This is day 2 of the Official Lock Down, I think. Since we soft quarantined a couple of weeks back, I’ve started not tracking days really precisely.
The Outside Environment
The first day, and today, I took the dogs for a walk. Mostly to survey compliance, but also they do like it.
Well, a whole lot of people are ignoring it, or a huge number are finding excuses. Not a lot of grey hairs in cars. Older folks seem to be taking it seriously.
I noticed 3 groups. Missing were the very old, and teens whose parents are keeping them in, with a few exceptions. Out and about are:
30 to 40 something trades .A couple of houses being worked on. HVAC, plumbing, telco. Gardeners especially. Guess a 2 week growth of lawn is a critical service.
20 to 30s young men in trucks and hot cars, some Asian sedans. I doubt they were buying groceries.
20 to 30s young women. This impressed me as two subtypes. The Young Mom out for groceries, or taking their mom somewhere / checking on someone. Then the young rebel not interested in following rules or staying at home. Spring break types in not-a-Mom-mobile.
There was little traffic in the residential area, but far too much traffic on the major streets 2 blocks away. The shopping center across the corner way had a fairly full parking lot.
If this continues, it is way too much contact for effective containment. I think we’re seeing why France has police enforcement and Spain too. I suspect things will need to get much worse, have a bunch of folks burying family members, have the reality up close and personal, before it will be believed. Either that, or strong enforcement.
TV showed a beach in Florida, packed with the Spring Break crowd. Story was that after a bunch of complaints, the city agreed to close the beach… next Monday.
I guess we will be following Italy into the land of horribles.
The Esthetics
I noticed this when in the box for NASA. The first 2 weeks are increasingly difficult, then it becomes the New Normal and you can do it for months. Days start to run together in sameness. It’s boring. Energy and motivation start to drop.
Cooking and food have become high points of the day. Lounge wear the norm.
The sunny days in the garden were nice, the cold wet days less so, being couches, TV and computer. I get restless for change and motion, but not energetic enough to really do much about it.
But tomorrow is another day. Maybe it will be sunny.
Musings from the Chiefio 
Welcome to my world. 8-) I sometimes go for weeks without leaving my hill top! Of course it helps to live in the middle of 20 acres of woods…pg
Fer yu, E.M. while confined to barracks, a momentary diversion (concerning borders.)
Dang, this was BEFORE the video I was watching. I’ll try again.
Fingers crossed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DsyUXEH1wM
I went fishing yesterday. 46(F) and I caught 2 fish. No one but me on the lake. I’d say that qualifies as social isolation.It looks like I can go fishing again today.
I’m champing at the bit to do some yard work too, E.M., but the weather isn’t cooperating.
I gassed up the car on the way home from fishing paying $1.90/gallon. I passed one station on Monday that had gas a $1.77/gallon!
The Mrs. and I also went over to her mom’s house yesterday. Mrs. H.R. went to the pharmacy to pick up her mom’s meds while I was fishing. Then we stopped on the way to her place and got 1/2 gallon of milk, two rolls of paper towels, a box of tissues, and a bottle of wine. That’s “stock-up” for her.
I swept up some broken glass in her garage and took the 90-gallon trash bin out to the curb. I have no idea how they expect someone of her age (86) to use those things, which are required, else no pick-up. She doesn’t generate much trash, so she keeps tossing in her trash bags until my wife or her son shows up to take it to the curb. It’s a monster.
Oh, I did make a run to Costco on Tuesday to pick up hearing aid batteries for her. Went right in, straight to the hearing center, paid for the batteries there instead of at the checkout, and then right back out the door.
So we’re not 100% quarantined, but we are minimizing trips to anywhere there are other people and most of those trips have been for supplies for ‘mom’.
It certainly looks like the isolation will be good for the budget. No eating out, very little fuel, food bought on the cheep.
I did make a bank run to move funds from bank to a credit union. I had a weird experience with the bank manager who actually asked me why I was moving funds. ( Just to keep a Balance between Institutions and Credit Unions carry less leveraged holdings and turn done hundreds to 20s) The man actually looked nervous, and said “I understand, I don’t know what is going to happen to the banks.”. ( Wells Fargo).
Not exactly confidence inspiring.
Oh, cute video on some penguins take advantage of no people…
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/2020-03-17-penguins-visit-other-animals-during-rare-aquarium-field-trip-23952809.html
I’m an outlier about this illness and thus, also, the total wrecking of society. Like “p.g.sharrow” we are isolated. So from the hilltop looking out:
Wed. afternoon:
Washington State claims 67 deaths. These account for most of the total in North America. 58% of the U.S. deaths. Why?
This virus was in a nursing home of 120 elderly with prior health problems. How and why hasn’t been told. When deaths spiked above the normal (3 to 7 per month) someone finally noticed.
What they now know is this: “Staff members who worked while sick at multiple long-term care facilities contributed to the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable elderly in the Seattle area, “ – – report by the CDC.
Political officials still haven’t got a clue about what is going on, but continue to make decisions as though that one facility and rotating staff was a template for all of society.
I’d list some of the damage, but it is too sad.
Sad news, state is up to 68 cases. We are on partial lockdown and our first case in the county. (Health department is not allowed to say anything more than that it exists within the county and I understand why). With things being uncertain, I expect local panic.
Speaking of rotating staff, I wonder about protocols among home health nurses/care aides.
I’d put all health care workers on prophylactic chloroquine, both to protect them, and the residents / patients. We would do that if they were sent to a tropical outbreak in a malaria zone…
Thing is, the medical system, today, is highly protocol (bureaucracy) bound. If it isn’t in the book, it won’t be done. That said, a sharp mind would fight to implement it. A reminder, though, the book would have just such a protocol in place for a malaria outbreak (and remember, the US south *was* such an area in the past, and known for it). You can thank the government and/or the trial lawyers for exacerbating the situation. Yeah, don’t absolve the doctors totally. They’re human too.
