IMPRIMIS: Thoughts from Hillsdale College on the coronavirus pandemic. Including this from Sir Winston Churchill:

[W]e must not be led into adopting for ourselves the evils of war in time of peace upon any pretext whatever. The word ‘civilization’ means not only peace by the non-regimentation of the people such as is required in war. Civilization means that officials and authorities, whether uniformed or not, whether armed or not, are made to realize that they are servants and not masters.

Socialism or overweening State life, whether in peace or war, is only sharing miseries and not blessings. Every self-respecting citizen in every country must be on his guard lest the rulers demand of him in time of peace sacrifices only tolerable in a period of war for national self-preservation.

Needless to say, read it all.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 30, 2020:

That damn tail is still wagging the dog, and I'm finding some more likelihood that the data is being manipulated to maintain the panic. The Coronavirus Dashboard and COVID-19 Tracking websites are today showing a difference of ~6,500 in cumulative deaths at 4 pm today. That's just a wee bit more than the 3,700 death difference introduced by New York on April 14th.

My cynical self might suggest that pompous preening pandemic purveyors and petty martinets are panicking again as they come to understand that America is going to open up whether they like it or not -- but I won't (just yet).

The other thing of note in today's chart is that I've introduced a new line to try and control the daily variations in deaths. It's a 7-day running average and as you can see tracks the trend line pretty well.

Bottom line: the pandemic crisis is over. The death rate is declining even though the daily variation is obscuring it a bit. There will be a steady increase in confirmed infections with increased testing, and hopefully we'll get a much better handle on how many people are developing the 'herd immunity' to prevent future outbreaks. An estimated 81.7% of Americans remain uninfected, if not unexposed.

ADMIT IT: You are willing to let people die to end the shutdown.

No, we're willing to let people live by ending the shutdown. Lives saved from despair and desperation are no less important than lives saved from the coronavirus.

Moral certitude is for petty martinets.

GO SEE THE BAZOOKA found by ABC News in a Houston police raid.

Click through to Twitter. You'll find that ABC News' tweet has been 'disappeared', but the German tank is still there....

WHY CAN'T HE BE BOTH? Bill de Blasio isn't an anti-Semite but ... he is an idiot.

BARNEY & CLYDE find an 'unsheltered' progressive on the street.

NO, SHE NEEDS A SPANKING. Pelosi bristles at question: "I don't need a lecture."

CALIFORNIA PRISONS RELEASE THOUSANDS OF FELONS to make room for skaters, surfers, and people who go outside.

I thought America's News of Record was supposed to be satire....

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 29, 2020:

We're back to the tail wagging the dog again. Polynomial-based trendlines do not easily cope with data trends that have 'S'-shapes, or Gaussian curves for that matter, so the data's daily variation is making the trend lines highly variable. As this continues, I may well discontinue forecasting and simply plot the data directly.

As of today, an estimated 82.3% of Americans remain uninfected.

THANK YOU, but no.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 28, 2020:

Late, and almost forgotten. I think it's safe to say that not much happened today. More deaths -- as expected -- and perhaps a spike, but the daily numbers mean almost nothing due to the wide variatios day-to-day. Trend lines are still showing a downward movement.

For those following, 82.7% of Americans are still estimated to be uninfected. I wish there was an exposure estimate, as I expect it would be nearing 100% by now.

KIM JONG UN DEAD? Train at Kim Jong Un compound raises questions.

Well, alive or dead, the zombie image is appropriate....

JUST SO YOU KNOW. On the sub-intelligence scale, morons are the high-water mark. On the standard scale, those whose IQ's range within 51 and 70 are considered morons; between 26 and 50, imbeciles; below 25, idiots.

By that standard, Liberals are morons; Progressives are idiots. Imbeciles are Liberals studying to become Progressives.

I'm reminded of this quote by Bertrand Russell:

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

I'm reminded of that every time I turn on the television (rarely, now) and see our governing class and its alcolytes in the media mob.

SCIENCE SAYS: It's time to start easing the lockdowns.

'Science' says: NO! No! No...no...noooooo.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Then the virus hit.

SARAH HOYT: A plague of 'credentialed' experts.

Just like a virus takes over a healthy cell, eviscerates it, and turns into a factory to create more viruses, so the plague of experts has taken over all our systems of science, education and even the arts, and turned them into factories to turn out more phony “experts.”

We have a disease, and unless we let in sunlight to illuminate the problem, Western civilization will die of it.

She's right. She's also correct....

Added thought: And if you're credentialed, you're probably an 'ex' 'spurt'.

IS 'ALL OF THEM' AN OPTION? Who would be your first pick if Americans could vote reporters off the White House briefing island?

MY NEIGHBORS HUNT: a message from Gaia.

Just so you know, if worst comes to worst, they will survive. You won't.

SO VIRTUE SIGNALING HAS ITS LIMITS: California temporarily lifts ban on plastic bags.

AN IMBECILE WORKING HARD TO BECOME AN IDIOT: Journalist asks about 'military coup' against Trump.

I DON'T THINK THIS IS SATIRE: Democrats warn we shouldn’t reopen the country until we can be safe from Trump getting credit for a good economy.

But it is from America's News of Record.

NOT POSSIBLE: Trying to understand the latest weird coronavirus directive.

Coherence is not a Liberal strength.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 27, 2020:

Late, but not forgotten. Trends still steady and coming down toward the HealthData.org lower projection. Cumulative death toll is now about 10,000 less than the median projection (green dashed line).

An estimated 83.0% of Americans remain uninfected.

COURAGE IS IN SHORT SUPPLY in our so-called and mostly self-appointed elite class.

Will the “experts” and elected officials ever have the courage to tell people the truth about the situation? No. And the less said about our hopelessly corrupt press, the better.

Read it all.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The scab and the wound beneath.

History repeats. Over and over. Read it all.

TAKE TRIBAL POLITICS OUT OF THE SHUTDOWN DEBATE. Think about the guy at the food pantry.

