Month: April 2020

Which Government ?

The other day I went to McDonald’s – the drive-thru, of course, because “the “government” says that all restaurants are closed, except for drive-thru customers (which government?). Because there was no line in the drive-through, when I got up to the pay window, I did not have my face mask in place, and so the teenage girl taking my money said, “Starting on May 1st ‘the government’ says that you have to wear a mask.” (“which government?”) I then politely asked her if that was the same mask that “the government” told me not to wear a few months ago, because “masks don”t work”?  . . . “Drive thru, please. Next  in line.”

Rumor has it that “the government” is going to loosen some of the social restrictions that they placed on us a few months back. Which government? The state government? The county government? The city government? Certainly, not the national government! 

Soon some of the less essential jobs will be okay. Essential, says who? By what authority or criteria is one job more essential than another? Who decided that my job is more essential than yours? . . . “the government,” of course. My neighbor is an assistant principal at a middle school. His job has been deemed essential by “the government,” even though none of the kids are going to school! Yes, that’s “the same government” that says the the children cannot go to the schools that our tax dollars pay for. Do us taxpayers get a refund from “the government” because the schools are not being used for the purpose for which they were built? 

Because that same neighbor’s really non-essential job has been deemed essential by “the government,” his kids get to go to daycare. Yes, it’s “the same government” that up until recently said that no children could go to daycare.

Recently I have been asking more and more, “Where does “the government” get the wherewithal to make all of these rules?” Is “the government” following some defined set of rules, or is “the government” merely making it up as it goes along? Err . . . “the government” is actually just making it up as it goes along!

Actually all of you realize that “the government” is only acting on our behalf, probably because you took “Civics/Government” at that same essential, nonessential middle school that is closed to students!

I was not aware of this problem until I read about it in the Wall Street Journal today., but it is a real problem . . . a real and a worldwide problem.
No, this has nothing to do with social isolation and the Wuhan virus. No, this has nothing to do with masks, gloves, or ultraviolet light. This is a problem that can potentially have significant, and perhaps long lasting effects on a lot of us. The good news with this issue is that we can help. All of us, irrespective of our political leanings can potentially do our part . . . all of us that is except teetotalers and children.

Are you ready? Sit down for this!

There is worldwide emergency concerning keg beer. Right now there is about 10 million gallons of beer going to waste – this beer is stuck in stadiums, concert halls, and restaurants. The cancellation of March Madness, and St. Patrick’s Day had a devastating effect on keg beer – roughly a million kegs of beer were abandoned in March alone. Keep in mind that this is a worldwide, and not just a U.S. problem. European soccer – cancelled! Olympics – cancelled. The opening of the Major League Baseball season – postponed.
Heavens to Murgetroid! – the beer industry may never recover as keg beer goes stale! Unless . . . unless, we the beer drinkers of America come to the rescue of the draft beer industry. The brewers need the kegs returned empty, so that they can then be gotten ready for that time when the spigots will again be open. For a variety of environmental concerns, this unseeded keg beer cannot just be poured down the drain or dumped into rivers . . . and this is where we come in . . . this unused beer must be drunk!

In the guise of rescuing the beer industry, helping small businesses, and at the same time getting exercise, may I suggest that we immediately begin dispensing draft beer at better than happy hour prices to walk up customers throughout the city. This would prevent many, many kegs of beer from going stale, and at the same time provide a lifeline to those businesses that are barely hanging on by a thread. I would chip-in and do my best. I would view it as my contribution to restarting the economy.

The individual repeated movement of the arm and shoulder would certainly count as exercise. The walking from home to the individual pubs would also count as exercise – certainly we could not condone drinking an almost unlimited amount of draft beer and then driving. For those who do not live within walking distance of a neighborhood pub, do not drive – better yet have a designated driver who would get an unlimited amount of soft drinks as long as his/her hand was stamped. This , of course, would be done with the proper social distancing, as tables and chairs could easily be set up in parking lots. 

I immediately propose that all adults help with this effort, and keep alive the chant . . . “There is nothing to fear, just drink beer!”

