NY Times Science Writer Defends Trump China Travel Restrictions

I did not see this coming - science writer Donald McNeil Jr. of the NY Times defends Trump's restrictions on travel from China.

 Do let me add: buying a few weeks delay in the spread of Covid-19 is likely to be a VERY big deal. *IF*  - IF - this virus behaves  like its cold and flu cousins, transmission should fade when the cold and flu season ends. That is typically by the end of April (Week 17 on the example CDC graph below). We've had a mild winter in the Northeast and the end of April is nine weeks away. That's better than twelve weeks. Can we avoid a major outbreak in the Philly/New York/Boston area? Here's hoping! (Seattle is a write-off. Damn.)

Comments

[matt - deplore me if you must]

first?

[MissMarple2]

https://apnews.com/29cc5b26f3620a2bbd6c8444f4f12e42

Virus fears close down France’s famed Louvre Museum

[henry]

Soap and water work. Hand sanitizers do not. Re virus removal. (Reposting link)

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/480245-fda-tells-purell-that-its-products-cant-treat-or

[henry]

TM, the NYT cya is hidden by the giant pile of MiniMike’s three minute lie. Plus added lies by bobble head shows this morning.

[henry]

Greece could use some travel restrictions right about now.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chaos-thousands-refugees-charge-greek-border-en-masse-15000-surge-evros

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Are we overreacting? What are our known knowns and known unknowns, as Rumsfeld would say?

Have the epidemiologists got any kind of handle on it? What are the real effects of the illness?

What is forgotten in all of this is that China shut down for Lunar New Year at the end of January. 2 weeks off for the whole country. So far 2 week of industrial production have been partially lost. While China's GDP numbers are bad, it is recoverable.

I think the greater lesson is not to put all of ones eggs in one basket. This will play out over time. It reinforces the ABC (anywhere but China) trend, which will also change the world trading dynamic.

China has slowly been becoming its own end market, so maybe once the dust settles we will see more balance.

All those trillions of surplus RMB and dollars, though, are being drawn down heavily as well.

Frankly, I have been pissed off at gas at $3.50 in California and now the prices should mitigate. If we can see out way out of the West Coast RE bubble there could be a lot of room for growth.

[rich]

>>>Ask Robespierre how it felt to have been of the movement before they ran out of heads to cut off and turned inward. The Russians learned from that I suppose. And now we have a turn.

Posted by: Old Lurker | March 01, 2020 at 12:06 PM<<<

point taken.

[rich]

turkey needs a desperate infusion of cash.

[Captain Hate]

I'm still not sure what to think but I won't listen to any politicized hacks who thought letting people from sub Saharan Africa with West Nile virus into the country was a good thing. I'll take my chances with living my life free of any advice from those shitheads.

[clarice]

https://news.grabien.com/story-end-interview-chris-wallace-biden-boasts-hes-not-sleepy-than
Mr. Dementia calls interviewer Chris Wallace "Chuck".

[Jane]

Lol Clarice! Great Pieces as always.

[Comanche Voter]

Forget it Jake---it's King County and Olympia. Declaring a statewide emergency for one Covid19 death (while ignoring what's probably a couple of dozen or more deaths from "plain old flu") is what Washington Progtards do. East of the Cascades Washingtonians aren't so goofy.

[clarice]

Thnx.

[D]

Clarice:
Enjoyed your Pieces today.
I look forward to it every Sunday.
Thank you for your continuous contribution to the truth.

[D]

Comanche voter:
King County/ home of the Dem corruption and recount heaven.

[Old Lurker]

Never let a crisis go to waste.

If there is no crisis, make one up.

Only the government can fix a crisis.

The government does not have a CEO or Board of Directors unless a Dem is POTUS. Otherwise the staff is in charge.

About right?

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/03/01/coronavirus-american-airlines-suspends-flights-to-milan-after-aircrew-refused-to-fly/

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/28/rep-nunes-flynn-targeted-because-he-wanted-to-empty-out-the-intelligence-community-swamp/

[Manuel Transmission]

Comanche voter:

Heh. We live in the worst county after King up here on our rock. Still firming up our plans when the state divides along the Cascades. Fortunately we don’t have a very long list of those needing persuasion to tidy up the local politics. The worst thing is still needing the state run ferries to get supplies delivered.

