You know how the fundamentalist pastors are telling their flocks that the corona virus is just a hoax and they are specially protected by God and all that? So the entire congregation must ignore those atheistic scientists and medical doctors and gather together in large(ish) crowds pack tightly together and shaking each other's hands.
From an old acquaintance I follow on Facebook, there's report of a second such pastor who has died from that "hoax virus":
quote:Another pastor dies from COVID-19 after claiming the coronavirus was a hoax.
Pastor Ronnie Hampton of the New Vision Community Church in Shreveport, Louisiana died after calling coronavirus a ‘mark of the beast’ conspiracy.
quote:Yesterday, one of the first deaths of a Virginia resident from COVID-19 was a Christian musical evangelist who, believing the pandemic response to be anti-Trump mass hysteria, took his family to New Orleans to wash it from its Sin and debauchery.
quote:A Gretna man who had double pneumonia and tested positive for COVID-19 in Concord North Carolina died around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the family reports.
Landon Spradlin, 66, was an accomplished blues musician who pastored several different churches over the years.
Spradlin was in New Orleans with his wife, Jean Spradlin, when he started getting sick. On their way back to Gretna on March 17, his condition worsened to the point where he could hardly breathe
The Roanoke Times described Spradlin as a traveling musical minister and fine guitarist with a powerful soul-blues voice, at one time a significant part of the Roanoke-area blues scene.
On his Facebook page, Spradlin had posted many photos and videos of his family, his band, and himself performing and sightseeing in New Orleans beginning on what seems February 21 through March 10. Much of his time appeared to be in crowded Jackson Square, where his band played in what he called his Jackson Square Ministry. Other locations included performing in intimate music clubs, dining in restaurants, and walking on Bourbon Street.
On Feb. 28, he posted We had an awesome Mardi Gras outreach this year. Many were touched by the power and love of Jesus!!
Spradlin was likely already infected when, on March 13, he posted a highly misleading meme comparing COVID-19 and swine flu deaths, suggesting that the current virus response was mass hysteria created by the media for no reason other than to hurt Donald Trump:
quote:This Facebook post is no longer available. It may have been removed or the privacy settings of the post may have changed.
That image contains information spread by Tiffany Fray, a devoutly Christian Trump supporter. It’s complete misleading to the point that fact-checkers for Facebook marked it as partly false. PolitiFact, which said the statement is mostly false, explains more here.
That same day he shared a post telling a true story of a missionary who cared miraculously for bubonic plague victims without himself succumbing to the illness. That post explained that As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me.
Spradlin was pastor of New Wave Ministries International, whose mission statement is taking the Light of the gospel into the darkest regions of the earth.
According to the ministry, his wife Jean Spradlin was, as of March 24, in quarantine with pneumonia in both lungs, awaiting test results. She told her local paper that they visit New Orleans every year and seemingly always catch some sickness while they’re there, explaining that a plethora of organizations have been working with her to get her information, ensure that she is safely quarantined, and provide such necessities like food, extra clothes and internet. She also stated that the family has set up a GoFundMe account.
Spradlin’s official music page says only that they will see him again in the other side of glory.
There’s no mention of how they could’ve prolonged his life through sensible precautionary measures.
Of course, the petri dish of infection vectors that they had waded through in NOLA is the reason for NOLA's current status of being the next hot-spot in this pandemic.
This pandemic might end up doing some good. But at what cost?
Uh, what "razzing"? I was just stating factual observations. It is a solid fact that Trump has screwed the pooch royally, so how does pointing that out amount to "razzing"?
And I think that I raised a very valid point about what Trump's objectives might possibly be.
Decades ago, I read something like: "Never attribute malfeasance to something that could be explained by complete ignorance and incompetence and utter stupidity."
And yet, despite all the ignorance, incompetence, and utter stupidity, there is still a kind of genius to Trump. That genius is in part knowing how to deceive his followers, but the other part is how to cash out on whatever is happening. Despite all his other massive failings, he is still a prime opportunist.
The questions I raised in Message 259 involved his objectives. This is very basic operations. Like so many other similar evolutions, your first question is what your objectives are, just what are you trying to accomplish? Then you need to identify what your own sub-objectives are. That is your goal, so now you need to plan out how to achieve your objectives.
Now mind you, this identification of objectives and evaluations of strategies for achieving those objectives functions on many different levels, with the top-most level planning for the overall movement of all troops and the ultimate objective while the lower-most is for your squad to take and hold that hill (review Little Roundtop at Gettysburg: "The flank must hold. Gentlemen, we are the flank." And completely out of ammunition, they charged down the hill and they held the flank ).
So just what are Trump's objectives? That was the question I raised. There is the short game and the long game.
Well, today we have the new bill that Trump just signed into law for economic relief during this pandemic.