Bureaucrats don't wait in line for charity food. Nobody in politics has been laid off. And businesses that rely on government contracts are fat, like the road builders. Because coronavirus or no coronavirus, the kings of asphalt and concrete are always first in line.

And what of the small-business owner who doesn't build roads? She risked everything to open her business. She went into debt. But there are no customers now, and the landlord wants the rent and the taxman is always waiting.

She doesn't see herself as someone who Just Wants People to Die.

She wants to work. She wants to live.

The debate is over. End the lockdown. Open the economy.

I WISH THEM LUCK. Michigan legislature calls special session -– to strip Gov. Whitmer of emergency powers.

A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF POLICYMAKING: The deadly costs of extended shutdown orders.

IT SHOULD BE NONE: What states require coronavirus face masks in public?

ROGER KIMBALL: Post Hoc vs. Propter Hoc. Read the comments as well.

Added note: the video discussed in the article above is the subject of this post and can be accessed through it as well. It's long, but worth the time.

IT CAN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS: Green brownshirts strike at Michael Moore.

'Green brownshirts'. Heh.

HAVING FUN YET? Welcome to a test drive of socialist America.

ARE THEY 'TOO BIG TO FAIL'? What if the pandemic policymakers are wrong?

That they're wrong has become clear and obvious. 'Too big to fail' is a question for the next election. I hope to find that they are not.

VICTORY GIRLS: Lockdown is destroying our food supply chain.

THE DESTRUCTIVE ARROGANCE of the ruling governing class.

FAIR WARNING: Republicans, don't get cocky.

NICOTINE TO THE RESCUE: Smoke fags, save lives.

I knew it was bound to happen eventually....

'FLATTENING THE CURVE', and other lies.

CNN: Fake maps to accompanyfake news.

AN ER PHYSICIAN/ENTREPRENEUR'S perspective on the Wuhan virus. "To sum up, we’re reacting to a virus in a way that we’ve never before reacted, with disastrous consequences -- economically and otherwise. We’re in a hole, and it’s time to stop digging. It’s time to get out, go to church, go to work, go to school, go play, and get on with our lives!"

THIS PANDEMIC IS OVER. Let's stop the economic suicide, and get back to work.

TOM COTTON SUGGESTS Chinese students shouldn't be allowed to study sciences in the U.S.

Au contraire, Tom. I would require them to study 'sciences' -- at Harvard, Yale, all our prestigious, elite, 'woke' colleges and universities. That should take down the Chinese economy faster than tariffs could possibly do....

OH, PLEASE: This dribble is the product of an elite academic education?

I once heard it would take a million monkeys on a million typewriters a million years turn out one of Shakespeare's lesser works. This dribble would take one monkey on one typewriter about 15 minutes to churn out. (And that's assuming the monkey had to learn to type first.)

CNN MOVES HEADQUARTERS UNDERGROUND after Trump says the sun is good.

Luckily, the 100 feet of concrete above them prevents them from getting any news broadcasts out.

I can wish.

IN A RATIONAL WORLD, WHO ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH WOULD LET THIS LUNATIC OUT OF THE ASYLUM? Adam Schiff: No coronavirus deaths if Trump had been impeached.

TANSTAAFL: That $3 trillion in pandemic relief money is coming from somewhere and it sure as hell ain't the Democrats' magic money tree.

BUT THEY'RE JUST PEONS: Covid-19 lockdowns are killing thousands of Americans.

We can immigrate as many as we need. Or release them from prison....

‘METICULOUSLY DOCUMENTED AND RECORDED’ NO MORE: Trump dossier author Christopher Steele testified his emails were ‘wiped'.

John Durham must be getting close....

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 26, 2020:

OOPS! Trends down again; HealthScare providers are unhappy. The Coronavirus Dashboard is showing more deaths today, but even their trendline is down. Poor HealthScare providers.

The death rate is still estimated to be 0.1% and 83.5% of Americans remain infection-free.

OF NOTE: The CDC is no longer tracking seasonal flu (as of April 4) because deaths are 'abnormally low'. I wonder why....

BERNIE SANDERS: Another revolution, another failure.

You've got 4 more (hopefully quiet) years in the Senate, Bernie. Then hang it up and go away. Better yet, just hang it up and go away.

THE WUHAN VIRUS PANDEMIC has exposed the American ruling class. They are:

Credulous cowards,
Closet totalitarians who
Sold the Nation out and
Care only about themselves.

And I take issue with the phrase 'ruling class'. They are not a ruling class; they are a governing class. We the People are the ruling class; we can -- and should -- kick them all out (or as many as possible) at the next election.

Read it all.

JUST WHAT WE NEEDED: a clear exposition of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown rules.

Follow them exactly and you'll be fine. Any questions?

IRAN RECEIVES BLUNT WARNING FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP: the bottom of the sea needs more Iranian gunboats.

KEEPING HER SPIRITS UP: The Empress of ice cream.

MEDIA CONTRACTS Hydroxychloroquine Derangement Syndrome. There is no known cure (for journalists).

AMMO GRRRLL has no patience for -- or with -- New York.

She's right.

THESE SENATORS TRIED TO USE COVID-19 to restrict your Second Amendment rights.

Fire them when they come up for reelection (Blumenthal, CT, 2022; Murphy, CT, 2024; Markey, MA, 2020).

IT'S DESPERATION: [These] media freaks sink lower and lower every day.

NOW THAT WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC, PowerLine' Week in Pictures are of the same damn thing. Two favorites this week, related:

Now go see the rest.

CNN'S DON LEMON: "Who the hell do you think you are?"

[T]there is an obvious and correct answer: [We] are Americans who know when their rights have been violated and “are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.”

Read it all.

THAT'S THE PLAN: Having shifted the shutdown goalposts, Democrats are gutting our rights.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 25, 2020:

Just in time for reopening -- deaths are climbing, and the trends are worsening. That should make our governing classes very happy.

