Tag: Wuhan coronavirus

Weasel Words…

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
30131459
 

… from my least favorite weasel, Tony “Gain of Function” Fauci (emphasis mine):

It’s absolutely essential that people keep their masks on. Even though outdoors is much more safe than indoors, with regard to the risk, when you have a virus that is so easily transmissible, I would think that it would be a risky situation.

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About Breaking Rules

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
95172017
 

The people who set the legal speed limits on our highways and byways are, presumably, experts. They are familiar with the various correlations between traffic speed, traffic density, accident rates, and accident fatalities. They have a wealth of data to draw upon, since Americans drive literally trillions of miles each year and we’ve been monitoring traffic fatalities for decades. So, assuming they aren’t simply diversity hires, our traffic engineers probably know a thing or two about speed limits and safety.

Despite all that, some significant number of my fellow Americans seem quite willing to exceed the legally posted speed limits. I’ve seen them do it, so I know this is true. I’ve watched drivers run just a couple of miles over. I’ve watched drivers set their cruise controls a full nine miles over the speed the experts have determined to be right and proper.

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Civil Disobedience: Count Me In

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
29121462
 

Let me be clear: I am not, in general, an advocate of civil disobedience. I don’t believe that people should resort to lawlessness casually.

Throughout the social upheaval that defined 2020, I resisted the temptation to join other protesters. I didn’t block traffic. I didn’t set fire to cars or buildings. I didn’t break windows. I didn’t steal shoes or televisions. I didn’t deface public or private property. I didn’t throw rocks at police. I didn’t terrorize any neighborhoods. I didn’t hit anyone with a skateboard. In fact, I neither injured nor killed anyone.

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International Travel?

Paul A. Rahe
Paul A. Rahe
761101
 

I used to travel a great deal – often across the Atlantic. That tapered off some years back as scholars in my generation or older passed from the scene and I received fewer invitations. Domestic travel came to a halt in February 2020 — when I realized that what was happening in China would happen here and canceled plans that would have involved me in taking 16 separate flights that spring.

Things are now, in a modest way, warming up again. I was in Baton Rouge, LA, in September, in Portland, ME, in early October – and, in late October, with my wife, I took a trip on my own dime, which took me from Detroit to Amsterdam and on to Sicily. It was in a variety of ways instructive.

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A Question for Mandated-Vaccination Advocates

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
122192003
 

How are you quantifying the public health risk represented by any given individual not getting vaccinated? Can you give it to me in units of, say, third-party life years lost per year by the decision to remain unvaccinated? Can you give me an estimated probability that the failure of individual X to get vaccinated will result in the COVID death of some individual Y?

No? Can you at least try?

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Quote of the Day: Fallen from the Pedestal

OmegaPaladin
OmegaPaladin
49151368
 

“Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.” — Daniel J. Boorstin

During the beginning of the pandemic, I was seriously worried.  Things were not going well, and a lot of the Democrats seemed to be more interested in virtue signaling than disease control.  As someone trained in public health, I know that epidemics need to be managed aggressively.  Contrary to what many people say, you can stop a virus from spreading with proper quarantine and infection control practices.  Trump was taking decisive action on border control  (similar measures of containment have been used throughout history), but he needed a trusted advisor who knew about fighting disease.  Then we saw the nightmare in Italy, and people really wanted to avoid it.

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Quote of the Day: Ignorance is Woke

OmegaPaladin
OmegaPaladin
40151061
 

“Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here.” — Apoorva Mandavilli, NY Times reporter focused on COVID-19,  May 26, 2021

This tweet (because of course, it is from Twitter) is absolutely maddening. According to this excuse for a journalist, we should not consider the theory that the Wuhan Coronavirus escaped from a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, because it is derived from racism. Aside from idea we should ignore concepts that evil people come with (in which case, I’m tossing out socialism, as Karl Marx was a scumbag), the whole idea that the lab leak theory is racist is pure and utter madness.

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Rebekah Jones: The Left in a Nutshell

OmegaPaladin
OmegaPaladin
15143344
 

This is part of Everyone Blog About Rebekah Jones Day.

So a few weeks back, I saw a link to a fascinating Human Events article by Christina Pushaw.  In it, she exposed the celebrity “whistleblower” in the Florida Department of Health.  According to the media narrative, Rebekah Jones was a Ph.D. COVID-19 data scientist who revealed that Florida’s success against COVID was all smoke and mirrors, a coverup of massive deaths.  The reality is less noble:

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Clinging to the Science

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
3412
 

When we say “science,” we are talking about a particular process used to answer a certain class of questions. The scientific method is formidable: we know of no more effective technique for understanding the natural world. The successes of science are countless and impressive, and provide incalculable benefit to mankind.

Prepending the definite article gives us “the science,” which refers to the products, the answers, obtained by the application of the methods of scientific pursuit.