[Jim Eagle]

Clarice,

Great Pieces as usual.

I don't know if any party at any time have had the diverse retinue of candidates that the Dems have currently:

1. A 77 y.o. gaffe machine with suspected onset dementia.

2. A committed socialist who will be 79 before election day and who honeymooned in the USSR and praises Castro's Cuban revolution.

3. An acknowledged liar and exaggerator who used fake ethnicity to obtain teaching positions at prestigious universities and never changes her clothes.

4. Another Ivy Leaguer who eats her salads with a hair comb and treats her staff like dogs.

5. A couple of specious billionaires with nothing in common with the voters they are courting but at least one is making his consultants millionaires themselves.

On the other side is a guy who keeps promises, packs in crowds to rallies that are truly diverse in terms of sex, color and ethnicity and takes no prisoners plus knows how to make and execute decisions that affects the health and welfare of the country.

I call that a stark choice!

[MissMarple2]

https://www.wishtv.com/news/medical/march-madness-with-no-fans-in-the-stands/

The players association has asked the NCAA to do the March Madness games with no crowds in the arenas.

[GUS]

FULL COMMIES are all about HEALTH and are GENTLE SOULS.

Imagine when this or any virus invades their beloved NEEDLE CITIES in San Fran Shitsco and L.A..

I'm sure Schiff head and Peloser are working that angle.

[GUS]

Have the FULL COMMIES caused enough panic yet??

[matt - deplore me if you must]

To clarice's last point about the Left's angst industry, perhaps we ned angst management.

[Captain Hate]

I'm sure the Cartel will sign on to butchering their cash cow.

[Gentlejim]

JiB,
I appreciate how you omitted Buttguy like the non-factor he is.

[Jane]

Put that on Facebook Jib, it’s good.

[DrJ]

One interesting data point on the public perception of the coronavirus: MrsJ and I attended a concert at the local performance hall (seating capacity 1,800).

It was straight classical, with Mozart's Figaro overture, Paganini's 1st violin concerto, and Beethoven's 5th symphony. On the last, to paraphrase Yogi Berra, "no one plays that any more. It is too popular." Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with Joshua Bell as soloist. It was a pretty solid concert.

The attendees were by and large Q Tips (MrsJ and I count too, sadly); the younger set was predominantly Asian. Only two people wore masks, and they were a young Chinese couple. Everyone else that I saw was "naked."

This, in spite of there having been one suspected coronavirus student on campus. Said student and three of the roommates all are in quarantine.

But you wouldn't know that from the crowd. Thee was no apparent hysteria.

On a more humorous note, MrsJ overheard a conversation between a couple with a slight European accent talking with their hosts. They loved the performance. But even more, they were amazed that you could drive right to the convert hall, and park across the street in a lot that has plentiful parking. In NY, he claimed that it would take him two hours on foot and by subway to get to a performance, presumably at Lincoln Center or at Carnegie Hall.

There are some advantages to living in a smaller community!

[Jim Eagle]

GJ,

I knew I forgot somebody. My new No. 6

6. An ex-Mayor of only the 4th largest city in Indiana who is gay, the prince of rhetorical gibberish and the spawn of a full blown Marxist-Leninist.

[D]

OL and JIB:
Excellent posts!
How is Frederick doing and OL , how are the grandkids?

[D]

OL:
I am unsure of how many.

[D]

DrJ:
Sounds like a concert I would have enjoyed.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/29/trump-team-yanking-green-cards-immigrants-who-abus/

"The Trump administration this week began enforcing the “public charge” rule, giving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the authority to refuse green cards — the key step on the path to citizenship — to people who have used a wide range of nonemergency welfare programs."

[joan]

A political ad (4x6 card stuck in our Sunday newspaper) from the ex-mayor listed white nationalism as one of the top problems facing the USA.