Estimated death rate via the Coronavirus Dashboard is still at 0.1%, and 83.94% of Americans are still uninfected.

A STUDY IN DOUBLE STANDARDS: Reopening Georgia and Colorado.

For the uninitiated, Republicans have standards; Democrats have double standards.

CRUEL INTOLERANCE: the defining characteristic of the Left.

[Update] Rep. Jones decided not to resign. After he wins reelection I hope he resigns from the Democrat party and becomes a Republican.

THE DIPLOMAD WRITES ON THE CHICOM VIRUS: So, what have we learned? I think the real question is not "What have we learned?" but "Will we learn at all?"

Read the whole thing.

OKAY, BUT WHO DECIDES THE RISK LEVEL? YOU? OR US? Maryland governor says state will reopen business based on risk level.

FROM ALL THINGS CONSIDERED ON NPR: Can colleges survive the coronavirus?

I think the relevant question ought to be "Should colleges survive?" Given the nationwide scourge of progressivism in our education system, I'm no longer convinced that there is any economic value in a college degree.

(And with $3 trillion in added debt due to the coronavirus 'pandemic' we need a workforce with economic value much more than we need a workforce with progressive values.)

LET'S TRY THAT PANIC BUTTON AGAIN: Centers for Disease Control (CDC) triples the number of possible coronavirus symptoms.

Racism didn't work. Russia! Russia! didn't work. Ukraine didn't work. Coronavirus is our only remaining hope....

SCIENCE! No wonder Chris Cuomo's gone bonkers....

DOESN'T SHE KNOW only Democrats can protect people?

ELECTRONS DON'T GROW ON SOLAR-POWERED TREES: Michael Moore stumbles upon the truth about so-called 'green' energy. And rejects it because he doesn't believe in science, he believes in dogma.

A WINDOW INTO THE WEIRD: These are the people for whom Science! is a watchword.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE: Coronavirus spells trouble for Democrats on impeachment and immigration.

IT TAKES AN INCREDIBLE EFFORT TO BE THIS STUPID: Study suggests Sean Hannity’s show helped spread the coronavirus.

This a wonderful example of starting with a conclusion, then creating a maze of mostly silly analyses of irrelevant factoids to create a gauzy image of their wishful thinking.

'Explanatory journalism' is the VOX-ian term for defending the indefensible.

I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE NOW: "Trump-Supplied Ventilators Killed NY Covid-19 Patients".

GANG OF MASKED BANDITS steals another $500 billion from your grandchildren.

Actually I'd rate this one as real news, not satire.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 24, 2020:

Just another day at the office -- deaths are down, with the trendline even moving further down toward the low projection (orange) bound. It's still highly variable, though, and will take several more days of relative low death rate to be considered remotely reliable. More importantly, the cumulative deaths curve is and has been stable for several weeks and is nearing 10,000 less than the HealthData.org projections from April 1st. And the Coronavirus Dashboard remains mostly in sync.

It's over, folks. The estimated death rate is on par with seasonal flu (~0.1%) -- whatever happened to seasonal flu, anyway? -- and 84.93% of Americans have not been infected. Exposed, probably, but not infected.

THE LEFT’S CORONAVIRUS HYSTERIA defies economic reason. I wholeheartedly agree with Col. West, except for this throwaway statement:

We do need to “flatten the curve” and contain the spread of the coronavirus, primarily to protect our elderly populations. [emphasis mine]

Well, excuse me, but I'm one of those 'elderly populations' and I didn't ask to be protected. Maybe before you bozos demand to protect someone, you might want to ask first if they want to be 'protected'.

DONNA BRAZILE: It’s wrong to protest coronavirus restrictions keeping us at home – Saving lives is priority.

Whose lives, Donna? Ours? Or yours? You don't seem to be worried about being unemployed. Or losing your business. Or being able to put food on the table. Or having a table to put food on.

Please explain why I should give a damn about your opinion.

RANDOM OBSERVATION ON THE LIBERAL MIND: They think you think what they think you should think.

BREAKING FROM AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drops by unemployment office to tell people how lucky they are not to have oppressive jobs.

Here's more. Not from Babylon Bee.

WHO KNEW? Journalists are a gullible bunch on COVID-19.

You can strike out 'on COVID-19' in the lede and still be accurate.

STUPIDITY KILLS; Government stupidity kills faster.

KEEPING IT CLOSED WON'T EITHER: Opening up the economy won't save the economy.

Ask yourself the obvious question: Why was the economy already shutting down even before the the government mandated it? Could it have anything do with the mainstream media's massive 'hair-on-fire' propaganda campaign?

I have paid some small amount of attention to Vox's explanatory journalism since its inception, and to my recollection it has never been right on any 'explanation'.

IT ALREADY HAS: Public patience will start to wear thin on lockdowns.

AN INTERESTING THOUGHT: Could poorly managed states end up in bankruptcy? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seems to think bankruptcy could be workable. If so, I think I'd insist that bankrupt states not be allowed Congressional voting representation during the period of bankruptcy.

That said, if Gov. Cuomo doesn't like it, it must be a good idea....

MY COUNTRY BEFORE MY PARTY: Trump-supporting Georgia Democrat won't resign after 'outcry from the people'.

When he wins reelection, I hope he changes his party affiliation to Republican. We need him.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO COMMON SENSE? Paying people more not to work than to work is a bad idea.

"On what planet am I competing with unemployment?" the small-business owner asks. Perhaps on a planet where Democrats want to use government largesse to force companies to give employees an artificial raise.

Planet Bernie?

THE DATA IS IN — Stop the panic and end the total isolation.

DEMOCRAT LAWMAKERS eye 'opportunity' for historic expansion of government amid coronavirus crisis.

They're gonna need another money tree -- or three. Maroons all.

NOPE. NOT GONNA DO IT: State and local governments expecting layoffs amid push for federal assistance.