@EMSmith; Brittan has done just that. They have one manufacturing plant that still creates Chloroquine, they embargoed it’s production and reserved it for their health care people.
Cdquarles, I think you are in Alabama.
Where?
I’m down in Mobile.
It appears my return invasion of spring breakers has been averted. I had to notify the disinterested parents that their dorm dwellers needed to heed the emails their school sent them on moving their stuff out via specific scheduling 2 days ago. They finally figured it out this morning and they had to head North pronto in order to meet their scheduled 3 hour timeslot tomorrow morning or they ain’t getting back in. So the exposure to the spit swappin, spliff sharin, bottle chuggin crew will mosey North along with what appears a mass migration of other snowbirds today. I can now focus on the proper recycling of my fairly large stock of cold Busch Light whilst in lockdown! ;-)
I am still amazed that any parent would not halt any 1,000 mile migration the day after a National Emergency was declared due to an invisible enemy. I mean, WT* were they thinking?
On my last trip to grocery store, I noticed a prominent display of Schwepps tonic water at the end of the aisle where the cleaning products were located.
Looks like someone’s got clue!
Hopefully, behavioural changes in Britain in recent weeks will bring an earlier stabilisation of the infection and death rates than is currently being predicted.
Japan is culturally fastidious about interpersonal hygiene and that seems to be the key in all those nations with better numbers than the UK.
Maybe the virus can be defeated by relatively simple behavioural changes ?
@Newscaper, I am in the center of the Heart of Dixie, just outside of metro Birmingham, where all of my children and grandchildren live. I’ve been around it quite a bit, having lived in most of the metro areas at some point, including Mobile; though being a military brat, not originally from AL. My mom was from AL.
@Ossqss:
I think your punctuation was off. Perhaps:
~”WTF. Were they thinking?”
;-)
@Power Grab:
I’m attempting to balance the secure lockdown in hand, v.s. a quick run for gin & Tonic, er, medicinal prophylactic quinine water…
@Stephen:
Also things like bowing instead of hand shakes and hugs…
A word from the outside.
I gave blood today. It took me 2.5 hours. Longest yet! Why? I was not alone. Indeed, they are swamped, and adhering to the local idiots command of no more than 10 folks in a room.
The process is different. They took our temperature when we arrived, before we were allowed into the inner sanctum. Mine was normal, 97.4 (I always am a degree below the universal average). Then we had to wait. They are not taking online appointments, only walkins now. So the long wait.
The donors were in good spirits. As was the staff (you are not seeing that in the news). I think most of the donors were happy to have social interaction. And the staff reflected their attitude/
When I got there, I realized (due to them NOT taking online appointments) that it would take some time, so I made the most of it and interacted with the staff and donors/ As you have to go through a mini physical (and they do have new questions related to the Chinese Virus), no one felt threatened and all seemed to enjoy the heavy smell of alcohol. I hope the staff does not mind it too much. I told the phlebotomist that while strong, it reminded me of “clean”.
The real story of this is mot the hoarding, or the shortages, or the deaths or the number who have it. It is not about riots, or fear or cowering in caves. The real story is that people are uniting in their determination to get through this in the best way. Not with accusations or recriminations, but with support for one another. With helping others because they know it is hard on all.
You are not seeing that in the fake news. You are not seeing that in Hollywood. You are seeing that every time you go to a grocery store or a blood bank. You are seeing that in real people.
They say the entertainment industry is suffering, And I say GOOD! They are a bunch of evil, hate filled trolls that need to learn where their paychecks come from. Not some Weinsrien, but from the average Joe they wish dearth upon.
I will not succumb to hate or hysteria. I am an American. Not a toady. Not a subject. A citizen.
Last two weeks I went to the ER three times (kidney stones- calcium) and nurses wearing masks and goggles checked every person for fever before the patient was allowed to enter the hospital (I live in GA). I was on the floor for two and a half hours before the only doctor in the ER could see me. Everyone is very busy right now, so don’t do anything stupid like fall off a ladder or hurt yourself doing yardwork. Just relax and don’t wear yourself out.
Interesting
https://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/do-you-want-to-know-why-so-many-people-in-italy-are-dying-of-the-coronavirus
“They studied why the disease pathway in Italy is more serious, finding that most patients took ibuprofen at home. Researchers joined the virus and ibuprofen in the laboratory and came to the conclusion that administering ibuprofen accelerates multiplication of the virus and is related to a more serious course of the disease. They recommend to avoid ibuprofen and to administer paracetamol, aspirin, diclofenac.”
“Consultant Pediatrician in London John Greenwood was quoted as saying: “We have just been sent a medical alert that no one is to use anti-inflammatories (e.g. Ibruprofen, Voltarol, naproxen, and others) for pain or high temperature. Use paracetamol instead. There seems to be a link between severe cases of COVID-19 affecting young people with no underlying illnesses and taking anti-inflammatories. Initial reports started coming from French doctors on Friday. This has been confirmed by infectious diseases consultants here – there are four young people in ICU in Cork who have no underlying illnesses – all were taking anti-inflammatories and there are concerns this has caused a more severe illness.””
More showing the current madness in our virus response
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/breaking-exclusive-the-coronavirus-fatality-rate-reported-by-the-media-is-completely-inaccurate-the-actual-rate-is-less-than-the-flu-media-lying-again/
“ As of today, the actual fatality rate for those who were confirmed to have had the coronavirus is 3.84%. This is the number of fatalities from the virus divided by the number of individuals who were confirmed with the virus.”