How many of you recall Laurel and Hardy? They were a comedy team back in silent films and then in movies till the mid-fifties. I enjoyed them but more important they were my dad’s favorites. He could watch the same episode multiple times, and enjoy it just as much or even more the second, third, or fourth time. Stan Laurel played the bumbling foil to the the pompous Oliver Hardy. Usually at least once during each film Hardy would somewhat caustically, although entirely expected, say to Laurel, “Well, this is another fine mess you’ve got us into!”

With this present coronavirus situation,  my initial comment to no one in particular is: “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!” Yes, I think that China is to blame. However, I am not here to throw any stones, but rather to try to focus on . . . “What’s next?” 

I firmly believe that if this were not an election year, we would not have dug ourselves into this deep deep hole. From the git-go the Democrats and the main-stream-media were out to get and trap the President, and they may have succeeded in causing an overly dramatic response when compared to the H1N1 Swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010 when President Obama had a worshiping media praising his every move. Be that as it may, as I pointed out earlier, I am not here to throw stones, but to try to figure out how to get out of this “fine mess.”

Last week, the President outlined that each state would be responsible for navigating itself out of these troubled waters. In every state there will be some sort of a relaxation of social distancing with each state setting their own time table for the speed at which progress is going to occur. Many states will be focused on what’s happening in adjacent states or in states with comparable populations. Unless there is a significant drop in the rate of new infections as the weather warms up, there will undoubtedly be setbacks, with the rate of new infections accelerating instead of decelerating. When this occurs, the decision that each individual state will have to make is either to press on or to retreat. In my opinion, the right decision will be to press on and call the raise, so to speak. Those states that fold to this increased pressure will have increasing social upheaval as the ordinary citizen will be “done!”

The second main problem that wii occur as these social isolation diktats are relaxed will involve letting people go back to work. When? How? Testing? Testing who? “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!” Someone who knows close to nothing, will think that some sort of testing will be necessary to try to figure out who will be allowed to return to work. Do you test for antibodies to the virus or do you test for the virus itself? If the antibody test is negative, meaning that the individual has not had the virus . . . then what? Back to work or wait until that individual gets sick, and then gets the antibody. A mess! If the test for the virus itself is positive then what? Two weeks of isolation? . . . even though that individual is asymptomatic and perhaps already back to work. If I were asymptomatic and working, I would not have any test done on myself, as all that can happen is bad! I do not think that the government can force anyone to have his blood tested, or if the result of that can can be publicized. “Another fine mess . . . !”

The third main problem involves schools. A lot of children without access to wi-fi will have lost basically a semester of school. Pass them all anyway? Did anybody think about this before closing all schools? At this date should we let all of the school children return to their school? If so when? Do the school children need a blood test? If so . . . dream on! Chaos! “Another fine mess . . .!”

All of this talk about testing assumes that whichever test is chosen will have no false positives and no false negatives. This is not a realistic assumption, and remember that the government, either federal or state, will be administering and tracking these tests – How do you spell snafu with capital letters? 

And finally, when all of this confusion settles out, what is going to happen next fall if the virus comes back and there is neither herd immunity nor a vaccine?

“Another fine mess . . . !”

My solution: 

In May each state can do whatever it wishes at whatever speed it wants in order to usher back normality. On June 1st back to work, no restrictions. Open everything. School will also start on June 1st. High schools, grade schools, and pre-schools – all full time. Both state sponsored colleges and private colleges are on their own, but are encouraged to get back to normal operations quickly. The school year which will start on June 1st will be extended to July 15 to make up for all the school lost during the shutdowns.

Will some people die as a result of the opening up of our economy? Yes, without question, but unless we act soon the disastrous effects on our economy might last for years. Does it matter if someone dies in June or July as opposed to next fall if the virus comes back? Many many people will die from drug addiction and alcoholism exacerbated or brought on by this disastrous economy, and suicides will go up considerably. Will we count these deaths as a result of the virus, or as results of our so-called cure? 

Why should the rest of the country pay for what has happened in  New York and New Jersey? Answer: They shouldn’t!

My buddy, Randy, related an interesting analogy to me today. Yes, of course we were at least six feet apart!

