The End of METOO?

Or not, who knows. I sometimes think that as long as they can name an aircraft carrier after JFK and HRC gets a voice in any part of the DNC, they don't take the #Me2 thing that seriously anyway. 

https://theweek.com/articles/911495/how-tara-reades-allegations-could-bring-down-joe-biden

What's Phase 2?

One benefit is we are buying time to develop an effective vaccine or treatment. But should we be confident such a reprieve is coming any time soon? The number of times humankind has created an effective vaccine against any coronavirus currently stands at zero. While some antiviral treatments have shown promise, hopes that a “magic bullet” treatment is soon forthcoming are exactly that — hopes.

A second benefit is that “flattening the curve” through a prolonged shutdown can change the fraction of us who will eventually get this disease even without a vaccine. But this effect is smaller than one might guess.

Absent a vaccine, the epidemiology models governments currently use predict that unless we take extreme mitigation measures forever, at least 60 to 70% of us will eventually get this disease. Long-term shutdowns can change how high a fraction above this 60 to 70% eventually get infected, but not the fact that the majority of us will get infected.

https://www.startribune.com/a-month-into-mass-quarantine-what-now/569933882/?refresh=true

Tough Minded Thinking about COVID

In March, Florida was projected to be the second-worst state for COVID-19 deaths, with predictions of 174 per day and a total of nearly 7,000 by the end of the summer.  Nothing like this has transpired and it will not come to pass.   

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronavirus-response-florida-new-york-results-compare-william-bennett-seth-leibsohn

As I write this (April 25, 2020), 53,000-plus Americans have died from COVID-19. One could argue whether coding errors have overstated deaths due to COVID-19 infection; others have made that argument; I won’t. Rather, I’d like to call your attention to another COVID-19 statistic missing in action. I’ve not seen it discussed anywhere. It is based on simple facts and actuarial tables. Call it … living days stolen by COVID-19. Do you know the number? I don’t. This is an extraordinary gap in our COVID-19 knowledge and damage calculations. Lack of analysis regarding the most essential unit of human currency — living days — has tilted public policy toward an economically ruinous lockdown.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2020/04/25/living-days-stolen--a-smarter-way-to-measure-covid-19-deaths/#2a6e13246184

COVID Selection for Today

I can't normally make it through the first paragraph of Friedman's stuff, and then this:
"But when you’re in a struggle with one of Mother Nature’s challenges — like a virus or a climate change — the goal is not to defeat her. No one can. She’s just chemistry, biology and physics. The goal is to adapt.

Mother Nature does not reward the strongest or the smartest. She rewards the species that are the most adaptive in evolving the chemistry, biology and physics that she has endowed them with to thrive — no matter what she throws at them.

Here’s the stone-cold truth: There are only different hellish ways to adapt to a pandemic and save both lives and livelihoods. I raise Sweden not because I think it has found the magic balance — it is way too soon to tell — but because I think we should be debating all the different ways and costs of acquiring immunity."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-sweden.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

How will we hurt and who will we protect and why?

Because of its virulence, wide spread and the many asymptomatic cases it causes, Covid-19 cannot be contained in the long run, and so all countries will eventually reach herd immunity. To think otherwise is naive and dangerous. General lockdown strategies can reduce transmission and death counts in the short term. But this strategy cannot be considered successful until lockdowns are removed without the disease resurging.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/04/29/delaying-herd-immunity-is-costing-lives/

CFH Another Display of Govt Abuse

At the height of the Russia-collusion hysteria, anyone who theorized that Crossfire Hurricane had been sparked by the Steele dossier — a document paid for by the political party running against target of the investigation — would be rigorously fact-checked.

