Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Jeff Buchanan]

American Airlines CEO wants people to fly, "for God's sake." Of course they are not. American's revenue is down 80% year on year. When Federal aid runs out in October, American will have 20,000 more employees than demand for flights requires. They will be let go ...... and that is just American. And, just one sector of the travel and leisure industry that has the highest unemployment rates of any economic sector with the largest number of low wage earners in it.

Why aren't people willing to fly or travel? Stupid question. They are scared shitless of catching COVID and dying. Why are they scared shitless when the IFR is something like 0.005? Yes, I know, there's that nasty aspect of the disease short of death that, if you get it, your going to get really sick and, man, those long term consequences we're hearing about. Really?

The factual numbers don't support that logic .... at all.

But, sure, let's keep scaring the shit out of the American public instead of figuring out how to manage COVID without strangling the US economy. Let's put all the political pressure we can on state and local officials so that they continue to shutter businesses, such practices when done en mass instead of responsibly targeted produce more economic damage than benefit to the public health. FACT.

[Dr. Strangelove]

RBG is probably on her last legs, The 87yo Supreme has liver CA. Upbeat comments attributed to her are nice and hate it that she has the big C but liver CA is never good and rarely has a good outcome.

Trump may get another Kav before he's gone but the D's will resist and Biden will probably name her replacement.

Before this news there were rumors floating about that both Clarence Thomas and Alito have put out feelers about retiring. And they might do it now rather than wait till after the election. Nothing leads me to believe these are anything more than rumors.

I'm sure there are some Republicans that would be thrilled to have that fight right now. I'm not sure Mitch McConnell is one of them. He came up with a nice legalistic loophole in his rationale behind blocking Merrick Garland but going forward with a Supreme Court nomination in August or Sept right before a presidential election is going to look intensely hypocritical in the eyes of independent voters who don't follow this stuff religiously. Democrats will be howling for blood and IMO a strong majority of independents would take their side of it, especially if Ginsberg died in late Sept and Trump tried to name some arch-conservative in her place.

[iam416]

Don't worry, Buchanan, the Media only has to scare the shit out of people until November and then they'll do a shocking about-face. And that is a 100% guarantee.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Don't worry, Buchanan, the Media only has to scare the shit out of people until November and then they'll do a shocking about-face. And that is a 100% guarantee.

Are you eager to take an unnecessary flight to Miami right now? How about sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of sweaty dudes in the Horseshoe for a football game?

I mean come on. Jeff can do whatever he feels like because he's retired and has a guaranteed income and guaranteed healthcare. I could easily lose my job any day and with it lose my health insurance. In the middle of a pandemic. Jeff may feel that younger people like me need to be taking all the frivolous travel we can to support these industries but to that I say NOPE. I don't care if my odds of survival are 99.99997%. The odds of me getting it are high and the odds of me needing a hospital stay are high enough for it to be not worth the risk. Nor would I demand to be let into a movie theater right now or demand Broadway reopen. It sucks for all those industries but sorry.

And as far as business travelers go I bet a lot of companies are realizing how much money gets wasted on that unnecessarily every year. Again, sucks for the travel industry, but other companies are probably improving efficiency.

[iam416]

I've never been eager to fly to Miami. Ever. It's a fucking cesspool of humanity.

I would gladly go to an Ohio State game, though.

None of that changes the larger point that the Media is in no hurry to report anything other than hysteria. And that WILL CHANGE come November.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Strange, I remain empathetic and supportive of personal decisions about any level of mobility including traveling. It's not for everybody with everybody having different prevailing circumstances.

OTH, the fear narrative is immobilizing those who may otherwise choose to eat out, shop, travel, whatever that involves spending money that creates jobs. That same narrative impairs fact based decisions wrt C-19. Today, some talk force said that states like FL, CA, AZ and TX, need to "Roll back reopening." On what basis? Refer to my earlier post.

This kind of popular rhetoric - the kind intended to punish Trump for marginalizing Fauci - puts pressure on state and local officials to do just that. When the press augments this shit, they'll cave. Completely unnecessary when its Montana FCS that is seeing skyrocketing new cases. Meanwhile the named states numbers and situation is stabilizing or improving but, yeah, shut them down. Its fucking stupid.

Look, targeted actions work. Testing at high rates is necessary. Contact tracing works, changing human behaviors can and appears to be working. I'm behind this 100% But a sledge hammer like this dumb ass task force is recommending is radical and unecessary. If said task force would provide useful direction, work on getting testing and testing supplies ramped up, work on a centralized reporting system that would be nice. They wont because Fauci patriots are lining up behind him to fuck with Trump no matter the economic and social costs.

[Ghengis Jon]

Here's an EASY start: Trump televises from the Rose Garden and says "Folks, we're all in this together. Put all the politics and agendas aside and wear a mask. I will support any governor that issues a statewide mandate. The sooner we all start cooperating, the sooner we can get this behind us." Trump then puts on a mask. "I'm serious about this. We all need to get on board. Thank you".

A stunningly simple, productive, no cost example of leadership that Trump will certainly avoid.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This evening, my NYT's evening briefing contained this headline:

The great mask melee

The United States continues to set daily infection records, with hospitalization and death rates on the rise — and Americans still can’t stop fighting about masks.

