americans died from this), but this lowered the overall case fatality rate to 0.67%. A vaccine became available in late 1957 but was not widely distributed.

The population of the U.S. at the time was 172 million, which is a little more than half of the current population. Life expectancy was 69 as versus 78 today. It was a much healthier population with negligible obesity. To extrapolate the data to a counterfactual, we can conclude that this virus was more wicked than COVID-19 thus far.

What’s remarkable when we look back at this year, nothing was shut down. Restaurants, schools, theaters, sporting events, travel — everything continued without interruption. Without a 24-hour news cycle with thousands of news agencies and a billion websites hungry for traffic, mostly people paid no attention other than to keep basic hygiene. It was covered in the press as a medical problem. The notion that there was a political solution never occurred to anyone.

Again, this was a very serious flu, and it persisted for 10 years until it mutated to become the Hong Kong flu of 1968.

The New York Times had some but not much coverage.
[Image of coverage in the link.]
On September 18, 1957, an editorial counseled: "Let us all keep a cool head about Asian influenza as the statistics on the spread and the virulence of the disease begin to accumulate. For one thing, let us be sure that the 1957 type of A influenza virus is innocuous, as early returns show, and that antibiotics can indeed control the complications that may develop."

The mystery of why today vast numbers of governments around the world (but not all) have crushed economies, locked people under house arrest, wrecked business, spread despair, disregarded basic freedoms and rights will require years if not decades to sort out. Is it the news cycle that is creating mass hysteria? Political ambition and arrogance? A decline in philosophical regard for freedom as the best system for dealing with crises? Most likely, the ultimate answer will look roughly like what historians say about the Great War (WWI): it was a perfect storm that created a calamity that no one intended at the outset.

For staying calm and treating the terrible Asian flu of 1957 as a medical problem to address with medical intelligence, rather than as an excuse to unleash Medieval-style brutality, this first postwar generation deserves our respect and admiration.
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent post.
Posted by: borgboy || 05/05/2020 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Perspective. If you're under 35, you don't have any.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 0:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Boomers are the most selfish generation ever and will continue to sacrifice their children, grand children and great grandchildren to try and make their skin a little more comfortable.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/05/2020 3:31 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ Can I have a home in 'The Villages' and a Winnebago pulling a Mini-Cooper to go with that ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2020 3:41 Comments || Top||

#5  By population ratio, that would be about 210k today.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/05/2020 4:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Boomers are the most selfish generation ever and will continue to sacrifice their children, grand children and great grandchildren to try and make their skin a little more comfortable.
Bright Pebbles, I heartily disagree. I am a Boomer. Most of the people my age that I know are also Boomers. I think what you said is true of parts of all generations. Don't paint us all with the same brush.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/05/2020 7:03 Comments || Top||

#7  #3 Yep, we should just do like the old Eskimo.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 7:05 Comments || Top||

#8  "Medieval brutality"? Good Lord, some people need to get some effing perspective.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/05/2020 8:48 Comments || Top||

#9  The mystery of why today vast numbers

Little mystery...hourly counters update, daily death tolls and video briefings, too much sharing drives the sheep into a panic and they demand their herders do something about it...

But everybody has an equal voice now. Then it was over before many knew what was happening.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:02 Comments || Top||

#10  this first postwar generation deserves our respect and admiration.

Um, do I have to point out that the oldest of this "New" generation was 11 in 1957?

I doubt that they had much to do with anything other than maybe Elvis' popularity. My sister loved him, I hated him....but then I was only 8.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/05/2020 14:11 Comments || Top||


Global #coronavirus death toll surpasses 250,000, $8 billion pledged for vaccine research
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Iran calls off Quds Day anti-Israel rallies due to coronavirus
[IsraelTimes] Marked by demonstrations against Jewish state and in support for Palestinians, event is held on the last Friday of Ramadan, which this year is May 22.

World leaders pledge $8 billion for coronavirus vaccine research
[IsraelTimes] International video-conference fundraiser hosted by EU draws donations from across the globe, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres
...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...
warns it is just a ’down payment’ for beating the disease.