Take Gov. Cuomo's advice: get an essential job.

ALARMING REPORT: Americans can't go much longer without jobs and haircuts before becoming hippies.

Yes, it's the Babylon Bee.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: Emergency debt will kill Liberal policy dreams.

RANDOM THOUGHT: There will be no respect for governing class authority until there is a governing class authority worthy of respect.

ANOTHER 'NEWS' ANCHOR self-immolates.

CHRIS CUOMO fakes emerging from basement after virus recovery.

Gets caught, laughed at. (What a maroon!)

JOE BIDEN HAS A 'WHITENESS' PROBLEM: The 'woke' Left can't virtue signal with him as the nominee.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 23, 2020:

Here's today's update, still using the Covid Tracking website for primary information. I'm still tracking the Coronavirus Dashboard as well, and the two sites seem to be in sync, except the Coronavirus Dashboard deaths are still high, a result - as I've had a chance to look at details of both sets - of New York's arbitrary inclusion of 3,700 additional deaths attributed to coronavirus on March 14th.

Note the scale changes from yesterday and the addition of the 'Projected Cumulative' curve from the HealthData.org data projections. The daily death toll has clearly peaked and is trending down although the variability from day-to-day surely makes the trend line suspect. The cumulative curve is clearly flattening and should peak right at the 50,000 deaths mark (note that the trend curve clearly can't come downward - there's only one known case of someone coming back to life....), well below the cumulative projection.

Eighty-six percent of Americans remain uninfected, if not unexposed.

REMINDER:

Never forget.

MORE "IT'S OVER": President Trump pushed back against CDC diredtor's warning about a coronavirus second wave.

EVEN THE IDIOTS ARE BACKING DOWN: California starts relaxing coronavirus restrictions by letting hospitals resume scheduled surgeries.

It's over.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ on the death of small business.

TWO AMERICAS: one with paychecks, one without.

The video is here. I should also note that it's on Fox (who conducted the interview) as well but their video player doesn't work on my computer.

The pity is that the ones with paychecks are the ones who should be doing without.

FROM AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Nation totally in favor of Ocasio-Cortez permanently boycotting her job.

HARVARD SHOWS ITSELF to be grotesquely greedy and hostile to parents and faith.

Well, they're still hostile to parenting but President Trump forced them to back down on greed.

THAT'LL MAKE HIM POPULAR: Get an essential job, you bums.

According to Gov. Cuomo (and the Left more generally), the only essential jobs are the ones that assure they stay in power control.

YES, PLEASE: Stacey Abrams is trying to box Joe Biden in to picking her as his running mate by playing the social justice card.

Democrats, do everything you can to ensure Republican victories everywhere in 2020.

AND SPEAKING OF NITWITS: How can you boycott work when you have no job?

EVEN A HALFWIT CAN OUTWIT A NITWIT: Why President Trump will always outwit Nancy Pelosi.

And Trump's no halfwit. He's taken full measure of her nitwittery and will keep her dancing to his tune....

POWERLINE'S Mid-Week in (coronavirus) Pictures:

Now go check out the rest.

DISPATCHES FROM THE PARTY OF DEATH: Florida man will wear grim reaper outfit to scare people away from beaches.

He's a Democrat (obviously) and I'll bet he gets laughed at a lot. Go see the pictures.

BATTLEFIELD PREPARATION FROM THE DEEP STATE: Coronavirus could have a deadlier second wave later this year.

Not enough citizens have been frightened yet to establish full control....

THE TRUTH HAS A WAY OF COMING OUT: “Just think how many lives have been saved by two things leftists hate most: suburbs and the car culture. And just think how many lives have been lost by things the left love most: mass transit and high-density urban living.”

From Facebook via Instapundit.

JUST AS I'VE LONG SUSPECTED: Dogbert is a Democrat.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 22, 2020:

Adding in today's death toll, nothing much has changed. Today's numbers were a bit higher than I expected, but still lower than yesterday, and the trend is still downward.

I'm still watching the Coronavirus Dashboard, and it's showing the same trends. The Coronavirus Dashboard death toll is still higher, but I found that's because the Covid Tracking website didn't start until March 14, when the total number of deaths was already several thousand.

Assuming that California study from yesterday is still accurate, about 14% of Americans have been infected, 0.01% died, and 86% uninfected (not unexposed, just uninfected).

More tomorrow as I keep tabs on the Coronavirus Dashboard.

AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD reports largest one-day increase in cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

PROBABLY. NO, ALMOST CERTAINLY. Would de Blasio and Whitmer have informed upon the members of the Boston Tea Party?

LATEST LIBERAL IDEA: Tax the rich! I'm surprised they hadn't thought of it earlier....

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 21, 2020: Here's a second update from the new Covid Tracking website I found yesterday.

The cumulative deaths curve (right axis) is trending further down, which is good, but there was a sharp increase in deaths today (left axis). Yet the overall trend line is still moving downward toward the HealthData.org's lower bound projection. It's unclear why the sharp bump, but it's most likely just a clustering of reports and tomorrow's reports will show a sharp decline to even things out.

The Coronavirus dashboard website appears to be functioning again, and is showing similar results to those seen here. It is a bit more pessimistic regarding deaths, but that is probably a result of it updating much more frequently -- the trend lines remain in sync.

One thing of note is that I have revised my procedure used to estimate total cases: instead of using the old CDC 80% rule, I'm now using a '55' rule from the California study that suggested that the coronavirus infection rate was 50-85 times higher than the number of cases reported. If those study results are reasonably accurate -- and I believe they are, based on the accumulated evidence I've seen -- then roughly 45 million (14% of) Americans have been infected and survived, and about 86% have not been infected. [Note: something I should have noted much earlier in my posts on coronavirus -- not being infected does not mean not having been exposed.]

DRINK IT IF YA GOT IT: Iranian ‘Prophetic Medicine Healer’ prescribes camel urine to treat the Wuhan Flu.