About 2 trillion (1012) USDollars to companies to keep their employees on the payroll, etc. No increases to paying their CEOs (as happened before) and no layoffs. What the Democrats had to fight hard for and finally got was Congressional oversight over the distribution of those 2 trillion dollars by Trump toady Steven Mnuchin.
Trump's immediate statements were to the effect that the bill that he had just signed into law did not make Congressional oversight mandatory, whereas it did. Oh, yeah, it really did!
So Trump wants his toady, Steven Mnuchin, to disburse all that money before any congressional oversight can even know what had happened. Maybe even to Trump-owned businesses ... why not?
And of course, the truly long-term planning would be to somehow invalidate the 2020 National Election. Or to keep it from even ever happening under some kind of emergency powers.
Uh, what "razzing"? I was just stating factual observations. It is a solid fact that Trump has screwed the pooch royally, so how does pointing that out amount to "razzing"?
Sorry. I just thought your post was so strongly factual and well argued that it didn't need the couple swipes at Trump to distract from it, not that they weren't true.
Trump *is* an idiot. He accused New York of not needing the ventilators on the grounds that they currently have enough, apparently not understanding that the apex of need lies in the future a few weeks away. Cuomo tried to explain this, but when someone doesn't understand something intuitively obvious, like "two plus two equals four" and really and truly doesn't get it, how do you explain it to them?
I don't understand how 55% of Americans could think Trump is doing a good job managing the epidemic. I think maybe too much of America is sucked in by reality TV.
quote:What I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we’ve procured contracts they’re being told not to send stuff to Michigan...It’s really concerning. I reached out to the White House last night and asked for a phone call with the president, ironically at the time this stuff was going on.
Trump demands appreciation from governors (cued up to the right point):
quote:All I want them to do, very simple, I want them to be appreciative. I don't want them to say things that aren't true. I want them to be appreciative. We've done a great job. And I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Mike Pence...I say Mike, don't call the governor of Washington, you're wasting your time with him. Don't call the woman in Michigan...You know what I say? If they don't treat you right, I don't call them.
It's the same old Trump formula that we see over and over again. If he's not getting what he wants politically, usually capitulation to his demands and unconditional praise, he invents a grievance and badmouths you in the press.
I have discovered that disinfecting with isopropyl alcohol is very harsh on the skin and dries out your hands. I recommend against its use for that purpose. Wash with soap and water whenever possible, and when soap and water aren't available then use hand sanitizers that contain at least 60% isopropyl alcohol because they contain other agents that counteract the harshness.
We can find no hand sanitizer yet, despite that we're not that far from a huge Budweiser plant that is supposedly churning out hand sanitizer, so when I'm out and about and don't have access to soap and water I now sanitize my hands with isopropyl alcohol and then apply hand moisturizer.
I've read that the online instructions for creating hand sanitizer at home from isopropyl alcohol and aloe and other things is an iffy way to go and should be avoided unless you know you have a valid set of instructions and you're good at measuring and mixing.
quote:I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators. And now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, Can we order 30,000 ventilators?
Trump one day ago in a White House statement:
quote:Today, I signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to use any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act to require General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators. Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course. GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.
Note the Trump signature moves. He reverses himself in a single day while blaming others for delays.
In case anyone was wondering why Trump has singled out General Motors for special attention instead of Ford or General Electric or any other manufacturer, it's because about a week ago GM entered into a partnership with Ventec Life Systems to produce additional ventilators. While I can't find anything specific, my guess is that GM has no intention of retooling any of its active auto plants to produce ventilators, which never made any sense. I think their contribution to the partnership must be manpower and resources to help Ventec expand its current manufacturing capabilities.
quote:Rhode Island plans to send the National Guard out to knock door-to-door in an attempt to hunt down anyone who has arrived in the tiny state from New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. State police, meanwhile, have begun pulling over cars with New York state plates.
Gov. Gina Raimondo said anyone traveling there from New York will be ordered to undergo a 14-day quarantine and could face fines or even jail time if they’re found to not comply.
Here in New Hampshire we're gearing up for an influx of refugee New Yorkers who will be stealing clothes off clotheslines so they can fit in with the locals (there's no plaid flannel in New York City) and hiding out in tool sheds.
the utter lack of knowledge of today's conservatives
There have been claims recently that the economic consequences of this pandemic are a direct threat to the existence of the US of A.
That is stupid.
The Great Depression lasted over a decade and was far more serious than this.
It may well mean the end of some companies but those gaps will be filled by different entities.
It may mean the end of the careers of many politicians, but others will fill the positions.
But it is not a threat to the continuation of America; only conmen make such claims.
But there is a fairly high probability that our citizens in their total disconnect from reality and lack of knowledge of history will demand a strong man to take charge.
If so they will relearn history and emerge far more knowledgeable; should they survive.
