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About a week ago I came upon a piece titled, “Are Lockdowns Effective?” What follows is the first paragraph of that essay:

“I suppose that the obvious answer to this question depends on what one is measuring. If one is measuring the number of and the spread of the Wuhan virus infections, then I guess the answer has to be ‘yes.’ After all if people are locked down in their homes, and are not out living their usual lives in the community, then logic would dictate that these individuals are not exposed to others, then therefore there would be less chance of them becoming infected . . . at least for a while.”

The author sounds knowledgeable and informed, and I was going along with his shtick until a read an interesting piece on 9/2/20 in the Wall Street Journal. The title of this article was: “The Failed Experiment of Covid Lockdowns,” and it was written by Donald Luskin, the chief investment officer of TrendMacro, an analytic firm. (So far Mr. Luskin may be better credentialed than the author of that first piece.) His firm compared the timing and the intensity of lockdowns in each state as well as in Washington, D.C. It gathered its data not by the mandates put in place by government officials, but by observing what people actually did as measured by highly detailed anonymized cellphone tracking data provided by Google and others and tabulated by the University of Maryland’s Transportation Institute. (Sounds much more scientific than in the first piece from a week ago.)

The surprising results of this highly scientific study were as follows:

-Lockdowns correlated with a greater spread of the virus.

-The states with the harshest lockdowns had the heaviest caseloads.

-When everything was analyzed such as population density, age, ethnicity,    prevalence of nursing homes, general health, or temperature the only factor  that seemed to make a demonstrable difference was the intensity of mass-transit use.

-There was a tendency for states that opened up the most to have the lightest   caseloads.

Really !

In summary:

The surprise conclusions were that lockdowns probably didn’t help contain the spread of the virus, and opening up didn’t hurt. “This defies common sense.” . . . “In theory a quarantine should help control the spread of an infectious disease, evidently not so in practice.”

“ . . . heavy lockdowns were no more effective than light ones, and opening up a lot was no more harmful than opening up a little.”

Really!

FYI: Sweden and the U.S. (#11 & #10) both have 577 deaths per million population per worldometers.info. Sweden never went into full lockdown. Is this another piece of hard to data that appears to negate the benefit of lockdowns?

Wow, these findings seem to go against a certain presidential candidate who says that if cases go up, he will institute total lockdowns . . . “I will follow the science.” 

Really! 

Is this an apparent oxymoron spoken by a moron? 

The other day when I was in my car, probably going to Costco, one of my all time favorite songs came on the radio. No, I no longer have Sirius XM, and no, this song was not by ZZ-Top or Queen. It was “Sweet Child of Mine.” No, not by Sheryl Crow, but by Guns and Roses (GNR). A group made up of Axl Rose and some really bizarre dudes. (GNR is one of the few things that I like that has come out of L.A.) After the song was over, my mind wandered to something that I had recently read about ‘Guns,’ but not Roses.

 In March when Covid and its consequent lockdowns, etc began, FBI background checks soared to a new record of 3.7 million. In June after the protests, etc. related to George Floyd, background checks soared to another new record of 3.9 million. In July after BLM induced rioting and looting, another surge in background checks to 3.6 million, the third highest month ever. Remember, these background checks, are related vis-a-vis to gun sales. Whether or not all of these background checks resulted in actual gun sales is irrelevant as all of these millions were now new potential gun owners.

A lot of these people are ordinary citizens – ordinary citizens who now feel that they should own a gun. Who do you think these new gun owners are going to be voting for? Sweet Child of Mine, obviously D.T., not Basement Joe who wants to take their Guns away.

The other amazing stat comes from some of the battleground states in the Midwest which are critical for Trump to win in November. This is something that I had never thought about before . . . deer hunting license sales. I would probably agree that most of these deer hunters are pro-gun and thus pro-Trump to start with However, for every deer hunter there are family members, friends, etc. and this adds up to quite a large number of votes. I would go out on a limb and say that most of these deer hunters are not answering calls from pollsters. 

Anyway, these numbers are huge!

Wisconsin: >600,000

Pennsylvania: 750,000

Michigan: 700,000

These deer hunters are not limited to these few battleground states. For example, West Virginia: 250,000.

As I have alluded to before, this is another relatively small group of voters who probably are not phone survey takers, but come November, will be voting for you-know-who.

BTW: I just googled and listened to GNR’s “Sweet Child of Mine” again . . . awesome!

In 2020 we are all due for some good news. 

Covid . . . bad news. Shutdowns . . .  bad news. Economic devastation for many . . . bad news. Protests . . . bad news. Riots and destruction of private property . . . bad news. Et cetera!