Notably absent from the event were the United States, where more than 67,000 people have died, and Russia.
We’re self-funding our own research, but y’all carry on if that makes you happy.
Governments have reported around 3.5 million infections and more than 247,000 deaths from the virus, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. But deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates, and the strain on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is much greater.

People in many countries across the globe, and notably in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
this week, are cautiously returning to work, but authorities remain wary of a second wave of infections, and a vaccine is the only real golden bullet to allow something like normal life to resume.
...assuming that a vaccine will be discovered. But until then, treatments that ease the symptoms as the body fights off the infection are also being discovered— and that’s all we get for most viruses...
About 100 research groups are pursuing vaccines, with nearly a dozen in early stages of human trials or poised to start. But, so far, there is no way to predict which — if any — vaccine will work safely, or even to name a front-runner.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top expert, has cautioned that even if everything goes perfectly, developing a vaccine in 12 to 18 months would set a record for speed.

Even if a first useful vaccine is identified, there will not be enough for everyone initially. A growing number of vaccine makers say that they are already starting to brew tons of doses — wasting millions of dollars if they bet on the wrong candidate, but shaving a few months off mass vaccinations if their choice pans out.

Asked about the US absence, which comes after it suspended funding to the World Health Organization, a bigwig said that "the United States is in the process of providing $2.4 billion in global health, humanitarian, and economic assistance towards the COVID-19 response, and we continue to ensure that the substantial US funding and scientific efforts on this front remain an essential and coordinated part of this worldwide effort against COVID-19."

The official was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iran reopens mosques, records almost 80,00 hospital recoveries
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I see, from worldometers, that California has entered a quasi-steady state on new infections.
People still dying like flies in Pennsylvania.
Florida, despite the Republican Governor's silly boasts, is like California. Ditto for Texas.
Only Louisiana looks like it past the worst of it - maybe (Active Cases in Louisiana)?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 4:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Iran reopens mosques, records almost 80,00 hospital recoveries

Herd immunity, here it comes - with a little help from the 13th Imam.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 4:08 Comments || Top||

#3  ^I wonder who'd be first Iran or Sweden?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 4:09 Comments || Top||

#4  but y’all carry on

That would be all y'all.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  WRT Florida WuFlu stats: please see county by county graphs in .pdf.
We will be watching this to make judgements on accelerating or decelerating opening up... At present nice drop in ER visits etc.

https://s33330.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/County-Reports-2020-05-04-0946.pdf
Posted by: Titus Thud4344 || 05/05/2020 14:00 Comments || Top||

#6  That would be all y'all.

The grammar of y’all has regional variations, Skidmark dear, not to mention the spelling of the thing. Even the yawl that innocently caused the blow-up here the other day has legitimate historical roots. Wikipedia gives a nice gloss on the etymology and regional variation, though of course it is necessarily incomplete.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/05/2020 16:54 Comments || Top||


Britain
Exclusive: Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover
Not a great year for "Mr. Modelling"
[Telegraph] The scientist whose advice prompted Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position on Tuesday night as The Telegraph can reveal he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover.
"Hey, a Genius™ can't be denied his Booty Call!"
Professor Neil Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The woman lives with her husband and their children in another house.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 16:09 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela: Two US citizens arrested after beach invasion aimed at capturing Nicolas Maduro, says regime
[Telegraph] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that authorities have captured 13 "terrorists", including two US citizens he described as mercenaries, over allegations that they were involved in a failed plot to invade the country and oust him.

In a state television address, Maduro showed what he said were the passports and other identification cards of Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who he described as employees of Silvercorp, a Florida-based company whose owner has claimed responsibility for the invasion attempt.

Venezuelan authorities said on Monday that they arrested another eight accused "mercenaries" in a coastal town and showed images on state TV of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. The Venezuelan government said that more than 25,000 troops have been mobilised to hunt for other rebels operating in the country.