The first known case in China was on November 17, another was reported in December in connection with the "wet market" in WuHan, but the bigger picture didn't start to get out until January. They denied person-to-person transmission and the WHO accepted that. At some point China promoted a gigantic banquet in the area of the virus, and also allowed five million people to leave the Wuhan area. Where they went is not reported. I can't keep all this in my head when I hear it on the radio so that's the best I can do at the moment. But the gist is clear. They knew of the virus and suppressed the information, allowing it to spread to the point that they finally had to admit it, which was too late to keep it from spreaking around the world.
There was a report by a journalist at Sky News in Australia read on the radio yesterday. I didn't get her name but it was a thorough run-down of China's responsibility for this situation. Since I didn't get the author's name I googled on "Sky News Australia China Responsbility for Virus" and got some You Tube news reports from Australia which touched on the subject but couldn't find that article.
Among other things it reported that two other pandemics started in China's wet markets, the SARS virus and the Bird Flu, and that in 2004 or 5 China agreed to shut down those markets but apparently did not.
Rhode Island hunting down New Yorkers seeking coronavirus refuge, reports Fox News. The police state has arrived. From Rhode Island sending cops, National Guard to find New Yorkers seeking coronavirus refuge:
To ensure that people fleeing an epicenter are not "Typhoid Mary" carriers without symptoms, hence requiring 14 day quarantine, as are people returning from Europe. What made Typhoid Mary so devastating was that she kept going from town to town, leaving when the plague appeared.
We will likely see a lot of such behavior, because people ...
ACLU has filed a protest, but I think most of us Rhodies will think it is a good idea and not that intrusive compared to the alternative of letting unknowing carriers spread the disease.
RI seems to be doing okay so far, although recent cases keep adding up (38 added last Friday)
quote:On March 12 I got a fever that didn’t go away.
It hovered around 101 or 102 degrees for the next week...I saw a doctor via video who said it was probably the flu possibly the coronavirus, he added, but tests were unavailable and the prescription, rest and fluids, would be the same regardless. ... Then, about a week in, I began to cough. Taking deep breaths felt as if fire were shooting through my lungs...New York State set up a coronavirus testing site an hour from my home. When I called for an appointment, I waited on hold for 80 minutes, after which someone took my information and said someone else would call me back. No one did.
Eight days after the fever first manifested, I could barely move. My wife took me to an urgent care clinic, where I received a chest X-ray and confirmation that I had pneumonia. They swabbed me for the coronavirus but their lab was overwhelmed, and they didn’t know when they would receive any results. I’ve still not heard from them.
I returned home in terrible shape, chest burning and wracked with chills, unable to do anything other than shudder under a blanket. My primary doctor urged my wife to take me to the E.R., which she did. There, they gave me a coronavirus test and another chest X-ray, but blood tests suggested that my oxygen and white blood cell levels were decent. They sent me home but insisted that should I feel worse, I should call them back immediately.
The next day, my temperature spiked to 103.5 degrees. We called the E.R., and they told us to come back. That night I was admitted to Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, N.Y. ... On the second day I was more lucid but still felt horrendous, and a friendly doctor came in with two bits of news: The coronavirus test I took in the E.R. had come back positive and the latest X-ray wasn’t good. He showed me the earlier X-ray from the E.R.: Each lung had a cloudy patch near the bottom but was otherwise clear. Then he showed me the new X-ray. It looked liked some demented handyman had sprayed my lungs with insulation.
That's a lengthy excerpt, so let me summarize: It took twelve days after his initial symptoms for test results to confirm he had CV, and by that time he was very, very sick.
I can't keep all this in my head when I hear it on the radio so that's the best I can do at the moment.
Who were you listening to on the radio?
I didn't get her name...etc...
Again, no reference.
You are preternaturally attracted to unreliable sources. Since you've provided not a single reference there's no reason to waste any time checking out what you say.
But this is just part of your effort to justify calling it the China virus or Wuhan virus and to blame China for the pandemic. Instead of playing along with Trump's accuse and blame game why don't you do something constructive. Report on how things are going in Nevada or something. Besides, as I mentioned yesterday, Trump has flip-flopped again and is now cooperating with China. But wait a day and he'll flip-flop again.
It’s odd that a Budweiser brewery would be making hand sanitizer- one wouldn’t think that they would have the equipment to make anything with over 11 or 12% alcohol. Any distillery could do that, just by fiddling with their process, but a brewery? Odd.
I don’t think that home-made disinfectant would be too much of a challenge, particularly if you start with 91% isopropyl alcohol or 190 proof (95%) ethanol. The recommendation appears to be that you stay above 60% in the final product, so your measurements don’t have be terribly precise. Ethanol will be just as drying as isopropyl alcohol. I’ve seen glycerin recommended as an ingredient to counteract dry skin - there’s no reason I see not to mix three volumes of either one with one volume of glycerin and see how that works. It’ll kill those lil’ Coronas.
Too bad 151-proof Bacardi got taken off the market. With it you could disinfect AND smell like a drunken pirate all at once!
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