“ The rate of the number of individuals who died from the flu to the number of individuals who had the flu is therefore .1% (22,000 / 36 million). This is an estimate.”
“ the rate of individuals who died from the flu to the number of individuals who were confirmed to have had the flu is around 10% (22,000/ 222,000)”
Stephen. I had hope like you. But currently only the only country where the number of active cases is falling is Korea, even with all the measures now in place around the world. The apocalypse is delayed, but it is still coming.
philjourdan, you are right, the real story is the reaction of ordinary folks everywhere. What you describe in the US what I see here in the UK. People just getting on with it, helping each other, with a little gallows humo(u)r thrown in. Grandstanding politicians and carping media are doing themselves no favours by not getting with the program.
While we are in lockdown, I want to go over WHY the Wuhan Virus is so USEFUL to the Chinese.
Sorry this is not in any order. I am also going to be quoting extensively from Daughn.
WHY the Wuhan Virus is so useful to the Chinese Communists:
….
1. “The results of the Hong Kong Elections, after 6 months of protests, are a staggering win for the Pro-Democracy effort and a slap-heard-round-the-world, to Beijing.” — Daughn
2. No tariffs will be lifted until Phase Two. <=== MAJOR PROBLEM I will explain in the next comment
3. The USA-China Cold War where our politicians and businessmen are siding with China:
From Daughn:
“The following interview was done on September 27th, 2019 but only recently made available to the public. While watching this interview, please remember, almost all of DC and Wall Street adores China and refers to Russia as the boogeyman. As a country, we would not be at this stage of confrontation with China if it had not been for President Donald Trump. If we could have moved the DC/NYC establishment to understand our bigger problem with China, it would have been easy to partner with Russia to confront the growing threat of China. Organizations like The Atlantic Council and our own “stuck in the mud” bureaucrats have harmed US Foreign Policy and cost us 3 years of progress in stopping China.
This interview is extraordinary because it combines Kyle Bass’ expertise on China finance/monetary supply with the expertise of Air Force General Robert Spalding, who was THE Advisor to the Joint Chiefs on China and accompanied Chinese Generals to Mar-A-Lago during the first meeting between Xi and Donald Trump.
The interview is 58:38 long, please bookmark and watch at your leisure.”
“…Since Nixon opened China, our leaders thought exposure to western democracy would “rub off ” on China and they would become more like us. The exact opposite has become true. China takes our money, hollows out America, and is exporting their censorship/communist values to the West. Keep in mind, this interview was done BEFORE the NBA incident….
What we are only becoming aware of is that the Chinese are still communists and will never change…… The Chinese did adopt our profit motive but cast aside everything else so prevalent in a democracy/republic. The CCP controls everything in China and their goal is to “control the narrative”, governing how one thinks and speaks. Sound familiar? No criticism of the party or established narrative is allowed. Again, sound familiar?
The interview includes eye-opening discussions of the PLA and the CCP within China and how the censorship and control over the people overrides everything in China, from the significant to the mundane. The stories will jolt one’s senses….
CHINA’S UNDERLYING MOTIVES:
Privately, Chinese officials will admit their primary goal is to dominate the world. They believe they have endured a “Century of Humiliation” which is our fault, the fault of the USA, because they were the big player for thousands of years and they will be again. Their goal is to use our own greed against us, bankrupt us, and force us to submit. Americans who became billionaires working in China, are so entrapped by fear of losing their wealth, they now openly advocate for the Chinese System. They’re too far gone. Again, look at the NBA, Nike, the US Chamber of Commerce, or Michael Bloomberg. These billionaires run directly contrary to US national security interests and casually sell out to China.
ORGAN HARVESTING: It’s real….
The UK recently had a tribunal, presided over by the same guy who did Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial. They interviewed hundreds of people who escaped from the camps in Xinjiang as well as physicians who performed organ harvesting. The report and findings can be located on (ChinaTribunal . com)….
FENTANYL:
Wrap your head around the idea that there are no ethics or rule of law in China. Again, this is purely about profit. The generic drug supply in the USA is about 80-90% Chinese origin and is also tainted with carcinogens. The same factories which produce blood pressure meds also produce Chinese Fentanyl, and about 90% of the heroin and fentanyl in the USA is straight from these factories (southern border, US mail, or express scripts out of Canada). It accounts for about 40K deaths a year, on purpose, from China. In fact, the Chinese have genetically altered the poppy plant so now, they can grow it year round = more opioids….
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY HELPS CCP MAINTAIN CONTROL:
Imagine for a moment, 1.4 billion people who only watched CNN, or for that matter, FOX News. Imagine only one source of state news, one narrative, being pushed, and if anyone searches for truth, begins to tip over the rocks, that person is penalized. Yeah, we’re beginning to see it here in the USA with our media and the persecution of Repubs/Trump Supporters, but imagine no other lines of communication in an entire country, and it’s been going on for a generation. The CCP has been very successful in stopping the ability of people to think for themselves, everything is locked down physically and electronically…
……… Which is why Hong Kong is such a nightmare for them…..
HOW CHINA SILENCES DISSENT WITHIN THE USA:….
CAN WE COEXIST WITH CHINA?
No, not as it stands currently. “Reformers” in the Chinese Communist Party only want to kill us more slowly than the hawks. Bass was mildly shocked. To drive home the point, Spalding comes around again to the CCP Constitution, thousands of pages, a little known document, called Document #9. It’s the exact opposite of America’s Bill of Rights. The Chinese think our Bill of Rights would destroy the Communist party (interesting) and therefore, their citizens intentionally do not have these Bill of Rights. Moreover, it is the job of the CCP to counteract those rights (our freedoms) overseas as well — within our country…..
