Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Ghengis Jon]

White House getting its priorities straight. They're telling everyone across the administration that ALL INTERVIEWS with the press about coronavirus have to be cleared by Pence's office. Dr. Anthony Fauri, the Director of NIAID who spoke at Trump's press conference yesterday, told the Times that he has been instructed by the White House that he is no longer allowed to speak to the media without getting permission first.

Dr Fauri should announce that truth does not need permission. If Trump doesn't like it, he and his ventriloquist dummy can resign.

[Jeff Buchanan]

On the big picture of COVID-19: Just popped up and appears to not be pay walled is the Economist's take on where we are globally with mitigating the impact of COVID-19. Takes a somewhat glass half empty approach for my tastes but I still think the take overall is a good one:

In Public Health, honesty is worth a lot more than hope. It has become clear in the past week that the new viral disease,covid-19, which struck China at the start of December will spread around the world. Many governments have been signalling that they will stop the disease. Instead, they need to start preparing people for the onslaught.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/02/27/the-virus-is-coming?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2020/02/27n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/414175/n

[Dr. Strangelove]

California says it's currently monitoring 8400 people for the virus. No explanation on how those people have been selected. Maybe recent travelers to Asia and their relatives?

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/27/california-is-monitoring-8400-people-for-the-coronavirus.html

Up until yesterday, there was a faulty ingredient included in CDC test kits that required almost all testing to go through Atlanta. CDC says they have now fixed the issue

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/02/27/809936132/cdc-fixes-issue-delaying-coronavirus-testing-in-u-s

[iam416]

I'll be stopping at the store tonight to pick up a 2 month supply of Pabst, Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles and coffee. Really looking forward to the time off!

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'll be stopping at the store tonight to pick up a 2 month supply of Pabst, Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles and coffee. Really looking forward to the time off!

This list is sorely lacking in Vienna Sausages and the fine Hormel family of canned meat products.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Might not pan out but I'm getting a lot of rumors about Turkey/Syria in my feed right now. Erdogan's holding an emergency meeting. There's talk that dozens of Turkish soldiers were killed today in an pro-Assad airstrike

EDIT: Changed who bombed them. Sounds like it was Russia. And it's looking like more than rumor; Lindsey Graham has commented about it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Holy shit...what a day for the market

Open -500
Drops another 500 within the first hour
By lunchtime it's actually looking like it might claw back to positive territory. Only -200 on the day
But the rally doesn't last. By 2 it's back to being 500-600 down
Then after 3 and especially during the last 15 minutes it absolutely tanks. Closes almost 1200 points down

Trading volume was VERY high in those last 15 minutes too. Did an algorithm go haywire?

[Jeff Buchanan]

It's nice to discuss something other than the Dow or COVID-19 ...... Erdogan is getting burned for sticking his nose into a place he may think he has strategic interests in the face of others who think he doesn't. If this turns out to be the Russians who pulled this off, chances are pretty good it wasn't a mistake. You can also bet the Russians will say it was a mistake. There really good at putting up huge some screens to obscure their military objectives that are highly political in nature ...... see the Crimea and Ukraine.....Who, me?

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's nice to discuss something other than the Dow or COVID-19 ...... Erdogan is getting burned for sticking his nose into a place he may think he has strategic interests in the face of others who think he doesn't. If this turns out to be the Russians who pulled this off, chances are pretty good it wasn't a mistake. You can also bet the Russians will say it was a mistake. There really good at putting up huge some screens to obscure their military objectives that are highly political in nature ...... see the Crimea and Ukraine.....Who, me?

It's really heating up. A new report suggests the Russians targeted and destroyed the Turkish military's field HQ. And the same source claimed minutes ago that Turkey may already be retaliating against cities along the Syrian coast,

[Dr. Strangelove]

Also Erdogan has a card to play here if NATO will not come to its defense...just let the refugees pass through if Europe/USA will neither intercede in Syria or defend Turkey

[Dr. Strangelove]

I imagine the facts will come out on this eventually. But if true this seems very bad. The Post, Times, and WSJ all posted versions of this story within minutes of each other.

New whistleblower complaint alleges that HHS workers were sent to meet the planes carrying the first Americans from Wuhan with little infection control training and without the appropriate protective gear. The HHS workers, with insufficient gear, ended up working alongside CDC employees in full hazmat suits. When the whistleblower complained, they were told they were being reassigned to a new position, and would be fired if they didn't accept it within 15 days.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...leblower-says/

[Hannibal]

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah those prices are close to where the industry bottomed out in 2015-2016. Oil has a way to go yet. Need to get under $30 to match those lows.The mild winter is adding to NatGas pain.

Someone on CNBC this week made a comment about oil along the lines of "it would already be in the low 30's if Iran wasn't cut off again and Venezuela wasn't a total shitshow"

[Ghengis Jon]

$52 a barrel is a tipping point for Russia. The centralized planning of the economy is dependent on crude prices not falling below that level. Nice to see some pliers on Russian balls.

The CDC has stated that a proposed $2.5B funding infusion will not be nearly enough if the US is hit hard by the corona virus. Perhaps Very Stable Genius will divert diverted funds currently destined for his Vanity Wall.

[iam416]