The Daily is a high quality information podcast the New York Times produces daily. Yesterday's podcast was an interview with Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times. McNeil's comments about the Coronavirus are frightening. If McNeil is correct, this virus is much more dangerous than I realized. A couple of points need to be made.
First, reports that 80% of infections are mild were highly misleading. "Mild" was defined by Chinese officials as symptoms less than anything not requiring oxygen or a ventilator were classified as mild. That means people could have pneumonia just short of requiring oxygen or hospitalization and still be considered to have a mild infection. That is not mild. the other 20% were classified as severe (needing oxygen or a ventilator) or critical (organ failure).
Second, the symptoms are these: first high fever and dry cough, then fatigue. A runny nose is rare (~4%) and those may have been people with a cold or flu at the same time.
Third, McNeil now considers this virus to be on a par with the 1918 influenza outbreak that killed millions of people. He calls it a "dangerous virus that transmits easily between people." He asked 12 experts about whether warnings about this virus have been overblown in view of the small number of infections so far. Eight said no and this will turn into a pandemic, two said yes warnings were overblown and two refused to take a guess.
Fourth, it isn't known how the infection will play out. Maybe the infection rate will slow or stop in the summer, but maybe not. And, no one can know what the final fatality rate will be. McNeil is taking steps to avoid crowds and touching surfaces in public as much as he can because he is spooked.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
The Cleanse
Here's a simple experiment that can improve your mental acuity.
Try eliminating MSM from your life. Cancel your cable and newspaper subscription. Get Netflix.
Do it for 6 months.
Finally, after the cleanse, try turning on the TV again. It will blow your mind how insane it suddenly is. Nothing there will make sense.
TV changes the way you think, and not for the better. It alters your perspective and effectively controls you, no matter how prepared you think you might be.
Turn it off and see for yourself.
ADDRESSING A MAJOR POLITICAL ISSUE
WHERE oh WHERE do we draw the line on Government intervention into our lives?
They want to take away our choices on abortion, or our choice whether to spank or not, but the worst government intervention is:
TELLING US WE CAN'T DECLAW OUR CATS!
They want to take away our choices on abortion, or our choice whether to spank or not, but the worst government intervention is:
TELLING US WE CAN'T DECLAW OUR CATS!
Is Declawing Cats Illegal?
Many countries ban declaw surgery in cats.
New York is the only U.S. state to ban the practice of declawing. However, there are cities and towns throughout the country that have passed legislation banning declaw surgery.
Two Canadian Provinces Are Banning The Declawing Of Cats As Of 2019
Next year four Canadian provinces will have officially banned cat declawing.
STOP GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN OUR CHOICES - NOW!!
Friday, March 13, 2020
Trump’s character problem
The night before Super Tuesday, Joe Biden spoke fervently about the need to restore decency and dignity to the White House. To some, these words might have sounded like standard politician-speak. But
a just-released Pew Research Center survey suggests that they could play an important role in the fall, perhaps even determining the outcome of the general election.
a just-released Pew Research Center survey suggests that they could play an important role in the fall, perhaps even determining the outcome of the general election.
Pew finds that only 15% of Americans like the way Donald Trump conducts himself as president, while 51% dislike his conduct, and the remaining 31% express mixed feelings. Strikingly, only 31% of Republicans could bring themselves to say that they like the behavior of the man that most of them support despite, not because of, his departure from ordinary norms of conduct.
Americans have taken their measure of President Trump’s character, and they don’t like what they see. A total of 80% regard him as “self-centered,” and 59% as prejudiced. Only 36% of Americans see him as honest and 32% as morally upstanding.
From the beginning of his campaign, Biden has talked about reaching out to Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents. The Pew data suggest that he has a basis for doing this, because opinions within the Republican Party are divided along lines of age, education, ideology, and partisanship.
Among Republicans under age 30, approval and disapproval of President Trump’s conduct is almost evenly balanced. Among Republicans 65 and older, likes outweigh dislikes by a margin of 4 to 1. Republicans with college degrees or more education are more than twice as likely to express disapproval than are those with no more than a high school diploma. There are similar differences between moderates and conservatives, and between Republican identifiers and leaners.
Americans’ disapproval of President Trump’s personal conduct is deeply entrenched and unlikely to change between now and election day. Surveys in mid-2017 and 2018 yielded similar findings. The key question is how large they will loom in voters’ minds as they stride to the polling booth. A Democratic nominee who focuses on them and presents a credible contrast between his character and the president’s could strike political gold.
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