THE KEY IS TO CONTROL CHINA’S ACCESS TO US DOLLARS:
No one else wants China’s currency because no one else trusts China. It’s true, China is about 15% of the world’s economy, but only 9/10th’s of 1% of the world’s international transactions settle in Chinese Yuan. It’s funny money. They have to have our dollars to import the goods they need. Without the USD, their economy comes to a standstill….”
Ed Forbes says: 20 March 2020 at 7:54 am
The GatewayPundit is doing the USA a diservice as are you by repeating what they wrote.
There are 4 flu viruses and only 1 COVID19 virus.
Forget the % ages, just look at the current Italian daily death rate.
475/day and rising = 15,000/month = 171,000/annum.
Unless something changes they are in trouble, their medics are infected and dying as well.
I am surprised and saddened that like Ed Forbes, Tony Heller is pushing the “it is not as bad as flu” meme.
He has already blocked one of my dissenting comments and I am now waiting to see if he prints basically the same as my comment above.
It took me forever to hunt this down but it is WHY China is desperate to get rid of Trump. China is a Potemkin Village. It is NOT the great economy we are told it is. WORSE the Democrats have put the moneys from public employees and Teachers pensions INTO CHINESE STOCK.
Do not forget that Sec. Pompeo just had a heart-to-heart talk with Governors about their connections to China.
Daughn is an Accountant among other thing and she has an interesting insight into China… (She also runs a small tile and stone import business.)
“…Site Visits to Publicly Traded Companies Are Necessary for Confirmation of Representations Made by the Company. Investors must have accurate information.
A publicly traded company creates a series of financial statements to give investors a picture of where they stand. The financial statements are then audited by an accounting firm. These representations are published in a “prospectus” (which no one reads except people like me), kind of like a brochure, on thin paper, with small words, bad fonts, and lots of footnotes. It’s the duty of the brokerage firm or investment banking firm bringing a company public in an IPO to check the company’s representations with site visits or forensic accounting….
…my best corporate client demanded my presence, asap. Turned out, he expected reps from brokerage houses which owned about 40-50% of the company’s outstanding stock – the next day. The following day, they expected bond daddies from all over the world who held about 60% of the corporate “paper” or debt. My dear friend, the plant manager, had no idea how important the site visit was. As a former partner in a brokerage firm, trained to inspect property, plant, and equipment…. as well as the financials…… I knew was a big deal. It was a “do or die” two days, which would affect stock price, my friends, and the entire company. So, you have a personal anecdote, a visual, of lots of people running around, clipping trees, making pretty food, dressed in their Sunday best, trying to make a good impression, with ALL lights on and ALL equipment working. THAT’s a site visit.
American Investors Understand the Importance of Due Diligence and GAAP
SEC filings in the USA are serious, and if you misrepresent earnings or commit fraud, your executives end up on CNBC, or in front of a Congressional Committee, or they may land in jail. It’s serious in the USA.
It’s NOT so serious in other countries. The USA, for decades, was the most reliable country in which to do business, less than a 5% corruption expense (yes, we really do have studies for such things). Doing business in South America, I was shocked by my own naivety and our American innocence about the rest of the world and how they operate. The ever-present corruption in South America/Central America/Caribbean was calculated about 30% of expenses…
The Ethics Have Changed Within the USA
Way back when, if a broker advised clients to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a company, they damn well knew whether or not the company was “as represented”. Any whiff of irregularity was a problem. The ethics of a new generation are not necessarily the same. I was trained in the 1980’s and our local site visit was in the mid-90’s before internet bubble, the Twin Towers coming down, Enron, and the Great Crash of ’08. In the OLDEN DAYS, we all followed the same rules.
Doing Business In Another Country – Expectations vs. Reality
….we decided to build a pool. The tile was too expensive and I decided to become an importer to save money. The company took off from there. I’ve written many stories about importing, but there’s another part which is critical to understanding this whole spiderweb of a story and today’s monumental topic.
More than anything else, it’s about Judeo-Christian ethics in the USA versus ethics in other countries. We expect others to do business as we do, act honorably to develop MORE business, but they don’t. A quick profit is too tempting and the culture consistently promotes cheating on a first order…… because there is a never-ending stream of gullible Americans. Ya’ gotta check what you buy and babysit the order.….
Solving the Trustworthiness Problem of Overseas Orders
I decided to hire people overseas, fluent in their own language, well educated, well respected men in their communities, ……… and men with specific knowledge about the material I was buying. All of these men spent decades in the business and forgot more than I would ever know. They became my eyes and ears on the ground, and I valued their opinions and judgement dearly….”
THAT IS THE BACKGROUND… and why I trust what Daughn reveals.
Continued (after I medicate the goat.)
PAY ATTENTION!
again from Daughn
“THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED ON WALL STREET WITH CHINESE COMPANIES.
What happened in the USA between 2006 until today is economic warfare, pure and simple. It was intentional with malice aforethought. Americans were complicit because of their laziness and greed. Almost no due diligence has been done on Chinese companies which are publicly listed on the NYSE, and the financials are hidden from our SEC, or are easily faked by Chinese auditors who bought a franchise in Deloitte/Price Waterhouse, etc. Billions and billions of dollars has been bilked from US investors. The fraud and corruption are like nothing we’ve ever seen.
THIS STORY IS THE BIGGEST WORLDWIDE FINANCIAL CRIME OF THE LAST 25 YEARS AND ALMOST NO ONE IS LISTENING
“Dan” was a broker selling securities for publicly traded Chinese companies on the NYSE when he got wind of the fraud. Dan got mad, began to investigate, and turned into a short seller, investigating what he thought were fraudulent Chinese companies, and taking them down. Dan tried to get the attention of Senator Toomey, the SEC, Congress, and the media. No one wanted to burst the China bubble. Dan stars in a movie made about the story, “The China Hustle”, in 2018. Here’s the movie trailer….. hold onto your seat.