Diosdado Cabello, the vice-president of the ruling party, posted on his Twitter account a video of a Venezuelan identified as Josnars Adolfo Baduel, who was also detained, and claimed that two US citizens were among those arrested. Mr Baduel is shown responding to a security official who asks him about the Americans captured.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2020 12:13 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Bay of Pigs again?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  My guess is they were trying to rescue or evacuate someone. But that's just a guess. Here is the Silvercorp website.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2020 12:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Bay of Piglets.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 05/05/2020 12:49 Comments || Top||

#4  ^^Potential snark 'O the day
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/05/2020 12:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Somebody watched too much "seal" type shows?
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/05/2020 13:27 Comments || Top||


Two arrested US 'mercenaries playing Rambo' are paraded after failed attempt 'to kill' Venezuela's Maduro – masterminded by a former green beret - which president blamed on America and Colombia and left eight attackers dead
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • New footage shows the shocking moment two U.S. former special forces soldiers were arrested in Venezuela Monday after their 'plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro' was foiled

  • Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, were identified by Maduro in a press conference as he showed their passports and other forms of identification

  • Maduro has accused the Trump administration and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who have denied involvement

  • The U.S. has led a campaign to oust Maduro, indicting the socialist leader as a narco-trafficker and offering a $15 million reward for his arrest in March

  • They have instead lent support to Guaidó

  • 'But it has nothing to do with our government,' Trump said Tuesday of the failed plot

  • Ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, 43, has claimed responsibility and said its aim was to capture Maduro

  • Goudreau was planning a coup by training 300 soldiers in Colombia, reports say

  • He is a former associate of Keith Schiller, Donald Trump's bodyguard

  • Schiller accompanied Goudreau to a meeting last May to discuss security with representatives of Guaidó

  • A shadowy group of US billionaires led by Roen Kraft promised support for the 'private coup' and also met with Schiller and Goudreau

  • Kraft allegedly lured prospective donors with the promise of preferential access to negotiate deals in the energy and mining sectors with an eventual Guaidó government

  • Guaidó has said he has 'no relationship nor responsibility for any actions' taken by Goudreau, and that Maduro is using the incident as a distraction
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:48 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Their security really sucked since they were arrested at the beach. The Venezuelans knew they were coming.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/05/2020 13:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Not unlike Cuba's pigs, eh?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 14:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Seemed like amateur hour
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/05/2020 16:52 Comments || Top||

#4  They were compromised before arrival. The tragedy will be the Cuban interrogations that are currently underway. Their best hope is that the Maduro people see a ransom opportunity, otherwise it’s grim.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/05/2020 18:52 Comments || Top||

#5  here come da bots
here come da bots
here come da bots
here come da bots
here come da bots
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 20:38 Comments || Top||

#6  hammer ready
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2020 20:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Thank you Thor Frank
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 21:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Morning in Beijing?
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 21:12 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Kim Jong Un Photos Spark Wild Theories About A Body Double
[DailyWire] North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is alive and well.
Or is he?
The 36-year-old, morbidly obese Kim famously disappeared last month and reports that he suffered a serious health incident flooded the internet. But after a couple weeks of mystery, Kim supposedly reappeared.
Or did he?
On Saturday, state-run media in North Korea released images and video that show Kim at a ribbon-cutting event in an attempt to quell the rumors that he was either in a vegetative state or already dead.
Or did they?
It is a "well-known fact that Kim uses body doubles," the International Business Times said Monday.
Well, OK then...
I've already thrown my two cents in - it's not him
Posted by: Spot || 05/05/2020 15:19 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who wouldn't want to be a well fed body double? OK other than being around Sis*.

* "I want the men around me to be fat, healthy-looking men who sleep at night. That Cassius over there has a lean and hungry look." - Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/05/2020 15:44 Comments || Top||

#2  The photo looks touched up, IMO. His face looks air-brushed for something.

Whatever happened to "all the world loves a fat man"?
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 21:20 Comments || Top||


A German publisher's cave-in to Chinese threats
[IsraelNationalNews] “I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith”. It is the last page, a quote from the New Testament, of the diary of the writer Wang Fang, popularly known as Fang Fang. Since the start of the pandemic quarantine in Wuhan, Fang, this outspoken writer who was president of the Hubei Writers Association, has kept her “Diary from Wuhan”. Sixty entries that will flow into a book where not only the sacrifice of doctors and volunteers is told, but also the errors of the regime.

