Elon Musk and the Breath of Life

Friends, don't miss my latest article, which examines the role of Elon Musk and Tesla -- which has been essentially unhelpful -- in New York's pandemic response.  It bears repeating that we live in a state where taxes are very high...but government services are often poor.  Often, the reason is corruption and cronyism, and Musk, sadly, is a key beneficiary.

https://artvoice.com/2020/04/08/elon-musk-and-the-missing-ventilators/

 And here's another great analysis of those exceptional Swedes and their refusal to lock down.  It sure looks like their death rates are more exemplary than they are cautionary:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-response-sweden-avoids-isolation-economic-ruin/?fbclid=IwAR2Iw_xgas2E1N1z1yjBu1VsHzduv86T9wt2Qzfee1lbOVPLmJkwCDDhZ2M

This Just In: The New York Times Admits that Cuomo and DeBlasio Dropped the Ball

Friends, you have to hand it to the Times.  These days it's easy for lefties to blame Trump for everything.  A lot of liberals are also too busy drooling over the suavity of Andrew Cuomo's press conferences to examine the competence of his leadership.  Nevertheless, the NYT has done some excellent investigative reporting here, and what they've uncovered is pretty arresting.  Many more people in the Empire State will die -- have died -- because Cuomo and DeBlasio dragged their feet in taking action to stem the pandemic.  To be fair, there's plenty of failure to go around, but the fact that the left-wing media would train any of its criticism on Democrats is, well, refreshing.  Well done, Gray Lady!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/delays-unheeded-warnings-hindered-yorks-121903015.html

Remembering the Iron Lady

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show focuses on a number of hot stories in the headlines, including: New York's contentious ventilator shortage, Gov. Cuomo's political future, and speculation that Southern Tier Congressman Tom Reed could run for Governor in 2022.  Brian and I also talk about the depressing trend that has normalized the exploitation of tragedies like the current pandemic.  Apparently, shame is obsolete!

Historically, Brian and I discuss the fruitful alliance (and close friendship) between President Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  We'll not see the likes of them in positions of leadership again, I'd guess!  We also talk about the secret to the Red Army's success on the Eastern Front, and the historic victory of the Army of the Republic of (South) Vietnam over the NVA and Viet Cong in 1972.  That victory proves, as nothing else could, that success was within our grasp in Vietnam...but unfortunately President Ford and Congress dropped the ball in 1975.  And that's a very nice way to put it!  A sports analogy frankly underrates the horrific consequences of our betrayal of the South Vietnamese people, not to mention the 60,000 Americans who died in Southeast Asia for what was, in my humble opinion, a just cause.

Tune in, if you please:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfP_mbXYXhg&feature=youtu.be

And here's some more pandemic context for you:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-czech/czechs-to-start-easing-restrictions-as-coronavirus-infections-slow-idUSKBN21O1IZ

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/poll-during-coronavirus-us-far-more-worried-about-personal-finances

And this is the closest thing that I have seen to an analysis of the excess mortality caused by COVID-19.  The balance of the evidence is that the death rate is indeed being negatively impacted by the disease, and to a considerable extent in Italy.  Since this data is a bit out-of-date, one can assume that the effect is increasing...although statistically in many countries the overall effect on mortality could still be described as modest, at the end of the day (less modest if you happen to be the one dying):

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lbsbusinessstrategyreview/2020/04/06/how-many-people-have-really-died-from-covid-19/#63b6767c67f7

Will the Kindergartners Show Us the Way?

Friends, grade-schoolers in Denmark are about to return to the classroom!  Can you imagine?  That's more evidence that those strong-willed Scandinavians are bucking the trend and either resisting the urge to shut down every aspect of modern life, or they are gradually reintroducing activities that were previously forbidden.  The Scandinavians aren't known for making rash decisions either, so the Left, which tends to idolize the Nordic nanny states, can't dismiss their unconventional COVID-19 strategies out of hand...  The key assumption that the Swedes and the Danes appear to be making is that rational people can be trusted to act in their own best interest, and in the best interest of society, by "social-distancing" and improving their hygiene for the duration of the pandemic.  Their view seems to be that shutting down everything is less effective than if everyone simply exercises common sense.  Are they right?  Scandinavia has just become the world's biggest laboratory.  We're about to find out.

https://www.thelocal.dk/20200406/denmark-to-reopen-schools-and-kindergartens-next-week

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweden-refused-implement-coronavirus-lockdown-121642208.html

The Missing Links

Friends, today I bring you a very interesting analysis of the pandemic conundrum.  Check it out:

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticles%2F904997%2Fcase-cautious-optimism-about-pandemic%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2qY9Gj1py1_0v1STROGizNg5mDwEbXr0ZgTaROXT7JR7kU-f9bbYVZpsA&h=AT2YCnLTZwBtRwxZ-WYCgbKMjTS1tfvRTSZp9x94xq5wKjqPYcRJYwRK6Qk9Z_N7LGRvLeogvtPgFnxBjJFlvir9ZiEg9gCfXHRrhhJIzrBwSLFl6JF-Jg4ePBWTxPpFrA

If the author is right, then many of our extreme measures in dealing with the coronavirus were, if not exactly unnecessary, at least disproportional to the risk that most people bear.  Along those lines, note the graph above, which clearly demonstrates that, if you want to people to live (rather than die), making them poor is a very bad way to go about it!  And make no mistake -- the effect many of these extreme measures will be a rise in poverty, unemployment, bankruptcy, and despair.

