3.17.2020

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • The board:
  • A faithful reader directed me to this coronavirus site which has a great layout with reliable data. It even has a total aggregate graph. We are at the very beginning of the "curve's" upward trend.  
  • The only state to report zero cases of the coronavirus is West Virginia. That's right. That backwoods state in the heart of Appalachia and the home of The Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, no less, doesn't have a single case. Is there anyone in their right mind who thinks that's due to a mysterious state-wide great immune system instead of perhaps, just perhaps, a lack of testing? Let's see: 
    Yes, I'm burying the lede: "Chinese Virus." He always shows his true colors.
  • As in Dallas, can a county judge legally "shut down" private businesses across the board? No. And, practically, what can you do to them if they, and their customers, ignored the ban? The only real hammer the government has is at the state level with its liquor license authority. That's something a business would want to lose going forward.
  • What percentage of people in the U.S. have never heard of the coronavirus? 1%? 1/10th or 1%? There has to be someone. 
  • Something seems wrong with the announcement yesterday is compared to the visual of how it was presented.
  • At the risk of stating the obvious, hasn't this been the craziest past week we've ever seen? Go back to last Wednesday and try to predict what was about to happen. 
  • Clever.
  • I thought about this place this weekend. If there was ever a location to contract a virus, that seems like a pretty good place. Lots of people touching lots of things.
  • I wouldn't watch it, but I agree with this guy. And what if the movie producers try it? Heck, they could sell it at $20 a pop and might gross more than a theatrical release. Going forward, these strange times might change the way things have always been done
  • Side note: I can't begin to describe how long some of those escalators are. It's like you are traveling to the center of the Earth to get to the subway platform.
  • Of all things being closed or suspended, the postponing of primary elections (I'm looking at you, Ohio)  makes me very, very uncomfortable. 
  • And just like a movie, we are about to have weather befitting for an end-of-days feel. It'll begin in earnest later this evening.
  • I re-watched the 1995 film Outbreak this weekend. With the exception of the camera work of the virus spreading in the theater and going through the air ducts in the hospital (after which Dustin Hoffman shouts, "It's airborne!"), that is a horrible, horrible movie. The script is insult to all scripts. 
  • A good Black Mirror plot: In the future you can digitized your dreams and then go back and watch them. 

at 8:27 AM

3.16.2020

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Let's check the board. Remember when I started doing this 11 days ago and those bars way back then looked disturbing? It continues, and will continue, to get way worse.
  • Our current embracing of "social-distancing" will last, what, a week? Two weeks? 
  • The CDC recommended last night that we don't gather in groups of 50 or more.  Uh, did you see what our Federal Government caused by not thinking about the logistics of how they would screen international travelers on Saturday night?: 
    DFW Airport

    Chicago's O'Hare
  • Let's also check in on some far right wingers who still think the coronavirus is a Liberal Media Hoax. And make no mistake, there are a ton of Wise Countians out there who are right there with them. You know some of them.
    This from the over-meddled and Fox News multi-time guest, "Sheriff Clarke"
    He's yukking it up. He's Texas' own Mike Huckabee.

    This from the Oklahoma governor. He deleted it. 
  • Fox News is going to get people in their major demographic killed. I thought Hannity had come around, but he was at it again this weekend.
    From March 10th.

    From Saturday
  • So true. Video.
  • If the coronavirus doesn't kill us, the irony will.  (Stolen joke.)
  • When the Texas Governor declared a state emergency on Friday, that kicked in some criminal laws that no one knows about. Relevant to felony docket over-crowding is that every misdemeanor assault (i.e. simply causing pain to someone by making contact with them), now becomes a State Jail Felony.  Anyone want to place any bets on the number of domestic violence cases which are about to become felonies? 
  • Other than tweeting about Hillary's emails over the weekend (really), Trump also celebrated the Stock Market going up 2,000 points on Friday (ditto) despite the Dow being down 10.4% for the week. He either doesn't understand the big picture or wishes to mislead you. Take your pick.  (Breaking: The stock market just opened with the Dow dropping 2,250 points.)

