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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[josh]

For HK, I was thinking of the comp between Kowloon and HK Island with NYC.
You can add in adjacent Kowloon suburbs, but if you add in all the "New Territories" and sparsely populated islands then HK's density of course drops.

Anyway, I didn't bother to look up HK's total population or density.  The basic point stands.  Comparable cities fared much better than NYC because they took timely and effective measures.  And if there are comparable cities that did nearly as bad or worse than NY, you can almost guarantee they took late and inadequate actions.

As I've said a few times here, my main takeaway is that it's not that difficult to stop viral transmission, it just takes some planning, coordination, compliance.  And best to get an early start.

I think authoritarian government helps as does limited access. The access issue can be seen in the rapidly changing Brazil and Russia numbers, where things remain far better than in the US, but it's hard to tell if it will remain that way - their curves are starting to look pretty familiar.

[josh]

https://apnews.com/7a00d5fba3249e573d2ead4bd323a4d4?fbclid=IwAR174YjEM0pfn-pI2KTcWIrMs9SeR9feWHV1DIsIEF4T1DCFARhlOCs2LcM

The Administration has decided to ditch the CDC's reopening guidelines.

They're going to listen to Dunning and Kruger, not Fauci and Birx.

Should make Kid "Go Sweden, ignore the deaths!" Carter happy.

[josh]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/05/us/coronavirus-death-toll-us.html?algo=clicks_decay_6&fellback=false&imp_id=822222442&action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=U.S.+News&fbclid=IwAR3B7r7Z_ek-uHdhbhj5tIwbBQz-Wdnrz2gEL_3THrfrZ_SdFbRyVESIW8E

This shows why the declaration that we've grossly undercounted the deaths from COVID-19 has more than a little truth to it.

[josh]

Huh. Hard to believe.

No wonder Kid hopes there is as much attention paid to the murder suicide as to this. Sure, no cover-up with that one, with hands of the police forced by the leaked video, and no convenient motivation to hide the accused's background. But they both have a murder in them, so same difference, says Kid "I'm not racist" Carter.

[josh]

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/496427-republicans-nearly-three-times-more-likely-than-democrats-not-to-get-a?fbclid=IwAR0fG310Ci2EOkj919xzvWNTUZUNA9iiHv6AuN63JrTlsbqAYD0Sg8kQNbw

I thank Andrew Wakefield, mostly, for this, but Fox News, Donald Trump, and Dunning & Kruger all have a hand in it, as well. The GOP leadership could and should address this, but they won't. Which, in turn, makes them culpable.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Today’s Number of the Day presented by Ballotpedia shows that 49% of voters nationwide now fear the economic threat from the coronavirus more than the health threat. Forty-five percent (45%) take the opposite view and are more worried about the health threat. These numbers reflect a significant change over the past month. In late March, by a 55% to 38% margin, voters were more concerned about the health threat...

I live in the epicenter of the outbreak in the US, and at this moment I am more concerned about the economic threat of the virus than the health threat.  I'm reasonably assured that mostly staying inside, social distancing and wearing a mask will prevent me from getting sick.  While I know that the continued mishandling of this crisis at the federal level will lead to a historic economic downturn that will impact everyone including myself.

But that doesn't mean that I am in favor of my state, or other states still seeing significant cases, opening up.  That's just shear stupidity.  And I think many people share my POV (certainly, polling supports it) which means the numbers you post above do not mean what you think they mean.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Stephen Moore, a Heritage Foundation economist who informally advises Trump and other administration officials, said in an interview on Monday that he and fellow conservative economist Art Laffer had already sent their policy memo on opening states to the White House last week. The memo was based on a recent Laffer Associates study that Moore says was conducted over the course of “a couple weeks,” and is now in the hands of senior White House staff.

“Our model shows that if we start the opening of the country [right about now], by the end of the summer we could start to see a recovery,” Moore said. “But if we wait until, say, the middle of June, we might have to write off all of 2020. At that point, so much wealth would have evaporated.

kiidcarter8 thinks policy should be guided by a model cooked up by Art Laffer and Stephen Moore, and is too stupid and misinformed to know why that is hilarious.

I think it was said yesterday...who are the idiots who think that people will start flooding into restaurants again when the Pandemic is raging around them just because the government said they can open?

Unfortunately, the idiots in charge, and the idiots that parrot them.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Arizona is opening despite modeling that predicts cases will continue to rise, worse if restrictions are lifted.

Their governor's response?  Stop modeling.

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-arizona-stops-experts-predict-worsening-outbreak-reopen-2020-5

They know mass deaths are coming, but they have raised the white flag, giving up in the face of a problem they think is just too hard to tackle.  Just nothing they can do to prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from dying...