It strikes me that we're making enormous decisions about shutting down the country, and spending and borrowing vast sums of money, based on very incomplete data.  What will the excess mortality of this pandemic be?  That is, how many of its victims would have died anyway, and at roughly the same time?  How deadly is the disease, i.e. what is its true mortality rate?  And, to figure that out, we'd have to know how many people already have it -- and, months into the pandemic, we still haven't made much progress answering that simple question!

In the final analysis, the rosier analyses like the one above may turn out to be correct, or they may be incorrect, but the fact is that much of our pandemic strategy is just...a stab in the dark.  We deserve better than that.

The China Syndrome (Reconsidered)

Friends, we can be thankful that President Trump cut off travel to and from China as soon as he did (even though Democrats chided him for it).  Nonetheless, it's clear that his move came too late, and included too many loopholes, for the U.S. to be spared the pandemic.  In future, we're going to have to consider whether the ease of international travel, which has so many cultural and economic benefits, is worth the inherent epidemiological risks.  That's an especially vexing question when some other countries obfuscate when a new illness materializes (I'm looking at YOU, President Xi).

https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-china-us-flights-430000-people

In other news, there are indications that Italy and Spain may be past the peak of virus-related deaths.  That's extremely heartening.  Gov. Cuomo even thinks that NYC may be leveling off.  Let us hope and pray that he is right.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/spain-coronavirus-smallest-rate-increase-infections

Good News: Your Number May Be Up, But The Woodland Critters Are Thriving!

Friends, leave it to the tree-huggers and the warmed-over hippies: they've found a ray of sunshine in all the coronavirus gloom.  They see the massive industrial/economic contraction now gripping the planet as a net plus, which could accustom us to a more "sustainable" lifestyle going forward.  Some of them also look approvingly on the rigid countermeasures many governments are taking -- and the unthinking compliance of hundreds of millions of loyal citizens.  Could this unprecedented mobilization to fight a pandemic be a precedent for even greater sacrifices...to stave off climate change?  Keep your eye on the ball, conservatives, because you better believe the Left will squeeze every advantage out of this public health emergency that it can.

Thanks to the New York Daily News for hosting my latest tour de force!

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-no-virus-blessing-disguise-20200404-xhrraopynvdr7g6vwjypuag3sm-story.html

Giving the Commander-in-Chief the Finger is Patriotic Now

Friends, times they are a-changin'!  The Navy has removed the Captain of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt because he wrote a critical letter about the service's response to the coronavirus, which leaked to the press.  Biden has now jumped all over the case, coming to the Captain's defense.  Biden's motivation is clear enough: anyone who criticizes Trump MUST be a true American hero -- for, clearly, in this moment of national peril, there's no greater service one can perform than Trump-hatred.  The facts of the case do matter a little, though.  The key question is: was the letter written so that it could be leaked?  Did the Captain himself leak it?  If so, that's a breach of the chain of command that more than justifies his removal.  I don't prejudge the case, personally.  Biden does, however.  He scents presidential weakness, so he pounced.  That he may do permanent harm to the country -- by politicizing the armed services -- seems not to matter.  In fact, I'm seeing signs that the (borderline neurotic and almost always duplicitous) attacks on Trump's coronavirus leadership may be working.  Trump's poll numbers are wavering.  That's depressing, but not entirely surprising.  People are sheep.  If you repeat something often enough, they'll believe it...  Of course, we've got a long way to go before this virus is licked...and even longer to go before November.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-navy-biden/biden-trump-administration-showed-poor-judgment-in-removing-warship-commander-idUSKBN21L07Y

In other news, the Swedes just keep on truckin'.  Extraordinary.  Seems to me we ought to be asking the question: if lockdowns are so great, then why are the countries without them looking better in some metrics than many of the countries with them?  I'm not saying lockdowns are necessarily ill-advised, but they ought to be evidence-based.  I'm failing to see a lot of critical thinking in the application of these severe restrictions.  It's more like a mad rush to the exits...

https://spectator.us/lockdown-please-swedish/

The Grim Reeper DOES Discriminate

Friends, as we face this pandemic, it's important to keep things in perspective.  For the elderly, and especially for the chronically sick elderly, COVID-19 is a very dangerous virus.  For people who are young and healthy, it rarely is.  We have to ask the question, therefore: is quarantining EVERYONE the best way to handle the outbreak?  Theoretically, if the virus can't spread at all, we can beat it, sure.  If all we do is slow down the spread, however, we will be drawing out the pain and the death, and prolonging the recession/depression, but not necessarily sparing many lives in the final analysis.  The public health/economic calculus is tough!  I don't have all the answers.  Maybe you do?

https://www.foxnews.com/world/95-percent-of-european-coronavirus-victims-over-60-who-says

Nixon: The "Smoker's Choice"?

Friends, this week's Newsmaker Show covers so much ground that, in future, Brian and I might need to get pilot's licenses!  For instance, Brian and I naturally talk about the ongoing pandemic and the thorny question of how far governments should go to compel behavior that limits the spread of the virus.  We also discuss the recent firing of a hospital administrator in Buffalo who advocated (tongue in cheek?) the death by coronavirus of all Trump supporters.

Our conversation about This Day in History ties in with current events when we turn to President Nixon's 1970 decision to sign legislation to ban tv and radio ads for tobacco products.  Some irony there, because Nixon was a major pipe smoker.  Now, New York State is moving to ban all cigarette sales for six weeks as an anti-corona measure.  Smokers are incandescent with rage!  In addition, Brian and I look at the founding of the RAF in 1918, the U.S. attack on Okinawa in 1945, and Hitler's treason trial in 1924.

Much food for thought!  (But zero nicotine content.)  Tune in today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbtJEt64iGc&feature=youtu.be