Linkee-poo Saturday

Amidst all the COVID-19, I'm now working from home. Which for the work I do and how we do it, is a total PIA (just set up the VPN already). Anyway, the alligators are getting wonky. Lots of them have gone into hiding, but a few of them are still causing trouble (which feels rather odd given the circumstances). But with many places being closed and expecting Gov. DeWine to issue an order like PA and CA, it's getting a little scary on the home front. Add to the fun is the current state of musical chairs at the hospital which is opening some positions and I'm not sure if I should make the final jump. This is, after all, why I did the reboot (retrain as a radiological technologist). If I choose correctly it might mean saving my little family (spouse and I), but might mean we live a whole different life (and things here on the blog may change) and adjust to lower income levels. If I chose poorly it means watching most of what I've built over 3 decades get washed away and seriously screwing the pooch. Rock meet hard-place. Congress isn't working on a plan to save me.

Kenny Rogers, and so it goes.

"Fears of a second wave of infections are growing just as China brings its epidemic under control, with the spread of the virus in Europe and North America spurring a rush homewards by Chinese expatriates, many of them students."

"'Hello. According to an epidemiological investigation,' it began, addressing each recipient by name. 'You were near someone sick with the coronavirus. You must immediately isolate at home [14 days] to protect your relatives and the public. ... This information will be used only for this purpose and will be erased when no longer needed. Sincerely, public health services.'" Big Brother sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake.

The lovely reporting. "The CDC reported a flaw in its coronavirus test kits to the FDA on February 10, but it took another 16 days for the agency to notify state labs of the solution… The faulty component, which caused most state labs to receive inconclusive results, was never essential to the test's function." And from the same outlet, "In particular, some of the CDC's tests wrongly detected the new coronavirus in laboratory-grade water. The email, sent from a CDC official to state public-health-lab officials, said some labs found 'sporadic reactivity in the negative control of one of the three assay components.'" Now, these stories aren't mutually exclusive, but you'd think Business Insider could get them all together.

"It's unclear whether people who recover from COVID-19 will be immune to reinfection from the coronavirus and, if so, how long that immunity will last." However so far the best treatment is plasma donated from people who have recovered. "After infection with one of these viruses, (Ann Falsey of the University of Rochester Medical Center) says, antibodies are produced but then the levels slowly decline and people become susceptible again… 'If the natural infection doesn't do very well in giving you immunity, what is going to happen with the vaccine?' says (Stanley Perlman of the University of Iowa). 'How are we going to make sure that that vaccine not only induces a response that works for the next six months, but two to three years?'"

"In a clash of gut instinct versus science, President Donald Trump and the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, publicly sparred over whether a malaria drug would work to treat people with coronavirus disease."

"The chairman of the Riley County Commissioners suggested this week that the global coronavirus pandemic is not a problem locally because unlike in Italy, there are not a lot of Chinese people living in central Kansas, according to two other officials who attended the meeting Wednesday night… Before we go any further, the scientific term for this kind of xenophobic falsehood is bunkum." Elect stupid people, get a stupid government. Guess what party he belongs to. Aw, it's no fun unless you guess. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

"After six years of developing a new passenger spacecraft for NASA, SpaceX is finally on track to launch its very first crew to the International Space Station in mid-to-late May — but uncertainty surrounds the flight as the novel coronavirus pandemic worsens in the US. On Wednesday, NASA put out a call for press to cover the mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, but if current restrictions remain in place over the next couple of months, changes will likely need to be made as the mission proceeds." Waits for this, "we're going ahead with it because this is what America needs" presser.

"The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 913 points, leaving the index 2.8% lower than when President Trump took office. Friday's drop culminated a staggering week of losses as the coronavirus impact took an economic toll." Now that we've broken the psychological floor of 20,000, who knows where it will land. My guess is somewhere around 15,000, but I am not an investment advisor (although I play one in blogs and on twitter), I've have been wildly wrong before, you should discuss with your own blah blah blah. And again I'll note that if you still have a job that offers a 401(k) (or similar), you should check your own finances to see if you can, but you should be maxed out for your contributions for the next 6 months IMHO. Buy low, sell high.

"According to a Saturday morning report from Politico, a senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has now been implicated in the growing scandal of lawmakers who made suspicious stock market trades just as the government was becoming aware of the growing threat of the coronavirus pandemic." A lotta nuts are going to fall from this tree, and as an aid, this one might be prosecuted (even though the numbers for him are small in comparison). But just remember, it's actually not illegal for a federal congressman or senator to trade on insider information. The last time this was a big scandal, there was just enough outrage to have a bill written, but enough time passed that there was little heat to get it reconciled and signed. So nothing happened. Also, "Politico notes that Sloofman is not alone in falling under scrutiny with three more lawmakers, two Democrats and another Republican, also trading during the early days." I don't care if it was Nancy Pelosi, this time we should make it illegal and not just "unethical." (Grokked from Jim Wright)

Remember the "Bin Laden Determined to Strike America" memo they gave to GW in August of 2001? Yeah, hold that beer. "Citing US officials familiar with the agencies' reports and warnings, the Post reported that intelligence agencies depicted the nature and global spread of the virus and China's apparent downplaying of its severity, as well as the potential need for government measures to contain it -- while Trump opted to dismiss or simply not address their seriousness." Elect stupid people, get stupid government. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"President Trump has made a lot of promises about actions his administration is taking to fight the coronavirus pandemic… Not all of them have been exactly on the mark — and some have yet to pay off as advertised." The president lies? :: clutches pearls, faints on a conveniently nearby couch ::

"'We need to deliver relief now,' McConnell told the Senate on Friday. 'We need to go big. We need to minimize new complexity. And we need to move swiftly.'… Democrats, however, pointed out the CARES Act's tax breaks for businesses which would include the deferment of employer payroll tax payment for, at the maximum, two years… In her letter, Pelosi described McConnell's proposal as 'not at all pro-worker and [the proposal] puts corporations ahead of working people. As written, it is a non-starter.'" Wow, who could have seen that coming as the Republicans and the President conferred without including the democrats.

"House minority leader Kevin McCarthy complained Thursday that the decision by his homestate governor to institute a statewide shelter-in-place order was premature and made without input from other state leaders… 'We do think there was an ability to do this without shutting down the entire state,' McCarthy told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday. 'I hope he consulted with a lot of experts before he just made this decision.'" Fuck you, Kevin. Does Gov. Newsom often consult with you on matters of his government?

"(Peter) Alexander asked, 'What do you say to Americans who are scared?'… Trump, shaking his head, ripped into Alexander in response… 'I say that you are a terrible reporter,' Trump replied. 'That's what I say.'… The President proceeded to launch into an extended rant against Alexander, saying he asked a "nasty question" and assailing NBC and its parent company, Comcast." The question was a softball, lobbed to the president so he could knock it over the fences. This should have been a prepared answer. This is like asking a candidate why they're running for office… boom, open mic to lay out your case and speak from "the heart". Instead the president didn't whiff at the ball, he just tried to step right in front of the pitch and tripped on his untied shoelaces. Heckofa job, Donnie.

"North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Korea's military said on Saturday, after what analysts said was a show of confidence during the coronavirus pandemic by announcing an April legislature session."

"Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has decided against creating a super PAC that was expected to spend unlimited sums to take on President Trump and instead is transferring $18 million to the Democratic National Committee." Mikey is out (although hopefully he will continue to fund some operations). Maybe he needs to be visited by the Ghosts of Bernie Past, Present, and Future?