Then, the last line of the story includes this: A recent poll indicates 80% of Americans said they wore masks frequently or always when they were close to other people — a higher rate than in France, Canada or Australia.

So, is the attack on personal freedoms given as the reason people won't wear masks or governors won't issue mandates a story worth telling? NO.

One more example of questionable journalism IMO. That homicides are skyrocketing in NYC becasue police won't respond IS a story worth telling and there are others like, oh, Moderna, among another 3 companies are ahead of schedule and have already started or are going to start Phase III testing. Moderna has said they are making production runs concurrently with trials and if the trials are successful and the FDA green lights their vaccine, they will have 5 million doses on hand by November. In fact, I can think of a bunch of better stories to report on the front page than the stupid one the NYT editors chose. Fuck them.

[iam416]

Death rates rising is misleading, too.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I said this up thread:

If said task force would provide useful direction, work on getting testing and testing supplies ramped up, work on a centralized reporting system that would be nice. They wont because Fauci patriots are lining up behind him to fuck with Trump no matter the economic and social costs.

CNN is reporting that Trump has blocked the head of the CDC from testifying before Congress. I wonder why????:

The Trump administration is rebuffing House Democrats' effort to hear testimony from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

A battle royale' is shaping up here. Look, I'm all for the science and the facts but, IMO, the CDC isn't doing the American public any favors. Certainly most of the issues that I have with the CDC and NIH where Fauci resides are of Trump''s own doing. His sensitivity to criticism or his abhorrence of being made to look bad or stupid or any of the adjectives that might describe him properly and how he reacts to it are precipitating a dangerous level of polarization of hardening view points. We should open. No we shouldn't. There are reasonable arguments for a particular action on both sides. We're getting predominantly one and the one we're getting excludes responsible alternatives.

Trump has a tremendous opportunity for a leadership role here similar to the crisis circumstance FDR and his administration faced after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He has blown it and that is an understatement. You've seen the facts, they get posted here. You've see viable approaches to managing this thing, things that were screwed up but are fixable wrt testing and reporting, with regard to centralized logistics and support down the chain. They've been posted here. But instead of leading with directives for reasonable management of COVID this president is doing more to create the disaster COVID is becoming than any president who has faced a similar crisis in American history - at least I can't think of another.

[lineygoblue]

This is four days old, but California governor Newsome has mandated that churches will be closed in an effort to contain coronavirus. Oddly, he did not mention synagogues, mosques or other places of worship. Just churches. He banned singing in church just a few weeks ago, but now, he just finished the job and mandated the padlocking of the doors altogether.

Of course, Antifa and BLM rallies are still allowed (masks optional) and encouraged. After all no evidence exists that such rallies cause the spread of Covid.

Churches, you have been warned.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-california/california-governor-shuts-churches-businesses-as-covid-19-cases-surge-idUSKCN24E2OW

[Dr. Strangelove]

It’s for all places of of worship. I believe outdoor services are currently allowed. Lot of stuff to go after Newsome for without freaking out that he’s singling out Christianity for persecution.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Start you weeked with some encouraging news ..... and, as an interesting sub plot, a stark warning that "expert" pandemic testimony, that may or may not be factual, will be shaped by journalists to the current hysterical media narrative. That, in turn, will generate political pressure for officials at all levels to reverse reopening schemes. Bad move.

The link may or may not work. It's a bit technical but the bottom line is that the huge debt developed economies have taken on as a result of the pandemic shock can be retired over time IF economies can move from their current state or contraction to expansion. Another wave of C-19 that precipitates more lock-downs will scuttle an outlook that suggests the national debt loads can be managed. It follows then if we don't figure out how to manage this thing in the short term as an alternative to another round of shuttering, economic outlook, the markets and your portfolios won't do well ..... at all.

Now, as economic activity reemerges even as daily new confirmed cases of the virus top 100,000, we can start to address how governments can pay back their debts.¹ For developed markets, at least, the situation may be less dire than some fear...........

Of course, the greatest condition of all is the pandemic’s progression. A second wave of infection that requires another round of national lockdowns is a worst-case scenario—from both health and economic standpoints—that we unfortunately can’t rule out. On the other hand, a sooner-than-expected development of a vaccine or indications that we’ve achieved herd immunity would accelerate recoveries.

https://investornews.vanguard/but-ho...X:XXX:POS02:XX

[Dr. Strangelove]

Remember the Twitter hack that happened earlier this week? Well Twitter is now saying that for 8 people they downloaded their entire profile, meaning they have all their private messages, their phone number, and email address they registered with. The only thing more Twitter will say about it is that none of the 8 were a 'verified' account (the blue checkmark people). Which means whoever had their entire private communications stolen, they weren't the most high profile accounts like Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, etc.

But this makes the hack take on a different tone and makes me wonder if all the BitCoin scam stuff is just a red herring and this was about stealing information.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/18/21329277/twitter-hack-breach-update-july-17-your-twitter-data-theft

[Dr. Strangelove]

RIP John Lewis

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/john-lewis-dead.html