Mainstream reporters covering the story would authoritatively inform their audience that it was evidence gleaned from a conversation with then-20-something former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos that had triggered the investigation. They knew, of course, that if the FBI had relied principally on the dossier, the investigation would look transparently and problematically partisan. The Papadopoulos conversations, on the other hand, sounded pretty damning, even though journalists didn’t know exactly what they entailed.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/its-official-every-aspect-of-crossfire-hurricane-was-shady/

A Great Review

Another review of the subtleties of the constitution.

https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2020/04/13/why_is_the_constitution_not_democratic_110408.html

That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It

First, many in the intelligence world with experience in China suspected right away that the story the Chinese government was telling about this virus was almost certainly a lie. The first indication of that was the torrent of obvious nonsense coming from official sources in Beijing. Initially, Chinese officials claimed the virus had jumped from an obscure, scaly animal called a pangolin, which was sold in the Wuhan wet market. That explanation didn’t make sense. Wet markets are seafood markets. Pangolins are mammals. So for that matter are bats. In the face of skepticism, the Chinese then blamed Italian armed forces personnel, who’d been near Wuhan a few months before, for the Military World Games, an international sporting event. The Italians brought the virus, the Chinese said. When the Italian government complained, the Chinese shifted blame to the United States. The American military, and western tourists, infected Wuhan, they claimed. 
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/04/18/tucker_carlson_blame_america_or_china_china_is_waging_a_coronavirus_distraction_campaign.html

When the truth is a lie! This is going to be like JFK's murder, massive speculation, fear and blaming and maybe no one will ever know for sure. I'm reasonably certain that JFK was killed by a commie ex-marine with a $12 mail order rifle. But who knows, there were lots of folks with lots of reasons to kill that guy. 

The People Who Dare To Speak Truth To Power

"Explanations for this somewhat counterintuitive trend include the tendency of women to enter STEM fields in Arab and Muslim countries, where a high proportion of young men are shopkeepers or study in religious seminaries, as well as the ability of women in more open societies to pursue what they desire. As Murray puts it, in Scandinavia and other highly equal countries, “both sexes become freer to do what comes naturally.”"
https://www.realclearbooks.com/articles/2020/04/15/charles_murrays_real_talk_on_biological_differences_489205.html

Dirty From Any Angle

They say Trump is rogue, a lawbreaker. Most presidents are and do, to some degree. That's we we're smart to fear them. "Power corrupts" and all of that.

They say the opposition party unlawfully used the power of the state to oppose a political opponent. There's more evidence to support that position than the other, but that doesn't the current president was clean or will stay clean.

Either way, the political establishment benefits when they force us to pick a side in self defense, no matter how repugnant.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/its-official-every-aspect-of-crossfire-hurricane-was-shady/

Second, U.S. critical care infrastructure is vast. The U.S. has 34.2 critical care (ICU) beds per 100,000 people — the highest in the world — compared to 12.5 in Italy (and 29.2 in Germany). Of course, hospitals and supply chains for medical equipment will still be stressed, but the U.S. has an infrastructure advantage.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/04/stop-panic-dont-let-coronavirus-win-the-pandemic-column/2942268001/

The Numbers Amaze ...

Our military is faced with a conflicting dichotomy. On one hand, we tout that we are the most technologically advanced military force on the planet. On the other, the Pentagon states that we need to upgrade our defenses to keep up with the looming threats. Depending on which briefing you attend, you may hear that the Department of Defense (DoD) is operating under a very tight budget; meanwhile, the news media points out the United States spends more on defense than any other nation in the world.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/04/01/the_pentagons_biggest_enemy_isnt_china_or_russia_115167.html

The part that is hard to factor in is that US decisions are based on limited losses of combatants, whilst our enemies look at combatants as assets to be used an lost in the fight to retain or grow the power of the government. The US will spend more to get the same capacity with greater survivability.

The Vaccine or Vaccines Will Work, and How SARS Cov 2 Hurts Us

https://theconversation.com/what-the-coronavirus-does-to-your-body-that-makes-it-so-deadly-133856?fbclid=IwAR3cj-RLJMLofKpTtSLktsXrriv0EAkg8zukDns3AheH8kzFFLQrTxRy9RE

https://www.city-journal.org/coronavirus-vaccine