He reminded me that last year we were at the Del Mar Fair on the first day. After we approached the Super Tilt O Whirl, we read the warnings. The last line on the warning sheet said that your chance of dying on that ride was one in one-hundred (0.01). Did we go on that ride? . . . No way! When we went back the next day, some safety improvements to the ride had been made, and now the recalculated risk of death was now one in one-thousand (0.001), and we started to think about it. The next day the odds were one in ten-thousand (0.0001). We thought it over, and decided that these were good odds, and so we went on the ride that day and had fun like normal people do.

In retrospect we were certainly very conscientious and cautious and did not go on that particular ride until the odds were greatly in our favor . . . 1 in 10,000 are certainly very good odds. Agreed??

As of yesterday eighty-seven people in San Diego County (SDC) have died because of the Wuhan coronavirus. SDC has over three million people, and so therefore the risk of dying of the coronavirus here is 87/3,000,000 (0.00003). [Just for interest’s sake let’s say that the number of deaths from this virus was triple what it actually is . . . 261 instead of 87. If that were so, the risk of dying from the coronavirus would be 261/3,000,000 (0.00009)- still dramatically less than the risk of dying on the Super Tilt O’Whirl] In addition the median age of those succumbing to this virus in SDC is 80 years of age. If you were 80, I would not recommend that you go on the Super Tilt O’Whirl. Why? . . . because at age eighty that ride would be way too risky for you because of your other underlying conditions . . . heart disease, stroke, etc.

In other words if you are close to eighty do not ride the Super Tilt O’Whirl, and self quarantine yourself because you are at higher risk of dying of the coronavirus. For everyone else in SDC use good judgement. 

This seems to me like good old-fashioned common sense. 

Can someone please tell me why here in SDC we are not using common sense?

In Orange County they filled in outdoor skate parks with sand to try to make it unusable. . . . too risky! As of last week Orange County had 28 deaths from the Wuhan virus. For a population of almost 3,000,000 in the O.C., the risk of dying from this virus is 28/2,900,000 or 0.00001. 

From these calculated risks in either SDC or in the O.C., it seems to me that those in charge have lost all common sense!

During this Wuhan coronavirus turmoil, who gets to decide what the word, “essential” denotes? Does “essential” mean the same thing to a myriad of different people? If a head of a family makes his living selling suits and ties, is his job essential to him and his family? Hmmm! If he doesn’t work then his family doesn’t eat. Ergo his job is certainly pretty essential to him, and it is especially essential to his three kids! More and more it seems that the governors of states are the ones that think that they are the only ones who can make this determination. When asked about his diktat concerning the limitations on the rights of individuals . . . and whether they were in opposition to the Bill of Rights, the Governor of New Jersey shrugged off that question, and replied something to the effect that he did not think about that! “Hold on there, Gov! Are you telling me that you are possibly going against basic things which are guaranteed by our Founding Fathers? Are you in essence saying , as another politician flippantly said in 2008, “that’s above my pay grade!”? If you are purposely skirting freedoms spelled out in the Bill of Rights, isn’t that against the oath you took when you were sworn in? Attorney General William Barr recently commented there is no “pandemic exception” to the Constitution, but it seems to me that some governors are indeed using this pandemic to do whatever they want . . . the Constitution be damned!
These so called “social isolation” diktats are hurting the poor way way more than those who are financially better off. As best I can tell there is no good way for Joe Schmo to sell suits and ties from his kitchen, whereas all six of the neighboring adults in my cul-de-sac are working from home! Tell me again how this is fair.

I am positive that I will get some negative feedback concerning my opinion on California’s Governor Newsom deciding to give up to 150,000 illegals in California $500 as part of a coronavirus relief effort. Potentially this relief fund will cost the state $75 million of taxpayer money. At this point California is the only state to set aside money, specifically coronavirus related money for illegals. Although I would never ever pretend that I could speak for Governor Newsom, I would think that his line of reasoning might go something like this:

“These illegals live and work in our state and compromise about 10% of the local work force. They pay their fair-share of state and local taxes, and are not eligible for any of the federal money that will be distributed to legal federal taxpayers. We, in California, accept them as equals here in our state. How are they to survive when they are laid off and thus unemployed? $500 won’t go far, but hopefully it will sustain many for a month or so. We owe it to them.”