Here’s the summary for those who don’t have time: Grab a cup of coffee and a chair. You won’t believe what you’re about to read…………
Here we go:
Roth Capital was a small investment banking company on the west coast. They held terrific “investor conferences” with big name entertainment like Billy Idol, Sting.
Rodman and Renshaw was on the East Coast and a little more highbrow. General Wesley Clark, former NATO Commander, and Presidential Candidate was their CEO. He brought in speakers like former Presidents Bush and Clinton + Colin Powell. All in all Rodman and Renshaw = 40 companies brought to market = 31 billion USD. Assets are either gone, or almost worthless. As companies were exposed, their stock prices tanked and the Chinese company was delisted from the NYSE.
How did they do it? ………. it was easy.
After 2008 crash, everyone was looking for a way to recover, quickly. The USA and EU were dead but China’s economy was growing like a rocketship (allegedly). American Wall St types wanted an invitation to the party, but they couldn’t invest in China Companies on the NYSE……… until Roth Capital figured a way in via the back door.
Roth looked for older and inactive companies, like a mining company, mostly in Nevada, which still was a publicly traded company with NYSE listing (had a ticker symbol). Then, they did a “reverse merger” with a Chinese company, didn’t matter if the sectors were different, and the new company emerged with a new name, maybe with the old ticker symbol or a maybe a new ticker symbol.
Between 2006-2012, 400 Chinese companies were listed on NYSE Stock, and about 80% were reverse mergers. Normally, for a US company, SEC filings are complex and watched closely. Audits and reporting are constant. Therefore, the US investor has confidence in the “prospectus” (balance sheets accounting GAAP representations) of a particular company. But the greed was HUGE and companies were audited by Deloitte/Coopers Lybrand/Price Waterhouse…… in China, which is nothing more than a franchise. From 2009-2010, most reverse merger companies rose 300-400% in value. Everyone wanted in the game….. the champagne flowed…… just don’t be looking for a chair when the music stops.
Everything was fine until an older stockbroker asked his son, who was working in China, to check out a particular company called Orient Paper, Inc. Dad was old school, gotta check it out before you buy…… that’s how we were trained. Dad was doing his due diligence. Well, what the son, Carson Block, learned was extraordinary. It was a paper company, but there was water everywhere in the factory. Half the equipment was broken, and there was no way in hell they were doing 100 million USD/year. The company listed 5 million in inventory on the books, which amounted to a rotting pile of cardboard, outside in the rain. Carson called his dad, asap. Carson also decided to write up a report about his findings and short the stock. Next morning, down 25%, by afternoon, down 55%. The company was a fraud
Carson’s discovery was the very first ripple or WHIFF of irregularity. Of course, powerful people were angry and sent lawyers, guns, and money……. literally. Roth Capital sent lawyer Nussbaum from Loeb and Loeb, the super-lawyers, to smear young Carson. Yet, Carson was correct….”
And it is not just the corporations that are ‘Potemkin Villages’ Remember China’s Ghost cities?
I put these two related comments over on the other thread:
James Delingpole leaves no doubt that the CDC has been actively working against President Trump and the American people. The CDC KNEW for at least 14 year… but let people suffer and DIE for political purposes.
AND the Chinese had a vaccine for the Wuhan VIrus.
Did Nancy Pelosi intentionally buy time for the virus to spread by withholding the articles of impeachment from the Senate in December 2019? Did she then wandered through the China Town in San Francisco to MAKE SURE it spread?
February 24, 2020 at 1:33 pm
Pelosi Tours San Francisco’s Chinatown To Quell Coronavirus Fears
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/02/24/coronavirus-speaker-house-nancy-pelosi-tours-san-franciscos-chinatown/
Did Pelosi KNOW there was a cure or maybe she had the VACCINE from China!
Reposting here:
Natural source quinine on Amazon … tree bark, but hey!
Placing my TinFoil Bonnet firmly on my head…
DEATH BY GOVERNMENT
By R.J. Rummel
“…I have changed that for Mao’s famine, 1958-1962, from zero to 38,000,000. And thus I have had to change the overall democide for the PRC (1928-1987) from 38,702,000 to 76,702,000…”
So we should ALL be aware that the Chinese do not give a crap about human life and the Democrats, who support infanticide, are not far behind.
With President Trump squeezing both China and Iran, do you really think they would just stand by and take it? If China is really the ‘paper tiger’ Daughn and ADVChina showed, they do not HAVE another four years to wait President Trump out and neither does the DNC.
Wuhan Virus-19 as a 4GW Bioweapon is a PERFECT solution for all their problems.
1. As E.M. has outlined a virus is not a good bioweapon. HOWEVER a bacteria, like the weaponized anthrax, would be easily IDed and traced.
2. With 2 vaccines, one of which causes ADE (Antibody-Dependent Enhancement) and the other of which protects, you can use ‘Social Scores’ to remove dissidents and older ‘useless eaters’ IT SOLVES THE PROTEST PROBLEM in Hong Kong and Iran without loss of face. Dissidents get taken out WITHOUT the rest of the world even knowing so there is no repercussions from other countries, only sympathy. It solves China’s Demographics problem too.