Good news? Is there any? Well, I am happy to say that today, I finally read some good news, some very good news, some very good news about the NBA. Yes, that same NBA that sided with China in the struggle for freedom in Hong Kong.

A headline from the Daily Wire:

Get Woke, Go Broke: NBA Ratings ‘Cratering’

Ratings for the NBA have dropped significantly as the professional sports league becomes increasingly “woke.”

In addition to obstacles presented by the coronavirus, a report from City Journal outlined the staggering ratings hit of the NBA because of its left-wing activism, most recently wearing social justice-themed warmups and jerseys and even postponing playoff games over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

As part of a racial justice initiative, NBA players have also been allowed to display a “social justice” word or phrase, selected from an approved list, on the back of their jerseys instead of their last names.

The approved list includes “Anti-Racist,” “Ally,” “Say Her Name,” “I Can’t Breathe,” “Enough,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “How Many More.”

“TV ratings, mediocre after the season restarted, are down collectively by 40 percent on the TNT network, and 20 percent on ESPN, since their peak nearly a decade ago.”

The report noted that the NBA’s “network TV premium broadcasts ratings on ABC are off by 45 percent,” which “a former public relations executive for the NBA describes as a ‘cratering’ of viewership,” per The Athletic.

“The lockdown will cost the NBA at least $1 billion in revenue, and an MLB study earlier this year projected a potential revenue decline of $4 billion from the shortened season,” City Journal noted. “And the poor TV ratings suggest that many sports viewers have missed watching NBA games less than the league might have anticipated.”

I understand that many of the  individual NBA players probably have opinions on what is happening. However, I, as a “fan” do not have to buy what the league is selling when they are forcing it down my throat. My not watching the NBA has nothing to do with whether the players are black, white, or yellow. When I sit down to watch sports, I am interested in sports, and not in political propaganda.

Although I will probably be criticized as being a schadenfreude concerning my view that the tanking NBA is “good news,” . . . my response – “sticks and stones, etc! 

Whoopee!”

Back in March Bill deBlasio, the mayor of New York City went to his YMCA gym in Brooklyn to exercise on the day that Governor Cuomo was closing all gyms at 8pm that night, and Bill was issuing a stay-at-home order on that very day. Granted it was a “legal” visit as gyms in New York were still okay, and I have no problem with him going to workout. What I do have a problem with, however, is his answer to the question of why he went to exercise when so many other things including schools were shut down.

He said. “I have to stay healthy so I can make the decisions for the people of this city.” (In other words, “I went to the gym, because I am sooo important … because I’m me.”)   

From the Chicago Tribune on April 7,2020:

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there are two sets of rules—one for the ruling class and one for the peons

Mayor Lightfoot defended getting a haircut amid the coronavirus outbreak, saying she’s the face of the city and the woman who cut her hair wore a mask.

‘I take my personal hygiene very seriously. As I said, I felt like I needed to have a haircut. I’m not able to do that myself, so I got a haircut. You want to talk more about that?’

So, the mayor “take[s] her personal hygiene very seriously.” Does this hack not think that the other 1.49 million other women who live in Chicago might also take their “personal hygiene very seriously?”

But you see, that is not important. Because Lightfoot is ‘important’! “

(In other words, “I got my haircut in defiance of the state mandate because I am sooo very important . . . because I’m me.”)

But the winner of the hypocrisy sweepstakes has to be Nancy Pelosi who was caught on camera inside a beauty salon and not wearing a mask.

Pelosi went to the salon on 8/31/20 for a blow-out. Salon owner Erica Kious told Fox News that Pelosi’s assistant had set up the appointment with an independent stylist who rents chairs in her salon.

San Francisco salons were closed for months as part of Mayor London Breed’s emergency coronavirus regulations. They were allowed to reopen for outdoor service on 9/1/20.

Now from my point of view, going to a hair salon when no one else in San Francisco can is clearly very hypocritical. (In other words,it sounds like she is saying, “I went to the hair salon in defiance of the mandates in San Francsco, because I am sooo important . . . because I am me!”)

What’s even worse with this story is Pelosi’s response when asked about the incident.

Pelosi noted that the appointment was made ahead of time, and said the stylist could have and should have said they were not open. 

Duh! Everybody in the Bay Area knew hair salons were not open.

Pelosi then further displayed what a lowlife she is by saying the following:

“It was clearly a setup. I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon that I’ve gone to for years.And that’s, that’s really what it is.” (Despite willfully disobeying the diktat by the San Francisco mayor, she is trying to blame someone else.)

Pelosi, the powerful California Democrat then said, “ I think that they owe, that this salon, owes me an apology for setting me up,” (Now that’s more than just chutzpah – it’s unmitigated gall.)