I've heard that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. This may be one such.

AMERICANS ARE PROTESTING ALL RIGHT, just not for themselves.

Unforunately the whiny, self-absorbed wokester class benefits, but that's one of those unintended consequence thingys that we non-wokesters have to live with.

CNN'S BRIAN STELTER: the archetype of 'wokeness'.

Preening. Privileged. Insulated. Useless.

Update: I forgot 'Arrogant' above.

I AM SO GLAD SHE'S STILL NOT OUR GOVERNOR: Stacey Abrams calls Georgia's plan to reopen some businesses amid coronavirus 'dangerously incompetent'.

And I look forward to Joe Biden picking her so she can also not be our Vice President....

SINCE SPEAKER PELOSI is now 'Non-Essential Nancy', can she be locked down, quarantined, and laid off?

ONE CAN CERTAINLY HOPE: Coronavirus lockdowns could turn out to be 'public policy calamity'.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Here's an update from a new tracking website I've found. The data is U.S. only and was updated on the 20th.

I've plotted the daily (left axis) and cumulative (right axis) death rates against the HealthData.org projections I've used before. As I've surmised earlier, the deaths are tailing off, looking to fall very close to HealthData's lower bound projection. You will note the data variability from 12-15 April, which (I still believe) is a result of New York and other Democrat-controlled states in the northeast massaging the data.

The Coronavirus Dashboard appears to be back up after a week or so hiatus. I may return to using it since its presentation of data has been easier to summarize, but I want to watch it for a few more days and I'll have to change my charts to accomodate the changes it made with the addition of testing data.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The two things not taught in government schools are civics and common sense.

AND STATES ARE RESPONDING: Three states announce plans to end stay-at-home orders and restart their economies.

IT'S A START: Residents protest coronavirus stay-at-home orders in 5 states.

THE POLITICAL ELITE PLAYS ITS LAST CARD: Joe Biden is just a muddled amalgam of 40 years at the public trough, an arthritic wheelhorse in a machine that has broken down.

GOOD NEWS: Majority of homeschoolers arrive at college woefully unprepared for Gender Studies.

FACEBOOK JOINS THE DEEP STATE: Bans posts on protests 'that defy Government's guidance'.

PELOSI: 'Quarantine is the answer' to opening the economy.

Does that woman have even an ounce of common sense in her body?

MICHELLE OBAMA to host virtual read-alongs for children on PBS. Every Monday.

DANA PERINO has been doing it (daily) for weeks now on Fox News.

WE HAVE TO IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT!: Create a Coronavirus Commission now to review pandemic (Trump's) response.

The Schiff Show wants a rerun....

JUST BECAUSE IT'S SATIRE DOESN'T MAKE IT LESS DESIRABLE: Trump declares lockdown will be lifted for everyone except Hollywood celebrities.

SPRING FORWARD, 5TH WEEK: Here are this week's pictures. The day started out cloudy and dank, but turned to sun later in the day.

Here's the usual view from the deck. The small stuff (including weeds) are popping out all over, but the trees -- though actively budding -- haven't yet started to show leaves. Next week should be a different story.

The fire pit view is much the same -- lots of buds, but no leaves yet.

This one, along the back driveway, is clearly showing leaves on some of the smaller trees that line the driveway. Even the bigger ones are beginning to show a few leaves ahead of their cousins downslope.

Around the pond, there's finally some activity. The smaller trees are almost in full glory; the bigger oaks are budding, but not yet to the stage of showing leaves.

And finally, the house taken from the boat launch edge of the pond. It's a favorite of mine because in full summer the house will virtually disappear behing a wall of green.

Last week's pictures are here.

RUSSIA! RUSSIA! A historic travesty.

People must pay....

CALIFORNIA STUDY: Antibodies shows 50-85 times as many people in California county have had the disease than there were confirmed cases.

Forget Allahpundit's analysis and focus on facts. The study was an April 4-5 study limited to Santa Clara county (population ~ 2,000,000) in California. Volunteers were recruited on Facebook so the study population was at best semi-random. On April 4th the confirmed coronavirus population was ~950, so the estimated (95% confidence) infection range was 50 to 85 times higher than the known cases.

That is astonishing; it represents a 98.2% to 98.8% unreported case rate as compared to CDC (and other - see my coronavirus daily update series starting March 19) estimates of 80%-85% unreported cases for a many-year history of seasonal flu.

Think about that for a moment. On April 13th, the day I came to believe the data was being manipulated, the U.S. death rate was estimated to be 0.80%. If I were to recalculate from the same data but using the newly reported 98.2%-98.8% unreported case rate, the U.S. death rate would have been reported as 0.05%-0.07%, well below the CDC's multi-year history of reporting a seasonal flu death rate of ~0.1%

Troubling?

Now lets look at the 'herd immunity' statements. In Santa Clara county, confirmed cases were 1870 on April 17th compared to ~950 on April 4, a doubling of known cases roughly every two weeks. If you assume that doubling rate is relatively accurate (it isn't; all it takes is a little math to show), then there should have been 30+ cases on January 31st when the first case was identified, and by sometime between the 30th of May and 13th of June Allahpundit's 60% of the population will achieve his 'herd immunity' goal. (One week later, everyone in Santa Clara county will be 'immune'.)

My argument just above is mathematically correct and factually absurd. The point is this: to achieve herd immunity requires people be infected and our HealthScare Professionals are doing their damnedest to prevent that. That said, it becomes fairly obvious that there will be a second round, which our HealthScare Professionals are already (gleefully?) predicting.

I hate being such a skeptic, but it sure seems to me that the Deep State is doing it's damnedest to retain control.

WE'RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT: Ri-i-i-i-ght.

AMMO GRRRLL: And you think we have it bad now?