In China, Fang has now become a “liar”, “traitor”, one who “discredits her country”, as well as receiving death threats.

In mid-April, the German publishing house Hoffmann und Campe and the Anglo-Saxon HarperCollins announced their intention to publish the diary later this summer. The Deutsche Welle international broadcaster now says that the original cover of the German edition of the “Diary” has been withdrawn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 04:10 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting. I was able to download the cover from the site of a major German book chain. 15 minutes later I reloaded the page and the cover was gone.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/05/2020 14:56 Comments || Top||


Economy
California becomes first state to borrow federal money to pay unemployment claims
[FoxNews] California has become the first state in the nation to borrow money from the federal government to help it pay out the soaring number of unemployment claims tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s most populous state borrowed $348 million after receiving approval to use up to $10 billion in federal funds until the end of July, a Treasury Department spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Along with California, Illinois and Connecticut have also been approved to tap into federal funds to aid with the unemployment claims -- $12.6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively – but neither state has yet to borrow the money as of the end of April.
Does this include the $125 Million Governor Dickhead wants to give to illegal aliens?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So actually, despite yesterday's scare story, unemployed are not starving and may even have money to pay their rent?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 3:11 Comments || Top||

#2  The landlords will still probably kick the protesters out.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  ^Except the comely young women who'd be sold to brothels.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 10:29 Comments || Top||

#4  it's not "borrowing" if you don't pay it back.
Posted by: Chris || 05/05/2020 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Is this why Illinois can afford to stay closed?
Posted by: Klem Kadiddlehopper || 05/05/2020 12:49 Comments || Top||

#6  The country’s most populous state borrowed $348 million after receiving approval to use up to $10 billion in federal funds until the end of July, a Treasury Department spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Who approved this?
Posted by: charger || 05/05/2020 15:23 Comments || Top||


Europe
The US Navy selects Italian Fincantieri design for next-generation frigate
[DefenseNews] The U.S. Navy's newest surface combatant has Italian heritage, the Navy announced Thursday.

In a major win for Wisconsin's Marinette Marine shipyard, the Navy selected Fincantieri's so-called FREMM design, an acronym that stands for "European multi-purpose frigate," in its original Italian. The shipyard, which is also on the hook for building the remaining mono-hull littoral combat ships and a frigate version of it for Saudi Arabia, is now a major player in U.S. Navy shipbuilding.

The detailed design and construction contract, worth $795.1 million, covers the design work and the first ship, as well as options for up to nine others. The total value of the contract if all options are exercised will be $5.58 billion. The contract is expected to be rebid after the first 10 ships.

The Navy is providing a significant portion of government furnished equipment, including a variant of the AN/SPY-6 radar destined for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers under construction, and those costs are not included in the $5.58 billion.

Fincantieri campaigned hard to win the contract, bringing the FREMM to the United States to show it off and work with U.S. ships off the coast. The victory beats out challenges from Huntington Ingalls Industries, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works with Navantia's F100 design, and Austal USA with an up-gunned version of its trimaran littoral combat ship.

According to the the Navy 2021 budget documents, the service is planing for it to take six years to complete design and construction of the ship, which should be finished in 2026.

The second frigate is expected to be ordered in April 2021, and from there it should be delivered about five and a half years after the award date.

The FFG(X) is supposed to be a small, multi-mission ship with a modified version of Raytheon's SPY-6 radar destined for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Lockheed Martin's Aegis Combat System, as well as some point defense systems and 32 vertical launch cells for about half the cost of a DDG.

Of course, without knowing which ship the Navy intends to buy and what the final detailed designs look like, firm price estimates are impossible, but the Pentagon has some projections.

The first ship ordered in 2020 is expected to cost $1.28 billion, according to budget documents.

The buy was supposed to be one ship in FY20, then two vessels every year until the full 20-ship buy was complete. But the Navy wanted to make sure it staggered the buy more responsibly, said Rear Adm. Randy Crites, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, in his rollout of the 2021 budget earlier this year.