For some reason, it made me laugh. :)

[Neo]

But in all seriousness, that was exactly the case a day ago when authorities found that a woman working at the "La Selva Negra" brothel had tested positive for coronavirus. The findings forced authorities to quarantine the premises and the 86 customers that were inside.

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/silver-linings-playbook-119-people-quarantined-brothel-spain

[MissMarple2]

WATCH THIS AND THEN SHARE SHARE SHARE‼️pic.twitter.com/Dntv59j6eY

— Lioness D’Lynn™ (@PatriotDLynn) February 29, 2020

Great video at the link : America vs. Socialism

[MissMarple2]

joan,

Which ex-mayor - the NYC one or the South Bend one?

[MissMarple2]

This was published on February 3, but there are a lot of good ideas in this article.

https://spectator.org/avoiding-the-corona-virus/

[joan]

The gap-toothed communist.

[MissMarple2]

Bloomberg went to a church this morning in Alabama and people in attendance turned their backs to him as he spoke.

pic.twitter.com/LIX5QuhSel

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 1, 2020

Video at the link.

[Neo]

Alexandria placed second in the International Science and Engineering Fair in the Microbiology category with her project on the effect of antioxidants on roundworms.
https://www.societyforscience.org/blog/intel-isef-alumna-headed-to-capitol-hill/

Take a look at the photo

[KevlarKid]

TX,MM!!!!! a timely review.

from 2018...

how "things" spread via supermarkets:

Eww!Just Eww!>

[henry]

I thought non profits couldn’t do politics.

[MissMarple2]

Thao Nguyen
@helloitsthao
the likelihood of a contested convention has been increasing and now the warren campaign says they’re not only expecting one but are outright relying on one to try to win the nomination

get ready for a meltdown in milwaukee
=======================================
Ali Vitali
@alivitali
JUST IN: Warren camp making clear they're in this for a convention fight. "We're in this for the long haul," Lau writes in a memo this AM. They assume no candidate will win the # delegates for "an outright claim to the Democratic nomination.”

"Milwaukee is the final play.”

[KevlarKid]

Pound sand, Tykey Mikey.

[KevlarKid]

two diff photos,Neo. what do you see?

[mockmook]

Hey, this seems to be the right crowd for this question.

There's a Red State article titled:

"Goodbye Nancy, the Queen of Corona"

That is a paraphrase of a song lyric isn't it? Or, am I mad? :-)

[MissMarple2]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1233460640787947522.html

Sen. Warren officially voices gratitude for Reza Aslan’s endorsement.

Aslan is member of #Iran’s DC-based lobby group @NIACouncil & has close relations with Tehran's regime. Congress is considering a probe into NIAC.

(Thread includes details on Aslan and NIA Council and, if you ask me, indicates Warren has ZERO judgement.)

[bubarooni]

"I have been pissed off at gas at $3.50 in California"

$2.12 at the local Marathon here in Sunny Ellettsville today.

[KevlarKid]

-Paul Simon

"...goodbye Rosie...Queena Corona see me n julio down by the schoolyard"

[MissMarple2]

AFP news agency
@AFP
·
4h
#BREAKING EU calls emergency foreign ministers' meeting over fall-out from worsening Syria conflict

[KevlarKid]

$4.44 per gal for Shell Supreme in Bkly. no water in it. thanks.

[bubarooni]

I might be watching to much covid-19 news.

I went to the store to purchase dinner for this evening.

I did but, I also bought two bags of rice, two bags of beans, two big cans of chili, 6 big cans of chicken, an enormous can of beef and and a canned ham.

Talk about impulse buying...

[joan]

On that Spectator article by Anne Hendershott about transgender athletes competing against girls and scooping up all of the trophies,why don't parents and interested people demand a transgender division where they can compete against each other. Surely there are civic-minded, Democratic trans and cis people who could donate and support this cause.

My comment is half-way serious, seems the most practical solution. But, now that I've read the article and am thinking about this subject, male advantage over female in athletics, I always end up wondering the same thing, what makes a transgender, who was a male, (I never know whether the transgender should modify male or female, if I say a transgender male, does that mean he/she is now a female or has transgendered to femaleness.)