They grew up in the midst of the Great Depression, which at that point had been going on for nine miserable years. They survived drought, dust, locusts, and poverty. How poor were they? They recalled that one classmate’s mother loved to write poetry. The Lutheran Sunday School superintendent would give her the little stubs of pencils when they were almost too small to hold. One day their classmate found a nickel in the street and bought her mother two brand new #2 pencils! Her mother cried for an hour. THAT’S how poor. Can you imagine the poorest American — native born or refugee, of any color — being thrilled to tears with a PENCIL? Not with free food stamps, free Section 8 housing, free medical care and a free Obama phone.

My worst days through this 'pandemic' pale by comparison.

FOUR REASONS it is safe to reopen America. The full essay is here.

I THINK NOT YET: Is President Trump forgetting Politics 101?

But I am concerned.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Trump is trying to turn the pandemic into a political rally by encouraging protests of stupid restrictions. Unlike Warren, who wants to berate the little minions for not following orders.

I stand with President Trump, not Would Like To Be President Warren.

SINCE OBAMACARE CZAR AND BIDEN CORONAVIRUS ADVISOR EZKEIEL EMANUEL is so certain that seniors over 75 are such a burden on society, why are the coronavirus task forces so intent on isolating them?

GOOD NEWS: Trump stopped school shootings....

RANDOM THOUGHT: Why haven't cigarette sales been banned as 'nonessential'? The healthscare police have been trying for years -- doesn't this fit under their 'no crisis left behind' principle?

RIDDLE ME THIS: Why is it safer to be in a big box store with 100 customers and 50 employees than it is to be in a Mom & Pop restaurant with 10 customers and 4 employees?

Explain. Use reason and logic, not emotion and appeal to authority.

A NEW HIGH IN BAFFLEGAB: Gov. Walz explains. Democrats are good at bafflegab; it's all they have.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END -- in spite of governors such as Andrew Cuomo and Gretchen Whitmer.

A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.
— General George S. Patton Jr. on the wisdom of taking prompt action based
on limited information.

Mr. President, you have a good plan. Execute the plan. (And the naysayers.)

OPAQUE IS THE NEW TRANSPARENCY: Pelosi explains.

It's smoke and mirrors; it's always smoke and mirrors from Democrats.

M*A*S*H anticipates the coronavirus.

FOR ONCE, HE WAS RIGHT: When Joe Biden called Bernie Sanders an unaccomplished socialist.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MINNESOTA GOV. TIM WALZ: You eff'd it up; now apologize and fix it. The author of the open letter is a kinder soul that I, but the gist is the same.

RATHER OBVIOUS, ACTUALLY: Private sector outpaces the government in a 'race' to reopen the economy.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up. My favorite this week:

But it was a very hard choice. Go and see the rest.

VICTORY GIRLS: Joe Biden's coronavirus and shadow government plans.

And that's all they will be -- ephemeral shadows.

NOT BY A LONG SHOT: With Bernie out, is the young socialist fad over?

Stupidity is hereditary.

SORRY, HEALTHSCARE PROVIDERS: This isn't the pandemic you're looking for.

Which is what I've been saying consistently at least since early March.

AT FIRST THE DEMOCRATS FEARED TRUMP WOULD POSTPONE THE 2020 ELECTION; now they're afraid he won't.

RISE UP, AMERICA: demand a return to our dead-end jobs.

It's Scrappleface, and supposed to be satire, but the fact remains that those 'dead-end jobs' put food on the table and a roof over our heads.

NANCY PELOSI kicks small business to the curb.

Let’s be honest here: Democrats don’t care much for small business owners. First of all, they’re folks who strike out on their own and prefer to make their own way. They also don’t want to depend upon government largesse. Plus, sole proprietors and independent contractors — like myself — pay taxes quarterly, which means that the government doesn’t get first dibs on each paycheck. And with each check we write to the “US Treasury,” we’re able to see just how much the government confiscates takes from us every few months.

No wonder Nancy Pelosi doesn’t like small business.

Nor retirees, like me, who pay their taxes quarterly as well. I'll be damned if I'm going to give our federal and state overlords a dime more that I have to a day before I have to.

THE DIPLOMAD writes on real news that isn't in the news.

AMERICAN SPECTATOR: The dual reckoning to come.

In the Native American tradition, it's time -- past time -- for some scalps.

BERNIE SANDERS, CALL YOUR OFFICE: The UK’s government-run health care struggles to combat coronavirus. They need good socialist leadership....

JUST DESSERTS.

AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD is on a roll today:

Trump announces America's Grand Reopening sale.

The streets of Heaven are now paved with toilet paper.

Trump says 5 golden tickets to be hidden among the stimulus checks.

In another hilarious classic gaffe, Biden shouts, "Help me! I don't want to do this anymore!"

To be fair, that last one may be real.

MINNESOTANS stand up for freedom. Even President Trump attended ....

LIBERATE MINNESOTA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020

.... by tweet.

Now go read the post (and enjoy the videos).

HMMM: 36% at Boston Homeless shelter test positive for COVID-19, vast majority without symptoms.

I had a post on this very topic last week, wondering why the the homeless appeared to be relatively unaffected by the coronavirus. Here's some evidence that my thesis then may in fact be correct.

My suggestion remains: perhaps our esteemed HealthScare Professionals should look amongst them for a cure.

COMPETITION THRIVES -- even in a lockdown.

MAYBE - JUST MAYBE -- virtue-signaling during the time of the coronavirus pandemic is not a good idea. Unless you're uber-woke, rich, and can afford to lose that nice sinecure.

POWERLINE: Good COVID-19 news. Just as I predicted on April 13.

YES, IT IS TIME to punch back.

ALABAMA MAYOR gets the coronavirus crisis right. I may not fully agree with what he's done, but he certainly did it the right way.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 17, 2020:

As of late last night the Coronavirus Dashboard has gone silent. No updates since about 10 pm last night, and no reason given.

If it starts up again, I'll resume updates, but I'm not going to waste my time looking around elsewhere when I'm getting more and more suspicious that the government/mainstream media-supplied data is cooked.