"We don't want to have a repeat of some of the lessons of LCS where we got going too fast," Crites said. "As it is, we're going to have eight frigates under construction when we deliver the first one in 2026.
LCS was pie in the sky dreaming with congressional ineptitude. The Italians have a good naval ship tradition and this could be a good way to get decent ships quickly.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Now around this time there was an Italian senator 'n the state house n' all Italian senators done got brothers own construction companies n' this one had a brother he owned a construction company n' the Titanic she was made outta good Italian wood, good Italian iron they said she'd never go down"
Jamie Brockett
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/05/2020 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Just remember, they build metric. (Remembering the failed Mars probe because someone in the design and programming departments mixed standards)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/05/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#3  The military fully uses metric now. All gear is spec'ed in metric so we can be compatible with our allies.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/05/2020 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Fincantieri Marinette Marine
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/05/2020 9:54 Comments || Top||

#5  The Italian Navy, while hardly the most advanced in the world, is no slouch, and their companies should prove more than adequate to build next-generation frigates here in America. I'm eager to see what they come up with. Also glad to see that the traditional pork-barrel American defense industry members didn't automatically get their designs approved.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 05/05/2020 17:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Aren't the 9mm's Italian, too?
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 18:43 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India's capital reopens liquor stores, imposes 70 percent ‘special corona fee' tax to crack down on crowds
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:52 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Iranian envoy warns against desert locust attack
They haven't had a plague of boils yet, so that's one thing in their favor. So far.
[The News (Pak)] Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Ambassador of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
to Pakistain, has made some comments on the attack of desert locust and the need for regional cooperation.

He said emergence of new challenges like virus originated global pandemics, climate change, pollution and infest of locusts require timely and collective response. He warned that infestation of locusts from different sides threatens food supply for millions of people in Iran and Pakistain.

This year, the unusually warm and wet winter allowed an extra generation of breeding, meaning that the desert locust infestations will be much larger than normal and pose a major risk for the region.

The envoy said it was predicted that the locust may swarm Iran and Pakistain in the worst desert locust outbreak in the last 50 years. In this regard, the two countries need more and early cooperation to prevent this disaster.

The best way of preventing such horrible attack that can damage thousands of hectares of agricultural lands is early warning, spreading pesticides and countering them before breeding.

Iran and Pakistain will enhance cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and benefit from its experiences. In the fight against the desert locusts, the Plant Protection Organization (PPO) of Iran has been reporting the situation to FAO on a regular basis. Iran and Pakistain should enhance the bilateral cooperation to tackle the situation. Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Iran and Pakistain are cooperating closely to enhance the connection between the related focal points.

Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Looking for a short sighted GMO so the locust turn and begin eating each other. (monoclonal anti-grasshopper). But...next season...
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:07 Comments || Top||

#2  The USA will be asked to help with food for these countries and Africa but we will respond that we need it for ethanol.
Posted by: CC Reader || 05/05/2020 15:35 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
What's allowed and what's not: New coronavirus guidelines
[YNet] - As the number of daily coronavirus diagnoses keeps dropping, Israeli government announced on Monday evening a slew of new leniencies to strict health orders. Ynet has compiled a list of all the updated directives, which have either already come into effect or will be enacted in the coming days and weeks.

    Israelis are no longer confined to 100 meters from home and can roam the streets freely, in accordance with health orders.

    It is allowed to visit first-degree relatives, including elders. However, the Health Ministry recommends refraining from hugging, kissing, and touching each other and maintaining a safe distance.

    Gatherings of up to 20 people are allowed in open areas. If the new diagnoses continue to decline, gatherings of up to 50 people will be allowed starting May 17, which includes weddings but with no dancing. Gatherings of up to 100 people will be allowed starting May 31.

    If there will not be another spike of infections, the rest of public gathering restrictions will be removed by June 14.

    Restaurants and other eateries are allowed to serve take-outs but sitting at a food establishment is still prohibited.

    Parks, libraries, museums and public sporting facilities such as swimming pools and gyms, will begin gradually reopening starting this week and are set to be fully opened by mid-June.

    Preschools will resume activity on May 10. No decision has yet been made on the reopening of nurseries.