MAGA.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Transcripts of House Intelligence Committee interviews that have been cleared for release show top law enforcement and intelligence officials affirming they had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, senior administration and intelligence community officials told Fox News on Wednesday.

This would align with the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — which found no evidence of illegal or criminal coordination between President Trump, the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 — but the numerous transcribed interviews could raise further questions about committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s past statements saying that there was “direct evidence” of collusion.

Have to laugh at REDSTATEWARD and his fellow tinfoil hat wearers pretending that the Roger Stone case never happened...

Finding evidence and proving a criminal case are two different things.  REDSTATEWARD's WSJ failed him, so he has turned to FOX for even better misrepresentations.

Mueller found plenty of evidence.  He also found that Trump and his allies lied and obstructed in order to prevent more evidence from coming to light. 

[josh]

For Arizona, Georgie, a few other states, and President Trump, on opening up while their cases and deaths are not on the decline;
For North Carolina and President Trump, on climate change;
For all the fools that Ward's article cites, who have fallen for Trump's and Fox's and the GOP's propaganda about the virus or who think masks rob them of their rights;

Here's to you:

[josh]

https://americanindependent.com/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-coronavirus-internment-world-war-ii-rebecca-bradley-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR3wjfgYBWQVJh5adMxsiJDQEh8RB160pgBAdHi48twH4X3pZ5rvurC0DLM

Oddly enough, none of the folks who were in the WWII internment camps feel that way.

[josh]

As for the sainted Cardinal Pell:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/australia/george-pell-royal-commission-documents-intl-hnk/index.html

From at least 1973 on, he knew about and aided in the cover-up of sexual abuse by priests, even if he (may have) committed no such abuse himself.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Stephen Moore, a Heritage Foundation economist who informally advises Trump and other administration officials, said in an interview on Monday that he and fellow conservative economist Art Laffer had already sent their policy memo on opening states to the White House last week. The memo was based on a recent Laffer Associates study that Moore says was conducted over the course of “a couple weeks,” and is now in the hands of senior White House staff.

“Our model shows that if we start the opening of the country [right about now], by the end of the summer we could start to see a recovery,” Moore said. “But if we wait until, say, the middle of June, we might have to write off all of 2020. At that point, so much wealth would have evaporated.

kiidcarter8 thinks policy should be guided by a model cooked up by Art Laffer and Stephen Moore, and is too stupid and misinformed to know why that is hilarious.

I think it was said yesterday...who are the idiots who think that people will start flooding into restaurants again when the Pandemic is raging around them just because the government said they can open?

Unfortunately, the idiots in charge, and the idiots that parrot them.

About half of states have eased restrictions on businesses, but Americans’ unease about patronizing them represents a major hurdle to restarting the economy. Many Americans have been making trips to grocery stores and 56 percent say they are comfortable doing so. But 67 percent say they would be uncomfortable shopping at a retail clothing store, and 78 percent would be uncomfortable eating at a sit-down restaurant. People in states with looser restrictions report similar levels of discomfort as those in states with stricter rules....

In announcing plans to ease the restrictions on businesses, governors have emphasized that their actions represent a gradual and cautious reopening of their economies. Nonetheless, when asked about eight different types of businesses, majorities of Americans say they oppose ending the restrictions on each of the eight...

The most significant opposition is to reopening movie theaters, with 82 percent of Americans saying they should not be allowed to open up in their state. There is also broad opposition to reopening gyms (78 percent opposed), dine-in restaurants and nail salons (both with 74 percent opposed).

Gun stores are next, with 70 percent saying they should not be reopened, followed by barbershops and hair salons (69 percent opposed) and retail shops such as clothing stores (66 percent opposed) and golf courses (59 percent opposed).

Opposition to opening businesses is just about as high in the states that have loosened restrictions so far as states with stricter restrictions. In both sets of states, majorities of residents oppose reopening all eight types of businesses measured in the poll.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-widely-oppose-reopening-most-businesses-despite-easing-of-restrictions-in-some-states-post-u-md-poll-finds/2020/05/04/495ddc3a-8e36-11ea-9e23-6914ee410a5f_story.html

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/europe/sweden-coronavirus-diary-shukla/index.html

A visit to Sweden from a locked down UK.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Thought experiment...

Would Trump and his people be ignoring their own guidelines and the wishes of a huge majority of Americans in order to pursue reopening if they were not targeting the summer before an election for what they think will be an economic recovery?  If we were two years away from the election instead of 6 months?

Its pure desperation, as Trump knows the economy was truly his only argument for reelection.  So he is betting everything that he can point to improving numbers going into the fall.  Betting American lives because he thinks its better for himself politically.

Only after three years of living under Trump would something like this be so normalized that people aren't dragging this fucker out of the White House by his toes.