  • I'm not going to let it go that the White House lied to you about Google on Friday. 
    • Trump said, "“Google is going to develop a website — it’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past — to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location." Google immediately said, by a tweet and through a spokesperson, that one of its sister companies had only been working on a "triage website" which was to be available to health care workers and was only going to be released to "pilot sites" in the San Francisco area.
    • Despite there not being any nationwide website immediately available to the public being developed by Google, The White House still had Dr. Deborah Birx display a cute graphic to show how the fake website would work for the public. ("They would move down this and be told where the drive-thru options would be for them to receive this test.")
    • After being blind-sided with the false website claim and then disputing it, the next day Google said, as expected, that that it was willing to help in anyway it could including its current triage website project. What company wouldn't? But how did Trump spin his blatant lie from Friday? 
    • Some jokes were made about the comparison of the image of Dr. Birx holding up the flowchart at the press conference to the character, Valery Legasov, in the HBO mini-series Chernobyl using a prop to explain how a national disaster had been allowed to happen. But you know what else Legasov did? He exposed how the government's lies during a crisis only makes things worse. 
  • No one will ever remember the Google lie, and I know I'm wasting my time. But people might remember this because Biden will run it on a loop until election day:
  • It's all fine. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold. 


at 8:32 AM

3.13.2020

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out Of Here







at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • I can summarize the current State of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Wise County with this: A picture from the toilet paper aisle at Brookshire's in Bridgeport taken yesterday afternoon by one of many correspondents. 
    Maybe those crazy Doomsday Preppers were right all along
  • On the national scale, this is a good summary of what went down yesterday. Yep, I'm watching MSNBC at 5:00 in the morning:
  • Edit: Austin just reported its first cases and the University of Texas just cancelled classes for today. (It was going to ride it out to get to spring break which would then be extended a week.)
  • Let's check the board. And, let me tell you something, these numbers are going to look microscopic compared to what we will see in a couple of weeks when the country with the Greatest Health Care System in the World finally gets off its arse and gets test kits to everyone who needs it. 
  • If you want to know why we are shutting down everything, below is a great graphic. The levels of the peaks might not be exact, and the line for health care capacity might not be precise, but the concept is 100% correct. 
  • You can't go three feet without hearing a rumor that we have have multiple cases in Wise County that have yet to be officially confirmed. Hey, there's no way it is not here. 
  • If every school is not shut down for at least next week, I'll be stunned. 
  • The district court in Wise County made an announcement that's important to lawyers who practice there and those who have upcoming court appearances.
  • Isn't it wild how the fake news Washington Post was on top of this 63 days ago? 
  • You want to know who is the most reluctant to shut down? The Texas Motor Speedway with their upcoming NASCAR race. That's their big money event. They may need it to simply survive. (But Eddie Gossage is losing his grip to hang on to it. For the race this weekend, NASCAR has banned fans from the Atlanta race.)
  • That picture was taken last week. Here's video at around the same time.  The guy in the glasses has tested positive for the coronavirus. Despite that, the White House says Trump has not undergone a test to determine if he has contracted the virus. Why not? That's mind-boggling. (Related: NPR reported yesterday that Trump has intentionally suppressed the number of tests available over the last few weeks because the results could/would hurt his election chances. Is there anyone who does not believe he would do that?)
  • And there it is! Early this morning he just blamed the CDC -- the same guys who have been standing side by side with him at every press conference trying to help him, support him, and make him understand. It's never his fault. Ever. And, dude, you've been president for three years! You've had time to fix any problem you saw. Blaming Obama as well won't save you now. 
  • He deleted it. He decided that suggesting a way for rich people to profit off of death was not be a good idea. 
  • No, this isn't a bailout. No one is being "given" money. But, man, the federal government will throw a trillion dollars around at a moment's notice. 
  • We might have a Heart Attack Pandemic of Fox News viewers after they saw this smokin' hot politician on their TV boxes last night.
  • Holy cow. Crazy Jerry Fallwell, Jr. is keeping Liberty University open to own the libs and went on Fox and Friends this morning saying the coronavirus was an intentional "gift" from North Korea. Video.
  • In news unrelated to the coronavirus, a Wichita Falls TV station has some info on Decatur PD that even I didn't know about:
  • Hey, did you know that the U.S. and Iraq have been launching bombs at each other over the last two days killing people on both sides?
  • Before there were DPS gun boats on the Rio Grande, they were doing this. I can't get enough of this picture. 
  • And in business news west of the Big Sandy, Bridgeport Building Center has been sold.
  • According to the Dallas Morning News today, Bridgeport has the lowest gas prices in the metroplex at $1.65 a gallon at three locations.



at 8:31 AM
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