    All students are expected to return to school by the end of May. The Health Ministry recommends not sending children to school wearing gloves.

    Summer vacation for teachers and students will be cut by nine days to make up for time lost because of the coronavirus lockdowns.

    Extracurricular activities and youth movements, as well as higher education institutions, will reopen from May 31.

    There will be no nationwide lockdown during the holiday of Lag BaOmer on May 11, but the tradition of lighting bonfires will be banned this year in order to prevent gatherings that may lead to another mass spike in infections.

    Pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a leading snd-century sage, in the northern Israeli town of Meron will also be prohibited during the holiday.

    Synagogues will remain shuttered for the time being.

    Brit milah (circumcision ceremony) will be allowed with up to 19 participants present.

    Exercise is allowed everywhere but alone or in pairs of two. Fitness studios will reopen this week and maritime sports is also allowed but sunbathing on the beach or swimming in the sea is still prohibited.

    Psychotherapy is allowed without protective face masks as long as the therapist and the client keep a safe distance of at least three meters (ten feet) from each other.

    Shopping malls and street markets will reopen on Thursday under certain health restrictions. One customer will be allowed to enter the establishment for every 20 square meters (215 square feet).

    Inside the stores, shopper capacity will be restricted to the highest of a few options: one customer per 15 square meters (160 square feet), only two customers at a time in stores smaller than 100 square meters (1070 square feet), or four customers at a time in stores over 100 square meters.

    The Israeli Premier League in soccer (Ligat Ha'al) is expected to resume training by the end of May and no later than mid-June.

    Museums and art galleries will reopen on May 17.
    Concerts and live shows will less than 500 people will be allowed by mid-June at the earliest.

    Twenty national parks and nature reserves were reopened on Tuesday. Visitors will have to book their visit time ahead.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 08:26 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Israel isolates monoclonal anti-coronavirus antibody
[YNet] - Israel has isolated a key coronavirus antibody at its main biological research laboratory, the defence minister said on Monday, calling the step a "significant breakthrough" toward a possible treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The "monoclonal neutralizing antibody" developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) "can neutralize it (the disease-causing coronavirus) inside carriers' bodies," Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

...It quoted IIBR Director Shmuel Shapira as saying that the antibody formula was being patented, after which an international manufacturer would be sought to mass-produce it.

Antibodies in such samples - immune-system proteins that are residues of successfully overcoming the coronavirus - are widely seen as a key to developing a possible cure.

The antibody reported as having been isolated at the IIBR is monoclonal, meaning it was derived from a single recovered cell and is thus potentially of more potent value in yielding a treatment.

Elsewhere, there have been coronavirus treatments developed from antibodies that are polyclonal, or derived from two or more cells of different ancestry, the magazine Science Direct reported in its May issue.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 05:30 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very good news.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Good news, indeed.

Wait. An anti-virus anti-body? Is that double-plus good?
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  ^ It's never not-good
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||


IHME May 4 Forecast
Between April 29 and May 4, their improvements to their model resulted in an 86% increase. Maybe G(r)omgoru was right, all along?
[Covid.HealthData] Based on our updated model and latest available data, a projected 134,475 cumulative COVID-19 deaths (estimate range of 95,092 to 242,890) could occur in the US through August. These projections are considerably higher than previous estimates, representing the combined effects of death model updates and formally incorporating the effect of changes in mobility and social distancing policies into transmission dynamics.

IHME Commentary
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The good news? Even the high range of the current estimate is about 10% of the original 2.2 million death forecast that started the freakout about March 1st.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  You know, IMO, there's no reason you in USA couldn't have had the same CV19 stats as we have in Israel. You certainly invest more per capita in your medical system than we do.

p.s. I looked up (in Wiki) the SIR model they're using - it can't predict anything because it doesn't have a death rate. Everyone infected recovers and becomes resistant.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 3:40 Comments || Top||

#3  I've examined the numbers, computed the area and 1st and 2nd derivatives of the curve, matched deaths with demographic clusters from census data, distributed deaths across DoL job class identification and have the following prediction.