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Personal Wuhan Coronavirus Update

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
5119
 

I received this text from my best friend Friday morning:

Two nights ago I felt restless and slept fitfully. Yesterday afternoon I noticed a sore throat. Last night, when I went to bed, I was chilled, and woke up every hour or so in a cold sweat. At that time I also noticed the headache. This morning I am drifting in and out of sleep, I ache all over, and I have a slight cough. I’ve canceled today’s jobs, and am hoping to recover over the weekend.

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Member Post

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
2311
 

This week, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the US-Canada border will remain closed to “non-essential” travel (basically to all tourists), until the US “gets the Wuhan Coronavirus under control”.  Now. the vast majority of us know that it is impossible for anyone to get any virus “under control”.  We may be able to tamp […]
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Here’s What’s Wrong with ‘Trust the Science’

Henry Racette
Henry Racette
240
 

Think about the times you’ve been told to “trust the science.” Two occasions should come to mind immediately: when discussing climate change and when talking about the Wuhan coronavirus.

There’s a lot of science being done on the subject of climate change. There’s a lot of science being done on the subject of the coronavirus. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that the vast bulk of this is “good” science — that it’s being conducted by competent people acting in accordance with the techniques and standards of science. That’s almost certainly a safe assumption.

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Dispatch from Seattle…Ruining Society Every Day

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
1817
 

The so-called “Public Health” “Authorities” and the so-called “Press” (scare quotes fully intended) seem to be in collusion with the state government to ruin society. If Society means people interacting with each other for mutual benefit, Society is being ruined, decimated by the reactions of government to the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus. The lockdowns that started in March, and are continuing in various forms six months later, are having deleterious effects on every aspect of Society. Here are some stories from today’s KOMO Seattle website. [Please note that the actions of the Seattle City Council and mayor might have taken place anyway, but are amplified due to the abrupt halt in revenue from sales taxes curtailed by business shutdowns.]

Nearly 600 Layoffs as Boeing Supplier to Close Plant in Kent

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The War of All Against All…

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
1511
 

…or How the Governments Multiplied Their Power by Destroying the US Economy to Fight the Wuhan Coronavirus

The United States has seen epidemics of new and old diseases many times in the past. The so-called Spanish Flu infected 500 Million people worldwide between 1918 and 1920, claiming between 17 and 50 million lives (figures vary, because governments around the world censored their information reaching the public). About 105 million people were infected in the United States, with 500,000-850,000 deaths.

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Member Post

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
1714
 

This story is copied in its entirety from the KOMO-Seattle Web Site.  The infamous modelers from the University of Washington have deemed that the States will be forced by the Wuhan Coronavirus to hard-close their societies, if certain actions are not taken immediately.  None of these Washington State Employees stands to lose his or her […]
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A Bittersweet Independence Day

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
710
 

This year of 2020, when we Americans should be celebrating American Exceptionalism—the big difference in America’s founding and history from every other nation on Earth—our great country is riven by rioting, looting, Marxism, ugliness, vandalism. Oh, and also a worldwide pandemic of a virus that originated in Communist China.

Instead of the sound of parades, brass bands playing Stars and Stripes Forever, and laughing children; we hear screams, bullhorns, and the rending sounds of toppling monuments. Instead of praise for the Founding Fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and all the others, we hear praise for career criminals and Marxist fugitives.

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The Unexpected Job Losses

Bishop Wash
Bishop Wash
158
 

We have a basic unlimited car wash plan with a chain car wash. No, it isn’t A1A Car Wash, even though we’re in Albuquerque. It’s an automated car wash with an option to have interior work done. During the lockdown, they closed their locations and stopped charging the monthly fee. They would occasionally send me messages about plans they were working on to reopen safely. Sometime around May 10, they reopened for exterior service only.

In the Before Time, there were maybe 15 people working a shift. Cashiers for the interior and exterior lanes, four to six people working the interior cleaning, a person on the entry of the wash, two people wiping cars as they exit the wash, two or three doing interior cleaning on exit, and I’m sure a shift manager somewhere. Now there are maybe three or four people working. One cashier, since only the exterior lane is open; one at the entrance to the wash; one at the exit probably watching so the wash doesn’t have an issue; and probably a shift manager.

We all know about the vast numbers of unemployed because of the lockdown and everyone probably knows of at least one business that has announced they won’t reopen. Those are known losses now. How many jobs won’t be there when businesses fully reopen? Over the course of the month, the car wash has been reopened, they’ve added a few items to the automated line. At the end, a second row of dryer blowers has been added and a buffing roller has been installed to take the place of wiping the car. There are nine locations in town and over 300 nationwide. If just those two positions aren’t available upon return and estimate that there are three or four shifts to fill, that’s 1,800 to 2,400 jobs nationwide that won’t need to be filled for this one car wash company.

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