Wowza, what subjects our nation has been forced into--courtesy of the left. Who would have ever thought it would turn out like this? I didn't.

[D]

Warren is now throwing caution to the wind in her selfish quest for the presidency.
Someone needs to tell her she is done.
Bernie successfully got to the left of her.
She castigated Buttigieg for his wine cave fund raisers only to cave to PACs
In her own desperation to remain viable.
Put a fork in her- she is done if she can’t win in Massachusetts or Oklahoma her Indian homeland and reservation.

[MissMarple2]

Breaking911
@Breaking911
·
27m
ICE Arrests Dominican National Involved In $7M Fentanyl Ring Released From Local Custody Under New York’s Bail Reform Act - https://breaking911.com/ice-arrests-do

[MissMarple2]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/01/israel-ambassador-to-un-we-dont-want-ignorant-fool-bernie-sanders-in-israel/

[lyle]

with Joshua Bell as soloist. It was a pretty solid concert.

I’ll bet it was. He’s a monster talent.

[Captain Hate]

Wowza, what subjects our nation has been forced into--courtesy of the left. Who would have ever thought it would turn out like this? I didn't.

That's how we got DJT; when the usual elected officials won't push back against insanity, we eventually find someone who will.

[D]

Thank God ICE is going around the goofy New York Immigration rules.
Stop all federal aid to NYC.
That will get DiBlasio’s attention.

[peter]

Simon and Garfunkel's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" had the line, "Goodbye Rosie, the Queen of Corona" (Corona is a neighborhood in Queens, not far from Forest Hills where Simon and Garfunkel went to high school.) It has morphed from an Italian neighborhood to a largely Mexican one. It was also the home of Louis Armstrong and borders the New York Tennis Center.

[bubarooni]

Joshua Bell the violinist?

I think he's an I.U. Jacobs School of Music guy.

Go I.U.!

(beat Illinois!!)

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Who the hell are the National Collegiate Players Association? Funny how these advocacy groups spring out of nowhere.

The Left is doing its best to suck all of the fun out of American life. Whether it is forcing trans M2F's in women's sports, forcing kids to take hormones they can't recover from, protesting nonexistent racism, or fear mongering the coronavirus, they have taken Debbie Downerism to a whole new level.

Contrast Bernie's or Biden's hectoring with the Trump rallies. Or Senator Scold from Massachusetts. "If you like your late term abortion you can keep your late term abortion." "The world is ending. We want to throw a monkey wrench into your medical care. Anybody who doesn't agree with me is a fascist racist homophobe" And "Here, take the pill and get the hell off my planet Boomer." Take your pick.

Contrast Reagan's shining city on a hill with the shitholes that LA and San Francisco have become.

[Narciso]

Yikes kev, and that might be overdoing it bubarooni.

[DrJ]

lyle,

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is now Bell's orchestra. Sir Neville Mariner, who founded the group, has retired and turned the metaphorical baton over to Bell.

I say "metaphorical" because ASMF use no conductor, and what little direction there is comes from the concertmaster (namely, Bell). Orchestras usually can play just fine without a conductor, at least outside of the first few rehearsals when the conductor's interpretation is laid out.

We've seen Bell many times, and he is very good. I think he needs an Italian girlfriend to give his playing a bit more passion. FWIW, we call him "pajama boy" because his stage garb looks like them.

The ASMF is an interesting group. They are about half to two-thirds the size of a traditional symphony. That just sounds different: attacks are more precise (usually) and the massed-string sound is much lighter. Still, the bass foundation often is missing at climaxes, as they use only six or eight cellos and only three string basses.

Still, they are an interesting contrast to the big symphonies, and well worth hearing if one gets the chance.

[MissMarple2]

matt,

Well said!

[DrJ]

Yes, Bell is an IU grad. He's one of the few classical stars who has not coursed through Julliard.

[bubarooni]

"and that might be overdoing it bubarooni"

Yeah, tell me about it. I don't care for canned meat a whit. If I actually have to eat that cr@p it'll be a mark of truly desperate times...