3. With ‘Chloroquine [a]s a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread.’– 2005, Martin J Vincent et al you can send young SUPER SPREADERS around the world. Think the Biogen Conference that has caused so much grief in my state. Think of the SICK Chinese Reporter caught trying to get into the recent Trump briefing, or the Chinese woman, Jing Lu, trying to get into Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 18. Think of the OTHER Reporters that may have spread it to OTHER leaders like the Israeli American Council meeting that spread it to CPAC…
Russia used journalists as spies all the time. They were the second most targeted group in the USA.
And then there are all the Chinese students, ALL children of Communist Part members, and REQUIRED to answer to the Communist party commands.
Chloroquine, I think is the real game changer.
….
To me the big tell was Washington State. Healthcare staff made the rounds of the THREE old folks homes that got the virus that result is numerous deaths.
Remember that California, New York and Washington put their state employee and teachers pensions in Chinese Stock. I wonder just how much of that stock was in ‘paper companies’ that had no real factories or output?
That would certainly be a MAJOR LEASH on the Democrat governors to get them to side with China because if the Chinese economy does a crash and burn all those pension funds crash too. —OOOPS!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have not been able to find out just how fast a SARS type Corona Virus would mutate but Corona cold viruses mutate fast enough that a vaccine is not possible.
Could the Wuhan virus ‘fall apart’ fairly quickly making it non-lethal within 6 months to a year AFTER it has allowed the Democrats (using voter fraud) to regain the House, Senate, and Presidency?
>>>>>>>>>>>
Bottom line, China, Iran and the Democrats are against the wall and therefore are going to fight as viciously as a cornered rat. On top of that they have ZERO moral code except ‘The end justifies the Means’
Courtesy of the WUWT write up and update on the Malaria drugs.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12YDytbAsZaruGlhFO7eTTgxSH_BuxJtwFmbhqpkPPSk/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR2wXhG5woobpV5DAuHxnf7YOxalQiCkPMX-rUL2z6SIa0AJGovbJ9ATq7A
Source with updates.
Quite a contrast.
HOWEVER President Trump has a counter and it is NOT the China Vaccine available next month. (NO WAY I would take that!)
President Trump got passed into legislation last year The Right To Try Act It will allow many Americans that have and will test positive in the future for the Coronavirus to sign a waiver in order to take hydroxychloroquine as well as others medications.
AND this serves as those ‘clinical trials’ that the FDA wants.
If you were not aware, John Solomon, Sharyl Attkisson and other REAL Journalists got together and formed a news company. Just The News:
https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/trump-praises-malaria-drug-coronavirus-treatment-could-be-tremendous#.XnOdpSROlhE.twitter
Posted byu/yarpoo
11 hours ago
“A Dutch scientist of the University of Groningen created hydroxychloroquine in aerosol form and it will be available within weeks. It instantly reaches the lungs to directly block the negative effects of COVID-19, even better than HCQ in oral form.”
https://twitter.com/Alison4Trump/status/1241006536601661442
Hmm, it is disturbing that a practicing MD doesn’t know that an MD can prescribe any approved treatment for off-label use, at the prescriber’s professional risk and the patient’s personal risk where both agree and a consent form is signed. Said MD can ask for special permissions and provide data to the FDA (akin to post-marketing trials), too. Then there is compassionate use and now the more formal Right to Try. As said, disturbing. and kudos to Dr. Hayworth for providing facts.
A nebulizer form is great. Some testing needed, mostly safety, just in case. Best used on known and moderate to severe cases, at first. Unshackle the system!
Well it certainly looks as if Tony Heller is blocking any Facts about CORVID19 and comparisons with Flu.
That is a very sad state of affairs.
Here is an interesting analysis
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3Z3elbpcWZ49j9UsHFsolMEFkHQxhXeFfap-0rexghbc8YVLnlHxXz69U
Pauline
This is a good explanation:
I am very surprised about Tony Heller. He usually allows reasonable arguments.
And no it is NOT the flu, if for no other reason than we have ZERO HERD IMMUNITY and that means overwhelming the hospitals and putting our doctors and nurses at risk as well as those who would otherwise life if they could get care.
Prepping as EM has very nicely pointed out just makes sense PERIOD. Given tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, windstorms and idiots wiping out major power lines, having supplies on hand is just common sense.
Gail, could you see if he will allow you to post, as it may just be me.
Except there doesn’t appear to be any contradictory comments at all.
I love it!!!
It is about time the Fake News got taken to the wood shed.
The loud mouth trying to lay blame on Americans for ‘hoarding’ instead of the Chinese for refusing to export masks is Andy Slavitt
Wiki
Andrew M. “Andy” Slavitt is a former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a position he held from March 2015 to January 2017. A leader of the team which repaired healthcare.gov after its problematic rollout, he was nominated by Barack Obama to run CMS in July 2015.
He was nominated but NEVER CONFIRMED.
More about the guy. He is very much a government health care pusher.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/04/andy-slavitt-ex-medicare-medicaid-chief-becoming-health-investor.html
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/person/andy-slavitt/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/coronavirus-us-hopsitals-healthcare-andy-slavitt
Italian mortality rate now 621/day, 18,810/month or 228,855/year.
Do you think Mr Forbes gets it yet?
Pauline says: 20 March 2020 at 3:56 pm
Spot on.
Felice provided this transcript from the FDA director:
“FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters scientists still have to conduct clinical trials to see if chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and several other anti-viral medications are effective against coronavirus. However, since chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are already FDA approved to treat malaria & arthritis, they could be used to treat other conditions, including coronavirus, in an “off label” basis.
DR. HAHN: So, before the President nominated me and I was confirmed as Commissioner for Food and Drugs, I was a cancer doctor. And I’ve sat across from countless number of patients and had to talk to them about their diagnosis and their treatment. And one thing that was really important is to provide hope. I have great hope for how we’re going to come out of this situation.
