Re: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

First, please don’t get me wrong.  As a bleeding heart liberal, I do not wish hardship or suffering on anyone (or anything, for that matter).  I don’t even kill bugs, unless they can carry potential diseases (fleas, ticks mosquitoes).  Then I will quickly extinguish them with a regretful cringe on my face.  I’ve always been more of a life “promoter” than “destroyer,” forever rooting for the underdogs in life.  That being said…

In a few more weeks, refrigerators and cupboards, along with accommodating supermarkets, will begin looking mighty bare.  Medicines for what ails you will be harder to find.  Need your prescription refilled, “Sorry we don’t have that in stock now.  Maybe in a month or so.” No more pizza delivery or fast food take-out.  Nonchalantly trashing that over-abundance of leftover food on your plate will no longer be a complacent option.  Pets crying for food?  Sorry Fido.  In other words, if it hasn’t already, my guess is that life’s gonna get pretty damned “real” for a lot of people out there.  More real than it’s ever been before.

Let me hone in on America; the good old opulent U.S. of A., and my home.  Will this virus be a crude awakening to Americans’ lifestyles?  Or, once everything settles down and the worst is over, will we just go back to business as usual?  Will anybody even remember it (lessons learned)?

Give your thoughts on what this virus will (or does) mean to us, here in America.  Or, what it will (or does) mean to you, wherever on the planet you may live.

Thanks for posting and recommending.

The New Judicial Conservatism

The New York Times has analyzed 10,025 federal court decisions from 2017 to 2019 to see how the president's appointees are doing in terms of partisanship. His judges are partisan.

The NYT writes: “One new judge, who had held a political job in the Trump administration, dissented on an issue of particular importance to the president: disclosure of his financial records. The judge, Neomi Rao, opposed a decision requiring the release of the documents to a congressional committee, a mandate the president continues to resist and is now before the Supreme Court.

“They have long records of standing up, and they’re not afraid of being unpopular,” said Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative advocacy group that has pushed for the mold-breaking appointments. Ms. Severino once served as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the Supreme Court’s most reliably conservative members.

‘The problem as I see it is not that judges differ ideologically — of course they do — nor is it that a Republican president would look for someone with congenial ideological preferences,’ Mr. Burbank said. ‘It’s that in recent decades the search has been for hard-wired ideologues because they’re reliable policy agents.’

When Mr. Trump took office there were 103 unfilled federal court openings, in addition to a Supreme Court seat, in part because Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader of the Senate, and allies had refused to proceed with confirming many of Mr. Obama’s nominees. The last time so many vacancies had been left to a successor of the opposing party was when the federal bench was expanded by dozens of judges under President George H.W. Bush.”

There really are Trump judges and judges from other presidents. Maybe it is reasonable to see federal judges the president has appointed as politicians in black robes who cannot be voted out of office.

Should President Donald Trump resign over his coronavirus response?

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE:
https://thetylt.com/politics/should-president-donald-trump-resign-over-coronavirus-response



THE COUNT SO FAR:
(of course the count will change as more people start to vote)

#TrumpResignCOVID19

88%

#TrumpDoingGoodJob

12%

Grasping for God straws?

At today’s Coronavirus press conference, which took place just a couple of hours ago, Dr. Ben Carson announced that Donald Trump is calling for a “National Day of Prayer.”

I know what I think. What do you think? 

Coronavirus Update 2: This is Bad

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.

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.