The owner of the salon Erica Kious, responded, that Pelosi visiting, “was a slap in the face,” adding, “that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work.”

Today I read an extremely interesting and disturbing piece on POWERLINE entitled “Who Killed George Floyd.” 

 “At 7:30 p.m. on May 31, 2020, prosecutors “met” online with Dr. Andrew Baker, Chief Medical Examiner of Hennepin County, to discuss Floyd’s toxicology report.

To their undoubted dismay, Dr. Baker, the chief medical examiner, had to concede that at 11 ng/mL, Floyd had “a fatal level of fentanyl under normal circumstances.” He also conceded that the fentanyl overdose “can cause pulmonary edema,” a frothy fluid build-up in the lungs that was evidenced by the finding at autopsy that Floyd’s lungs weighed two to three times normal weight.

This is consistent with Officer Kueng’s observation at the scene that Floyd was foaming at the mouth and, as found at autopsy, that his lungs were “diffusely congested and edematous.”

In other words, like a drowned man, Floyd’s lungs were filled with fluid. And that was the obvious and inescapable reason why Floyd kept shouting over and over again that he couldn’t breathe even when he was upright and mobile.

The memorandum ends with Dr. Baker’s devastating conclusion that “if Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he [Dr. Baker] would conclude that it was an overdose death.”

Since I cannot vouch for the veracity of what’s in this article, I can just report what it says. My response to this POWERLINE  article is: “Say it isn’t so.”

I am not a conspiracy theorist, however why was this memo not released by the prosecution until 8/25/20? (The reported online meeting with D. Baker was on  5/31/20!)

Furthermore, now with this delayed release by the prosecution almost three months later, I doubt that there is anyplace where Derek Chauvin and the other officers could ever expect to receive a fair trial, and this could happen right here in the U.S. . . . “Say it isn’t so.”

I was in a quandary whether to call this “the chutzpah award” or “the hutzpah award,” or “the chutzpa award,” but realistically the spelling is irrelevant. The winner this year is . . . California Governor Gavin Newsom … hands down. Granted California has multiple problems, including the highest poverty rate of any state, high taxes, syringes and human waste on the streets of some of its largest cities, and the costliest and least reliable power in the nation. However the Chutzpah Award goes to Gavin Newsom for him suggesting that “we need an investigation into why the recent power outages have occurred!”  OMG! A second grader could probably answer that question . . . the recent power outages occurred because there is not enough fossil fuel providing  power in California. When the sun goes down, or when there is a paucity of sun for what ever reason, it should be pretty obvious that solar and wind are not the answer. 

From the Wall Street Journal: 

It is interesting that municipalities of Los Angeles and Sacramento were spared power outages.The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power get 48% of its power from coal or gas. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District gets 54% from gas. Compare that to the 15-17% for the private utilities, PG&E and Southern California Edison. (WSJ asks whether or not these private utilities are more important easily bullied by the greenies?) 

Keep in mind that California accounts for only a measly 0.1% of global emissions . . . so why do we have to have blackouts? If anyone can explain to me the logic of imposing blackouts on many innocent citizens because of an unrealistic Sacramento reliance on sun & wind, I am listening! 

I propose that we need an investigation!

During this pandemic most of us a have learned a lot of things, some interesting, some not so interesting. Early on I realized that life could go on without sports. I did miss the NCAA’s March Madness, but I soon realized that life went on without the Sweet Sixteen or the Final Four.

For as long as I can remember, I always went directly to the sport’s section on the newspaper. It didn’t matter whether I had just picked it up from my driveway or just accessed it online. . . . the sport’s page was always first. When I was working, sometimes I would not have time in the morning to read the other parts of the paper, but if knew the score of yesterday’s game and who got the big hit or who scored the winning touchdown, I was happy.

When the virus hit our nation, sports, in general, hit the skids for me. Was there Spring training this year? Actually, I don’t know, and surprisingly, life went on. Was there a pro-football draft? Not a clue, and believe it or not, life went on. I assume that neither the NBA or the NHL had their respective playoffs, but if they did, I missed it, and life went on.

A few years back when the NFL started with the kneeling shenanigans, I stopped watching the NFL. What I learned from that experience was there were a lot better ways to spend my Sundays. I’m pretty sure that the NFL did not miss me, and I didn’t miss the NFL, and life went on. 

These days the NBA is in a bubble somewhere, and I understand that they are playing games. I used to love to watch the NBA playoffs. Many years ago I would never miss a Bulls playoff game. Are the Bulls in the bubble? Are the Bulls still in Chicago? I do not know, and I do not care. Whether they are or they aren’t, my life goes on.

Now that “protests” have made their way into just about all sports, I no longer feel guilty that I haven’t watched ESPN in months. Is there still an ESPN? . . . I do not know, and I do not care.