HMMM: Yes to free trade; no to industrial policy. There's much food for thought here, so much so that I'm ambivilant about drawing any conclusions.

One (partial) conclusion though that I think is safe: no country can ever allow itself to rely solely on any another country for sustenance; each must retain a minimum 'stockpile' (if you wish to call it that) of resources and capabilities to sustain itself in time of need.

WE SHALL SEE: Is insanity more dangerous than the coronavirus?

Yes, probably, but by now you should recognize that it's from America's News of Record.

WHY I'M proud to be a former Virginian.

ABSOLUTELY, YES: Jail time for parents who ripped down neighbor's Trump flag?

Virtue signaling should be a hate crime. A felony hate crime.

IS THIS A CORONAVIRUS DEATH? If we're honest, yes. But it should be on the opposite side of the ledger.

INSTAPUNDIT: Sink 'em all. It's time to make a statement to the world that the U.S. ain't gonna put up with shit any more.

NANCY PELOSI struggles through coronapocalypse with her fancy designer ice cream.

HEH. KANYE WEST SPEAKS: I will not be told which old white guy I'm voting for.

TO SUMMARIZE -- CALIFORNIA IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED FOR BUSINESS: Creepy conditions California must meet before reopening the economy.

If it were just San Francisco and Los Angeles, I would have no objection.

THE ANSWER IS 'YES': Are we witnessing a targeted hit against Trump voters?

IS 'ALL' ACCEPTABLE? Fellow traveler? Useful idiot? Stooge?

On the bright side, the ones to vote against in the future are self-identifying....

THE PUSHBACK BEGINS: We the people may reopen the country ourselves.

NEW YORK DEATH COUNT SPIKES after government alters methodology. I had seen this earlier (April 15th) but forgot to post it then. O'Conner gets it:

"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes." It may have been Stalin and it may have been Napoleon. It may have been Boss Tweed. Regardless of the original source, this truism describes government corruption and manipulation to perfection.

Even in the face of a global pandemic and an unprecedented government-ordered economic shutdown, politicians are using their power to corrupt vital needed data regarding the Chinese coronavirus and its deadly toll on Americans.

He's right.

POWERLINE is suspicious, too. When the daily number of reported cases maintains its trend line (even flattening a little) and the daily number of deaths suddenly spikes, something ain't right.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 16, 2020.

I think it's now safe to say there really is something rotten in the fish markets. The confirmed cases are still tapering off, but look at the reported death rates -- particularly U.S., since that also affects the global rates. There was the hiatus on the 14th, followed by a slight increase on the 15th, even after correcting for the 14th fiasco, and now look at the sharp increase on the 16th. Twelve of thirteen (13!) states today reported death rate increases in excess of 10%. The one that did not is New York, which started this increased reporting on the 14th with a whopping 3,700 increase in deaths. Of the thirteen, New York (606), New Jersey (362), Massachusetts (137), Connecticut (103), Illinois (124), Maryland (43), Rhode Island (18), Oregon (6) and Delaware (6) are Democrat-controlled urban strongholds. They're clearly (to me, at least) manipulating the data.

The projected death rate chart is clearly ridiculous, suddenly jumping from about 3,000 daily to 6,000. Seriously? Come on, something is seriously stinky at the fish market.

I'll keep tracking, for a while at least, but to my mind the data is now worthless. I'm convinced the professional pandemic panic purveyors have decided that Americans aren't frightened enough and need another dose of panic to keep them in line and under control.

I'm not buying.

I MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST, but I'm not the only one who recognized that there is something rotten at the fish market.

THAT'S A BAD THING? Has anyone noticed that an absent Congress has allowed Trump to run things on his own?

With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, I think not.

MOST JOURNALISTS ARE DUMB PARTISANS, and Katy Tur is not boosting their collective IQ.

Room temperature (Celsius) at best.

WHO NEEDS CONGRESS ANYWAY? Actually President Trump is having a spat with Senate Majority McConnell over judicial appointments, but given the complete and total dysfunction of the House of Representatives, it's a good question.

On the merits, I'll give this one to McConnell unless the Senate can unilaterally come back in session to consider judicial appointments only.

OH? THINK AGAIN: Peaceful assembly is nonessential. I would suggest that elected officialdom is nonessential.

OBAMA ENDORSES BIDEN with his usual grace and elegance.

From America's News of Record, but it could be mistaken for real.

INSIDE EVERY LIBERAL is a totalitarian screaming to get out. Don't let them.

NUMBERS? We don't do numbers. There is no math in 'journalism'.

THE CORONAVIRUS REVOLT is enroute.

I would disagree in only one itsy-bitsy item:

“People always say: ‘Conservatives never protest because they are too busy working,'” the event page says. “Well, guess what. You’re not working — so it’s time to PROTEST.”

The protests are coming not because conservatives are not working; it's because they (we) are working damned hard to keep families together and food on the table in response to the unprecedented restriction of our civil liberties by our ruling-class wokesters.

POWERLINE has a mid-week coronavirus edition of its usual Week in Pictures. Here's my favorite:

Now go see the rest.

WHILE TRUMP RANTS, it’s Governors who have gone full Captain Queeg.

In the next election it's going to be sorely tempting to can every single incumbent, President down all the way to local dogcatcher, and start fresh.

LOOK CAREFULLY through any Democrat-sponsored coronavirus relief legislation.

Update: Here's why.

RANDOM THOUGHT: On the highway of life, give a Democrat an inch and he'll take you straight to Venezuela.

THE WASHINGTON POST HAS BECOME TRULY PATHETIC. But that’s not news. This is.

IT’S HIGH TIME FOR AMERICA TO RETURN TO LIVING — before there’s nothing worth living for in America.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The thin facade of authority. And after reading it all, you might seriously consider what could happen when the facade finally cracks. As it most certainly will.