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
13m
A Poll in today’s New York Post says that 77% of “U.S. adults have confidence in their government’s ability to handle the Coronavirus (Number One), compared to other health threats.” 64% for Zika, 58% for Ebola. Others way down on list. Our professionals are doing a great job!

[Extraneus]

Who Ex?

Me, Jane. I wrote something here about how I had no problem with Obama's black half but that his white half was the most incompetent, anti-American asshole ever to become president, and Harry quoted it verbatim and even spelled my handle like I do. I had no idea until Janet mailed me a copy of the book, and the only reason she had my real name and address was because she had previously sent me one of your Sturbridge Tea Party Gadson flag t-shirts, which I still have.

[Narciso]

Brief instance of sanity (it will pass)

https://mobile.twitter.com/philipaklein/status/1233975936762208257

[mockmook]

Thanks KevlarKid and peter!!!

But, especially KK, since you were a full 9 minutes faster than "sleepy" peter ;-)

Not being able to pin it down was driving me crazy.

[Extraneus]

Biden slams Trump's handling of coronavirus in rant filled with lies and hypocrisy

Asked by ABC host George Stephanopoulos how his administration would have handled the federal response to the coronavirus differently, Biden went on a rant that was riddled with falsehoods and hypocrisy.

Biden began his answer by stating that his response to the coronavirus would have been "fundamentally different" to Trump's handling of the matter. He then cited the Obama administration's handling of the Ebola virus as an example of his own experience handling virus outbreaks and attacked Trump for "putting someone in charge [Vice President Mike Pence] who is not a scientist."

There's only one problem: The person who Biden and former president Barack Obama named as the country's "Ebola Czar" in 2014 was Ron Klain, the former vice president's chief of staff. Klain was not only was not a scientist, he is a longtime Democratic political operative and lobbyist.

In his diatribe, Biden also accused President Trump of "muzzling scientists." This is not true.

As TheBlaze reported Saturday, the scientist that Biden is referring to, Dr. Anthony Fauci, expressly denied that he or anyone is being "muzzled" at a White House press briefing.

"I have never been muzzled — never — and I've been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan," Fauci said. "I'm not being muzzled by this administration."

In fact, Fauci explained the White House has cleared his requests to speak to the media about the coronavirus situation.

Biden also claimed the Trump administration "cut the funding for the CDC," a charge that has been debunked by the Associated Press.

The AP analyzed the claim Biden made and determined no such cuts ever took place. In fact, at least one independent expert has applauded the administration's response to the coronavirus.

Between this and the Charlottesville very-fine-people hoax, Biden seems as comfortable with bald-faced lying as Harry Reid.

[John S]

DrJ
Thanks for the information about ASMF. Back when I was buying classical recordings, I always preferred that group because the individual instruments could be heard more clearly. Also, didn't they do recordings like the Messiah with original instruments?

[peter]

mockmook, it took me that long (9 minutes) to log in to typhus pad

[DrJ]

A question came up the other day on how Credit Karma makes enough money to merit a $7 billion valuation. From Arstechnica,

While those people don’t pay to use Credit Karma, they do turn over their financial information, as well as the kinds of behavioral and location data that other companies, like Facebook and Google, track. The platform’s algorithms then help lenders micro target users with offers for credit cards, loans, and other financial products. Credit Karma gets a cut when users sign up.

Credit Karma has over 100 million users.

[rich]

Posted by: Extraneus | March 01, 2020 at 03:46 PM

he was reciting his script prepared by his handlers.

bubarooni

i made the mistake of going to the grocery store too. few masks but the cleaning section looked pretty well cleaned out.

[peter]

Don't forget that during the 2012 Vice-Presidential debate, Sleepy Joe argued that we did not have to worry about Iran getting a nuke because they lacked a missile to deliver it. Lie? or stupidity? you decide. (Now you have a third choice-dementia.)

[Narciso]

Easy tater:

https://mobile.twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1234001061330817024

[clarice]

Maybe it's time for Virginia Postrel to ask Megan McArdle to give back the kidney she donated to her.