What’s also important is not to provide false hope, but to provide hope. And, as a doctor, that’s the way I come to this. I’m speaking now to the American people as Commissioner of Food and Drugs, but that part of me has not left. Just look at the way the American people have responded to our calls for mitigation, for social distancing. The American people have great resiliency, and I’m so incredibly proud of how the American people have responded.
As the President mentioned, he asked us to be aggressive, to break down barriers to innovation, and to accelerate the development of lifesaving treatments. And we’re doing that at the FDA.
The FDA is committed to continuing to provide regulatory flexibility and guidance, but let me make one thing clear: FDA’s responsibility to the American people is to ensure that products are safe and effective and that we are continuing to do that.
Our folks — and they’re tremendous professionals — are working day and night to do this. You just can’t even imagine how much they’re working to provide this support for the American people and I thank them.
Since early January, long before the first domestic case, FDA began working in collaboration with CDC. I also want to note that we stood up an incident command group and had been focused on the coronavirus since the very beginning of this public health emergency. This is, in addition, an all-of-government and all-of-America approach and I’ll describe what I mean by that, in terms of the development of therapeutics.
An important part of that work is expanding the potential therapeutic options associated with coronavirus, and we’ve learned from our colleagues across the globe about this. But I want to focus on one thing: I was a cancer researcher before all this, and one thing I know about this great country of ours is that we have unbelievable innovators. We have people who, every day, it’s their job to develop treatments for all sorts of diseases. We are incredibly blessed, as a country, to have this.
And as is true in any illness, these great American innovators — academia, private sector — they have engaged us about the best possible treatment options. We are looking at everything that’s coming across our desks as possible treatment options for coronavirus, and we’re extremely encouraged by the interest and the promise that we’ve seen from these great American innovators.
Now, again, we need to look at it. We need the data, we need the information to make the absolute best decisions for the American people. But I want to assure you, we have over 17,000 people at FDA who are doing this every day.
We need — we need to make sure that these — this sea of new treatments will get the right drug to the right patient at the right dosage at the right time. As an example, we may have the right drug, but it may not be in the appropriate dosage form right now, and that may do more harm than good. Those are the things that that’s our job to look at. And that’s why it’s really important we have these dedicated professionals looking at these aspects of therapeutic development.
At the same time, we’re also working through different mechanisms to actually get drugs into the hands of providers and patients.
The President mentioned this, but one of the mechanisms is called compassionate use. Let me just tell you about this. If there’s an experimental drug that’s potentially available, a doctor could ask for that drug to be used in a patient. We have criteria for that and very speedy approval for that.
The important thing about compassionate use — and that’s what the President meant, “This is even beyond Right to Try” — is that we get to collect the information about that. Because one of the things that I’ll promise the American people is we will collect the data and then make the absolute right decisions based upon those data about the safety and efficacy of the treatments.
We are working expeditiously, and we are working to make sure that these products are as safe and effective as they possibly can be. Let me tell you about a few things that we’re currently working on. And this is a plan that was developed with many of the people at this table, our infectious disease experts on the task force.
In the short term, we’re looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications. So they’re already approved, as the President said, for other diseases.
As an example, many Americans have read studies and heard media reports about this drug, chloroquine, which is an anti-malarial drug. It’s already approved, as the President said, for the treatment of malaria, as well as an arthritis condition.
That’s a drug that the President has directed us to take a closer look at, as to whether an expanded-use approach to that could be done to actually see if that benefits patients. And again, we want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial — a large, pragmatic clinical trial — to actually gather that information and answer the question that needs to be answered and — asked and answered.
Let me give you another example: There’s a cross-agency effort about something called convalescent plasma. This is a pretty exciting area. And again, this is something that we have given assistance to other countries with as this crisis has developed. So FDA has been working for some time on this.
If you’ve been exposed to coronavirus and you’re better and you don’t have the virus in your blood, we could collect the blood. Now, this is a possible treatment; this is not a proven treatment — just want to emphasize that. Collect the blood, concentrate that, and have the ability, once it’s pathogen-free — that is, virus-free — to be able to give that to other patients. And the immunoglobulins — the immune response — could potentially provide a benefit to patients. It’s another thing that we’re looking at.
Over the next couple weeks, we’ll have more information on that. We’re really pushing hard to try to accelerate that. That’s in the sort of more medium- and short-term. And that’ll be a bridge to other therapies that will take us three to six months to develop.
And this is a continuous process. There is no beginning and end to each of this. This is — you know, we’re pushing this through.
The other great thing about the great innovators of America is some of them tell us it’s taken us years — years — to develop therapies. They’re looking at pushing that to the months period of time. And we’re trying to provide them the reg- — the regulatory flexibility, but, at same time, the scientific oversight to make sure that gets done in the best way possible for the American people.
The President mentioned that there is a vaccine trial currently being performed. It’s a phase-one trial, so it’s the earliest study that gets done. We expect that to take 12 months to get to completion — to actually a time where we could approve a vaccine. But that’s — these are all things to bridge to the prevention part of this with a vaccine. It’s exciting work. And the President is right: This is record time for the development of a vaccine and impressive public-private partnership.
The FDA’s efforts to facilitate the development of these products are focused on ensuring timely access, while also meeting the agency’s world-respected gold standard, relying on strong data from clinical trials to determine if an experimental or an off-the-shelf drug that’s used for something else can safely and effectively treat patients.
We want to assure the American people that FDA is all hands on deck, as the President mentioned — these efforts — and continue to work with interested sponsors to help expedite the work. We remain steadfast in helping to foster the development of safe and effective therapies for COVID-19. Thank you.”