The other day I heard that some of the fan-less MLB night games were “protest-cancelled”, and then played the following day as part of a double-header. Shucks! It doesn’t matter to me whether I miss a night game or miss a double-header the next day . . . my life still goes on.

I have heard the rumor that there are no sports in heaven. If that is true, and if I make it there, I will not have much adapting to do even though life will no longer be still going on.

I live relatively close to a college campus, and after reading an article in my local “newspaper” today, I feel safer already. In this article I learned that “the  university has hired a private security company “that will be patrolling not only the campus, but also nearby neighborhoods.” I was not aware that there was some sort of crime wave going on in my neighborhood, but I guess that I am glad to have the extra protection of a private security company that began patrolling neighborhoods this past Friday night, and will start doing the same on campus on Monday. Mirabile dictu, I feel safer already.

In addition, my local “newspaper” was out over the weekend, observing what was happening in my neighborhood. What sort of things did this “newspaper” observe between 11:30 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday? It was able to observe about 200 bad guys, mostly students. Certainly having additional neighborhood security will be advantageous in stopping potential crime before it occurs, and believe me, I feel safer already.

What kind of crimes are these hooligans committing? Hold your breath . . .

THEY WERE MASKLESS!
THEY WERE NOT SOCIAL DISTANCING!

I find it frightening that there is a private security company in my neighborhood just waiting to catch me without a mask! Horrors! Big Brother is here. . . in my neighborhood! Should I feel safer, or should I feel scared?  

The next logical step is for the university to deputize neighborhood Kens and Karens so that they can make citizen’s arrests. Even those who do not live in my neighborhood should take note, because the university realizes that there are plenty of its students that live down by the beach. Will they hire additional security companies to patrol the beach area – looking to nab more offenders. Perhaps there should be a curfew on all 18-22 year olds, not just in neighborhoods around the campus, or around the beach . . . but in the entire city! Just think how many Kens and Karens would volunteer to be deputized!

Are you still feeling safer??

After reading about what some colleges are doing, I must ask the question: 

“How can those who are supposed to be so smart, be sooo dumb?”

Apparently an increasing number of colleges are shocked that returning students are going to parties! Do these college presidents not understand that these 18-22 year olds are in reality still only 18-22 years old? How could they not foresee that a bunch of 18-22 year olds, who have basically been living at home under the auspices of their parents for months, were going to want to see and interact with some other 18-22 year olds? Should one expect a College Dean to be able to anticipate what a bunch of 18-22 year olds are going to do after they have been in virtual quarantine for months? 

I could go on, but “come on,” even I could have anticipated what a bunch of 18-22 year olds would do when they returned to campus  . . . they were going to party! Apparently these higher-ups at these colleges did not anticipate the obvious. They did not anticipate what a bunch of 18-22 year olds were going to do almost immediately. While living at home they were cautioned that if they went to a party, they could kill gramma. “Well gramma is home, and I am here . . . sooo. paar-tee.”

“How can those who are supposed to be do smart, be sooo dumb? “

Wait! Let’s think about this for a second: 

• College costs a lot of money.
•  If colleges are offering only online classes, why would people pay a lot of money for an obviously inferior product?
• Therefore, if a college is offering just online classes, a lot of the students may take the semester off.
• If a lot of students take the semester off . . . bad news for the college’s pocketbook.
• So . . . a potential solution for the college is to say that they are going to have in-person learning, and when the 18-22 year olds come on campus and act like 18-22 year olds, blame them for the anticipated increase in Covid positivity, and then consequently blame them for the change to all on-line classes. 

Perhaps this is just an example of people who are supposed to be smart . . . acting smart!

(In my upcoming novella, The Keneally Chronicles, a college town thinks of a unique way to bring all the students back with 100% in-person learning.)

This is a direct quote from Basement Joe:

“I would shut it down; I would listen to the scientists,” Biden told Muir Friday, alongside his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., during their first joint interview since officially becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees.

Let’s get this straight … he would shut the economy down. 

Now that is an absurd promise to make to voters! Not a winning campaign issue.

In addition he apparently would attempt to mandate that everyone in the country wear masks. Another winning diktat for Karens and Kens, but I do not think that this is a winning campaign issue.

Some of his other campaign promises: 

Raise taxes . . . Not a winning campaign issue.

Get rid of fossil fuels. This at the same time as the blackouts in “green power” California . . . Not a winning campaign issue.

Forgive student loans. The ex-students like it, but not a good campaign issue for the rest of us who will end up paying for their degrees in “environmental psychology!”

My advice to basement Joe: 

“Go for it, Joe. Both myself and President Trump love these “brilliant” ideas.