By the end of the panic, there will be a model that accurately represents the numbers of dead citizens.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I think it will take longer. There have been too many reports of Covid-19 being 'assigned' as the 'cause of death'. Two examples; my 73 yo brother in law was wracked by Alzheimer's, name something and he had it, was put in hospice and on a morphine drip for about two months before he died. He was put on a ventilator the last week. They assigned his cause of death as Covid-19, no autopsy, incinerated his body and haven't delivered the ashes to the family after 2+ weeks. My 96 yo aunt is on the same track. Both are or were extremely ill for years. I smell a rat.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 05/05/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#5  there's no reason you in USA couldn't have had the same CV19 stats as we have in Israel.

Silicon Valley / San Francisco does: 1 COVID death per 17,000 residents -- even though that region, unlike Israel, is on the front lines.

Unlike Israel, SF/San Mateo/Santa Clara had dozens of weekly direct flights to Wuhan and other Chinese cities.

Unlike Israel, this region has nearly one million Chinese or Chinese-American residents of whom over 50,000 traveled back and forth to Wuhan and other Chinese cities in December and January alone.

The lockdown in SF/SM/SC has had f-all to do with the low numbers of fatalities in that region. The virus was circulating, being spread all over these counties by 50,000 travelers returning from Wuhan etc, in the months before the lockdown.

If the virus were such a threat as your absurd models predicted, San Francisco would have seen thousands of deaths. Grand total as of yesterday in SF was 29.

NYC's absurdly high # of COVID deaths is almost certainly explained by the incompetence and stupid mistakes committed by that city's inept leadership.
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes, yes, Lex - except, as I point out in another post, in California you just starting CV19 pandemic.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 10:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Just admit it, g: your/Neil Ferguson's absurd doomsday model was wrong. It never should have been used as the basis for policy. That fool should be fired.

The data's in and the evidence is clear: There was and is no valid scientific reason for destroying the economy by locking down everyone.
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Listen for once to any of the wise voices from Stanford's biomedical faculty about the foolishness of relying, at this point, on yet more hypotheticals. Here's Dr. Scott Atlas:

"Leaders must examine accumulated data to see what has actually happened, rather than keep emphasizing hypothetical projections; combine that empirical evidence with fundamental principles of biology established for decades; and then thoughtfully restore the country to function.”
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 11:39 Comments || Top||

#9  #7 & #8 I'm waiting for 100000 suicides of people who lost their livelihood and complete destruction of American economy. If you can throw in a few million young people whose lives were completely destroyed by lookdown, I'll take it as well.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 12:06 Comments || Top||

#10  #7 & #8 I'm waiting for 100000 suicides of people who lost their livelihood and complete destruction of American economy. If you can throw in a few million young people whose lives were completely destroyed by lookdown, I'll take it as well.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 12:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Lots of data still coming in -

That they got sick here in Las Vegas in December and January, and the illness was COVID-19.

So it wasn't late as February.

And the IHMF model?

We're starting to enter the excuse period of modelers caught with data that politicians exploited without question to make bad decisions. Again, never a word about 'confidence' in the models, just use them as gospel.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/05/2020 12:13 Comments || Top||

#12  there's no reason you in USA couldn't have had the same CV19 stats as we have in Israel.

Israel 1879 cases per million
Texas 1197 cases per million

Israel 27 deaths per million
Texas 33 deaths per million
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/05/2020 14:22 Comments || Top||

#13  Now, Glenmore -are you questioning Texas's uniqueness? You maybe saying Texas is the same as NY?😊
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 14:35 Comments || Top||

#14  I'm waiting for 100000 suicides of people who lost their livelihood and complete destruction of American economy. If you can throw in a few million young people whose lives were completely destroyed by lookdown, I'll take it as well.

"Are you trying to be offensive, or just merely stupid?"



Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 15:04 Comments || Top||

#15  the wise voices from Stanford's biomedical faculty

"Publish", "publish", "paper", "paper", "grant$", "tenure"...
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 15:05 Comments || Top||


#17  #14 Every single statement is taken from your posts, Lex.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 15:12 Comments || Top||

#18  You maybe saying Texas is the same as NY?😊
Houston and surrounds pretty much are.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 15:17 Comments || Top||

#19  #16 There are 16,866,020 medical workers in USA. Suppose 0.01% are "frontline". That's 1686. Two suicides in NYC 2/1686 = 0.0012 = 0.12%.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 15:20 Comments || Top||

#20  More fun and games with Imperial College's Neil Ferguson. This fool has been botching predicted lethality of diseases for decades, including ridiculously wrong estimates for CJD/Mad Cow disease and then for Bird Flu.
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 15:57 Comments || Top||

#21  Evidently this Ferguson bloke is a real wanker, and it has been alleged that Fauxi & Scarf Lady used his "data" to come up with their zany ideas.
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 16:08 Comments || Top||

#22  And now, Ferguson has resigned.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/05/2020 16:21 Comments || Top||

#23  Wow. I expected that Ferguson resigned because he broke the rules of careful and professional use of data, science and logic. No, he broke the social distancing rules around visits to a relative.

No professional punishment whatsoever for yet again, three times at least, royally screwing up policymakers' understanding of what to expect regarding spread of a disease.

Nice to see Britain's got its priorities straight.
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 16:42 Comments || Top||

#24  That wanker. He resigned not due to his bogus work. But, in any case, that twerp is gone.
Posted by: Clem || 05/05/2020 16:43 Comments || Top||

#25  "visits to a relative" - not quite. Posted for tomorrow. He was getting a Booty Call from his married lover - surprisingly it was a female
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2020 16:47 Comments || Top||

#26  ^ So... he impresses the chicks birds with the size of his doomsday predictions?
Posted by: Lex || 05/05/2020 16:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Out-of-work chefs are leaving NYC to cook for billionaires
h/t Instapundit
[NYP] - Chefs from some of New York City’s top restaurants are leaving the business to work for billionaires after losing their jobs to the coronavirus, Side Dish has learned.

Out-of-work chefs from Jean-Georges, Daniel, Eleven Madison Park, Per Se and Gramercy Tavern are being poached by talent agents and even real estate brokers to work for wealthy families since the coronavirus shutdowns have eviscerated the restaurant industry, sources said. The supply of quality chefs is so abundant that some wealthy people say they’re getting cold called about the latest candidate.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/05/2020 04:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe they'll hire some table waiters too.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/05/2020 12:11 Comments || Top||

#2  UN parasites hardest hit.
Posted by: PBMcL || 05/05/2020 13:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe they'll hire some table waiters

Footmen. They also fetch and carry anything too big or heavy for the housemaids, run errands and deliver messages, and carry milady’s packages to the carriage when she goes shopping. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/05/2020 22:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Downton Abbey, TW? Just finished.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2020 23:50 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2020-05-05
  U.S. approves first Sudanese ambassador in two decades
Mon 2020-05-04
  66 civilians killed, wounded in Taliban attacks in first week of Ramadan
Sun 2020-05-03
  Multiple gunshots fired from N. Korea
hit S. Korean DMZ guard post
Sat 2020-05-02
  Trial begins in Denmark of man accused of attack plot for Iran
Fri 2020-05-01
  Southern Transitional Council declares self rule in Yemen
Thu 2020-04-30
  German government bans Hezbollah — Interior Ministry
Wed 2020-04-29
  El Salvador's President Takes On The Country's Gangs Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Tue 2020-04-28
  Haftar declares himself a ruler of Libya
Mon 2020-04-27
  Pakistan to keep Mosques open during Ramadan
Sun 2020-04-26
  GNA Refuses Operation IRINI Because It Will Disrupt Arms Supplies From Turkey
Sat 2020-04-25
  North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un again rumored to be dead
Fri 2020-04-24
  Poland Detains Lebanese Man Suspected of 'Planning Attacks'
Thu 2020-04-23
  Afrin: Kurdish population more than halved since 2018 offensive
Wed 2020-04-22
  Trump says he's ordered Navy to destroy
Iranian boats should they harass U.S. ships
Tue 2020-04-21
  North Korea's Kim Jong Un in grave danger
after surgery, or so they ay


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