I will try tossing this info at Tony:
Hydroxychloroquine is found to be more effective and potent than chloroquine in vitro treatment of coronavirus, new study published by NIH shows
Also:
“A Dutch scientist of the University of Groningen created hydroxychloroquine in aerosol form and it will be available within weeks. It instantly reaches the lungs to directly block the negative effects of COVID-19, even better than HCQ in oral form.”
In Dutch: https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/220259/RUG-onderzoekt-effect-malariamedicijn-op-corona
>>>>>>>>>
Well the comment didn’t even go into moderation. It just disappeared!
(I haven’t commented there for quite a while though.)
Thanks.
It might take a while to appear if he is approving every comment.
Looks like flu shots Do not help contain the A type flu. And aerosols aka just plain breathing maybe more important than originally thought.
Infectious virus in exhaled breath of symptomatic seasonal influenza cases from a college community
Significance
Lack of human data on influenza virus aerosol shedding fuels debate over the importance of airborne transmission. We provide overwhelming evidence that humans generate infectious aerosols and quantitative data to improve mathematical models of transmission and public health interventions. We show that sneezing is rare and not important for—and that coughing is not required for—influenza virus aerosolization. Our findings, that upper and lower airway infection are independent and that fine-particle exhaled aerosols reflect infection in the lung, opened a pathway for a deeper understanding of the human biology of influenza infection and transmission. Our observation of an association between repeated vaccination and increased viral aerosol generation demonstrated the power of our method, but needs confirmation.
ABSTRACT
….We screened 355 symptomatic volunteers with acute respiratory illness and report 142 cases with confirmed influenza infection who provided 218 paired nasopharyngeal (NP) and 30-minute breath samples (coarse >5-µm and fine ≤5-µm fractions) on days 1–3 after symptom onset. We assessed viral RNA copy number for all samples and cultured NP swabs and fine aerosols. We recovered infectious virus from 52 (39%) of the fine aerosols and 150 (89%) of the NP swabs with valid cultures….
Fine- and coarse-aerosol viral RNA were positively associated with body mass index and number of coughs and negatively associated with increasing days since symptom onset in adjusted models. Fine-aerosol viral RNA was also positively associated with having influenza vaccination for both the current and prior season. NP swab viral RNA was positively associated with upper respiratory symptoms and negatively associated with age but was not significantly associated with fine- or coarse-aerosol viral RNA or their predictors. Sneezing was rare, and sneezing and coughing were not necessary for infectious aerosol generation….
Self-reported vaccination for the current season was associated with a trend (P < 0.10) toward higher viral shedding in fine-aerosol samples; vaccination with both the current and previous year’s seasonal vaccines, however, was significantly associated with greater fine-aerosol shedding in unadjusted and adjusted models (P 0.10). The association of vaccination and shedding was significant for influenza A (P = 0.03) but not for influenza B (P = 0.83) infections (Table S4).
Viral load in NP swabs was not a significant predictor of aerosol shedding (P = 0.16 for fine and P = 0.48 for coarse aerosols). Temperature measured at the time of sampling, asthma history, smoking, and influenza type were not significantly associated with the extent of measured shedding. While self-reported symptoms were not associated with aerosol shedding, they were significantly associated with shedding measured by the NP swab; only upper respiratory symptoms remained significant when adjusted for other symptoms and age. Increasing age was associated with a significant decrease in shedding in the NP swab; however, age was not associated with aerosol shedding….
Hi Gail, while absorbing your comments, just a quick counterpoint or two. While I see China not letting a good crisis go to waste, I cannot imagine those efforts bring anything but an attempted salvage of some benefit from the dire situation.
I see that benefit as miniscule to the costs…
Let’s take their numbers to the moon, and say their military burried millions. If the lost 10 milion elderly, they yet have at least 170 million elderly.
The tarrifs still exist, and the economic loss is a magnitude or two above the tarrifs, and this virus, plus P.Trumps positive reinforcement, will likely result in great acceleration of trade loss via ulternative trade routes.
The virus mutates far to fast to trust any antidotes. About 49 mutations so far…
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-new-research-indicates-sars-cov-2-coronavirus-is-indeed-mutating-into-various-strains-that-have-specific-preference-of-attacking-human-host-
I have seen no evidence of any vaccine.
All the best…
More on mutations…
We now believe that there are more than even a hundred strains and still increasing, exhibiting different characteristics and behaviours and some have substantial changes on the codons and on their genomic structure that it will affect the efficiency of the PCR NATs test despite so much claims from the manufacturers and medical experts that it will not.( https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-new-research-indicates-sars-cov-2-coronavirus-is-indeed-mutating-into-various-strains-that-have-specific-preference-of-attacking-human-host-)
All RNA viruses mutate rapidly. Almost all the changes are irrelevant. Many cause the virus to be less effective. Unfortunatly, with several billion replication events in one person, some changes will make a more effective strain.
Indeed, the links document the relevant changes and gains of function. Italy definitely has a more lethal strain.
Thanks David and E.M.
That was a major chunk missing from my knowledge. I know viruses mutate and the RNA types are rather unstable but I could find nothing on how fast.
Also all I have seen so far is info on 2 strains.
I will pass that information on since it is important.
Any vaccine will be directed toward antigens and/or other proteins that don’t change much or overlap enough to make the vaccine be reasonably effective. That said, I don’t like the untidiness of calling this flu. It isn’t. Flu-like, yes; but enough differences to make the distinction worth it. The same is true, for me, for colds. Those are rhino viruses only. The cold-like conditions are caused by different viruses/strains of the same family of viruses.
That also said, antibody dependent enhancement is a thing (along with other modulators).
Saw a 20 something guy on TV a few days ago. He said he wasn’t going to miss spring break. He looked just as stupid as he sounded.