[KevlarKid]

mockmook---when them kinda song "itches" strike me i need answers qwik! -Kev

[bubarooni]

I gotta tell you Rich, seeing how the rice, beans and canned meat sections were picked over and looking sparse is what prompted my impulse buys.

[rich]

the obama administration couldn't even keep out an illegal alien who ended up spreading it to two healthcare workers here.

but we got a full dose of "science bitches"

go with that sleepy joe.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I really learned to appreciate classical music listening to Neville Mariner and the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields.
A unique and recognizable sound that I always liked along with their selections.

[Jane]

Ex,

That is sooooooo cool! And Janet is the best! I still wear mine, BTW.

[DrJ]

John S,

You're welcome!

I don't think ASFM has used original instruments. You may be thinking of the Academy of Ancient Music, founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood.

I find the period instruments with the scales in use at the time to be interesting on occasion. I guess I'm so used to equal temperament and modern instruments that it sounds odd.

[D]

What cities are the March Madness games being played in?

[rich]

Posted by: bubarooni | March 01, 2020 at 04:02 PM

did you end up with any spam or canned carrots? we can use those as the armageddon gauge.

[Extraneus]

As for touching the stylus at stores, the wife unit claims you can sign with a fingernail. I haven't tried it yet, but she usually doesn't lie like Biden and Reid.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
9m
“Who better than @RepRatcliffe, who got to the bottom of the FISAGATE & RUSSIAGATE HOAX. It makes a lot of sense to put John Ratcliffe in there (DNI).The Senate should quickly approve him. @DevinNunes MariaBartiromo
John will do a great job for the American people!

[bubarooni]

There was still LOTS of Spam left.

That was somewhat reassuring. It can't be that bad yet, right?

I was thankful.

[Extraneus]

Yeah, Jane. I miss reading her here. I don't do Facebook or Twitter, but if anyone's in contact with her please say hi for me.

[Narciso]

I agree with the commenter

https://babalublog.com/2020/03/01/rep-mario-diaz-balart-sets-the-record-straight-on-cuba-for-bernie-sanders-and-other-castro-dictatorship-fans/#comments

[mockmook]

Don't be so hard on yourself, peter.

I hereby award you a participation trophy even though you aren't capable of navigating a website ;-)

[MJW]

The seasonality of flu seems to me to be quite mysterious. The usual explanation is that people spend more time indoors, close together, in winter months. I'm a little skeptical of that, though. It's not like companies cancel work, and people live outdoors in the warmer months. I'd wager that all year long the vast majority of people spend most of their time indoors.

Another, similar, explanation is that kids are back in school. However, the flu season rapidly tails off well before most schools let out for summer vacation.

The Wikipedia article on the subject offers several other explanations, none of which seem to me to be entirely satisfactory. Maybe it's just a combinations of factors.

In any case, one perhaps hopeful note is that according to an article I read about cold viruses, corona-caused colds occur mostly around the winter months, so perhaps corona illness are also seasonal like influenza.

[lyle]

I find the period instruments with the scales in use at the time to be interesting on occasion. I guess I'm so used to equal temperament and modern instruments that it sounds odd.

Don’t you mean “modes,” DrJ?

[MissMarple2]

Hey Trump is this story true ::Trump traveling to Atlantic City his limbo down a man & his wife stopped the man help the driver put tire on Days later the man had his deed to his house sent to him paid off !! True Story

HE’S MY PRESIDENT #TornadoTrump ‼️‼️pic.twitter.com/qjg3sz3lam

— PlatinumTombstone (@PlatinumTombst1) January 8, 2020

Video at link.

[Jack Lillywhite]

DrJ

Ever been to St. Martin to hear live concerts?

Mrs JiB attended many concerts ther when we lived in London. We became friends with the organist, Nick Banks since was a contemporary of of her cousin who is/was a recognized classical and liturgical organist.

[KevlarKid]

dohnno if the story be true or not, MM. I first heard it in the double aughts.

[KevlarKid]

Melania Trump is a gift from God.

So is her taste in stilletto heels.