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 15, 2020

Here's today's update after yesterday's royal New York political screw-up from yesterday. The Coronavirus Dashboard's change from posting Serious cases to Tested cases didn't help any, although it (thankfully) didn't screw up the charts. I've deleted the April 14th data (black vertical arrows), since it was clearly bad (for example, total U.S. deaths today were less than yesterday, so some New Yorkers have come back from the dead), and the data for the 15th (today) has had to be interpolated. Nevertheless trends (to the extent you can believe them) are still down, though I won't fully trust them until I have another 3-4 days of consistent data.

The projected deaths chart is still the declining trend (although the numbers for the 14th and 15th had to be interpolated to be consistent with the plots). It won't be trustworthy again for at least another 3-4 days, assuming other states don't follow New York's lead and massage their own datasets.

By the way, 99.03% of the U.S. population is still coronavirus free.

YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY: It's good to be a Democrat.

YOU THINK IT'S BAD TODAY: I lived through this a mere 50 years ago.

And we didn't cower in our basements....

FINALLY, A PLEASANT THOUGHT: Attorney General Barr just signaled that things are about to get ugly for the Russia collusion team.

DEMOCRATS might find it better to concede 2020 to Trump.

We'd certainly be better off....

THE ECONOMIC SHUTDOWN could will kill more Americans than the coronavirus.

The academics and public health officials who have concocted models of the virus's spread are telling us that we have to continue the shutdown to save thousands of lives. But none of their models considers the deaths that will be caused by unemployment.

Before the virus hit, America's unemployment rate was 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years. Now Goldman Sachs predicts unemployment could spike to 15% by midyear. A St. Louis Federal Reserve economist grimly predicts 32% unemployment -- worse than during the Great Depression.

No model or guesswork is required to foresee the deadly impact. Job losses cause extreme suffering. Every 1% hike in the unemployment rate will likely produce a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a 0.99% increase in suicides according to data provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the medical journal Lancet. These are facts based on experience, not models. If unemployment hits 32%, some 77,000 Americans are likely to die from suicide and drug overdoses as a result of layoffs. Scientists call these fatalities deaths of despair.

Only we'll never be told by our ruling class. Read it all anyway.

TODAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY:

Questions?

ADAM SCHIFF AND HIS IMPEACHMENT FAIRIES go full Wuhan.....

This won't be over until the Republicans retake the House of Representatives. Or 2024, if that comes first.

HORRORS! Vicious tyrant Trump wants to let people leave their homes.

From America's News of Record.

HERE'S A 'YA THINK?' PIECE: If colleges owe students refunds, it’s not because of the pandemic: It’s because they’ve abandoned their mission as places of learning.

NO SHIT, SHERLOCK: Los Angeles sheriff fears danger from inmates released due to coronavirus.

Maybe there's a reason why they were incarcerated?

POWERLINE: the new bookburners.

IS FOR DESPERATE.



Just a random thought for the 2020 election season. (I considered 'deplorable' but in my mind 'desperate' is even lower.)

WUHAN FLU [CORONAVIRUS] UPDATE for April 14, 2020:

Well, so much for my 'biased but consistent' data set. The State of New York just royally screwed up the data by suddenly adding 3700 'excess' deaths previously unreported as coronavirus cases as they hadn't been confirmed. You'll see the sharp jump in all the data below.

Given the data is no longer even remotely consistent, I'll withhold further comment on the data and instead leave you with this (jaundiced) opinion: I trust Gov. Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio about as far as a frail 108-year old woman in the last stages of death by coronavirus could throw them. This is a political ploy, plain and simple.

I'll figure out how to deal with it -- or not at all -- tomorrow.

ENOUGH ALREADY: Your 'help' is destroying America.

There are two ways despots comes to power. One is to kill their way into control. The more insidious way is to promise to “take care of you.” Wannabe despots don’t bother explaining the fine print: “They will decide what’s good for you, once you’ve handed that power over to them.”

We may have chosen the latter, but the result is the same.

BUT THE MONEY KEEPS ME GOING: I don't like what I do professionally. So quit already; do us all a favor.

Update: money talks louder; Cuomo backs away (... taken out of context -- yeah).

RANDOM THOUGHT: I have to say there's one good outcome from the coronavirus pandemic -- it cured me of my television habit.

AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: Bernie tests negative for President.

TOP DOWN BUREAUCRATIC INSANITY: Our local grocery store opens for 'coronavirus fragile' people only (i.e., seniors) from 7 am to 8 am; yet they can't by beer until 9 am.

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN an American president as spiritually impoverished as Donald Trump. And there has never been an author as mentally impoverished as Tom Nichols....

IT'S A CHICKEN/EGG PROBLEM: Does liberalism cause mental illness?

SARAH HOYT writes on spherical cows of uniform density in a frictionless vacuum and other magical things (like coronavirus modeling).

It's longish, but Hoyt is an exceedingly good writer, and her summary of the sheer idiocy of globalist, one-size-fits-all solutions to every problem is excellent.

SOME RATIONAL PERSPECTIVES on the Covid-19 pandemic.

The difficulty with a rational perspective is that mankind is not full of rational people; it is full of rationalizing people.

FROM AMERICA'S NEWS OF RECORD: 'Liberal Arts Degrees' Renamed 'Non-Essential Worker Degrees'.

To re-coin an old phrase: 'fake but accurate'.

OH, COME ON: You health nannies can't even deal with a virus competently.

ROUNDUP TIME: HOAs, Snitches and ChiCom Dupes.

INTERESTING, ISN'T IT, that it comes out now when no one's paying attention: Crossfire Hurricane team knew Steele dossier likely contained ‘Russian disinformation.’

THEY'RE CRAZY. What the hell is wrong with these Democrats?

PROACTIVE? Or punishment for having a contrary view? Click through to read the entire post.

I'm clearly -- and correctly -- on the punishment side of the fence.

SHOE knows real coffee.