Now for the proverbial kick in the groin…I have to agree with the governor’s decision on this matter. California does not have to do this, but it is the humane thing to do. My beef with most illegals is not that they are here, as I could imagine myself doing the same thing if I found myself in a situation south of the border where I could not feed my family. My beef with illegals is that I do not want them to be legal citizens, and especially I do not want them voting. Let’s be perfectly clear on this matter. I do not support the concept of sanctuary cities or a sanctuary state, but with the Wuhan coronavirus, we are all in this together.

While fuming that Pelosi and her band of low-lifes are now going to investigate President Trump fo his economic response to the coronavirus, my response was that “they” are truly  TWANLOC . . . an interesting acronym that I had never seen before a few months ago. Initially I did not know the meaning of “TWANLOC ”even though it is listed in the World’s largest and most authoritative dictionary database of abbreviations and acronyms. However, I did not feel bad as there are a zillion acronyms in this database. My guess is that none of you are familiar with this acronym either, but after reading this piece, you will now be using it in conversation just as I now am, as once one gets this acronym in his/her vernacular, it is surprising how often it is apropos. 
“TWANLOC,” means “Those Who Are No Longer Our Countrymen.” 
I had written but not published the following piece initially months ago, and now much of what I wrote back then is now passé, as the Democrat debates are a piece of non-history that everyone has forgotten.

Back then I wrote:
“With the debates “they” were all trying to get to the left of the ram or the ewe who was next to them on the debate stage. When I heard some of the bizarre ideas that “they” were vocalizing, I was saying “TWANLOC” instead of WTF!Take for instance, “free health care for illegals.” Perhaps, a nice pie-in-the-sky idea, but maybe we should focus first on providing good and timely medical care for our veterans. Plus when you think about this in a rational way, does it make any sense to offer yet another carrot to attract even more illegals? “They” think that this makes sense because giving free medical care to illegals is going to solidify the illegal’s Democratic vote . . . oops, I forgot that they say that illegals don’t vote! TWANLOC!How about “Medicare for all as a replacement for private health insurance?” Again another poorly thought out pie-in-the-sky idea that would be impossible to implement. “They” refuse to consider that taking the private health insurance away from millions upon millions of Americans, and replacing it with Medicare for All, is an unworkable idea, especially in view of the fact that Medicare is scheduled to go bankrupt in the near future! TWANLOC!Next on the twinkle-toe’s list is “reparations for slavery.” Again, who are these yo-yos that come up these ideas? This one doesn’t even deserve  a discussion! TWANLOC!
Personally, I am done accepting the potpourri of liberal ideas that “they” insist is what is best for me because “they know best.” I want to use plastic bags and plastic straws since everyone who has looked into the ocean’s pollution with plastics realizes that the vast, vast, vast polluters are in Asia. Unfortunately “they” do not consider these actual facts. I do not want to have to ride my bike to work or to the gym for that matter, because “they” have decided that my driving a car is bad. I do not want to spend mucho dineros on an electric car, because “they” want to essentially eliminate hydrocarbon usage. I want water to be used for growing food in the Central Valley of California instead of sending millions of gallons into the ocean because of some shrimp that “they” think is more important than the lives of the farmers.Who are “they?” TWANLOC!And months back, we had Nancy Pelosi and her band of caterwauling Democrat-Never-Trumpers, bemoaning the fact that the President killed a terrorist who had been responsible for the killing of hundreds and hundreds of American military men and women. TWANLOC!! “

Now back to the present day. Remember that “they” basically haven’t changed. Now we have Pelosi and Schiff planning to investigate (err . . . attack) President Trump because he is trying to figure out a way to defeat the  Wuhan-virus, and at the same time trying to save our economy from the depression which is right outside our front door. To anyone who will listen, most of the Democrats are playing politics with this Wuhan-disaster, and thus they are truly “TWANLOC!”

Trump Derangement Syndrome is still out there, and according to those with TDS,  . . . coronavirus pandemic be damned, Trump will pay!

About a month ago, on March 10, to be exact I went to the monthly breakfast of my fellow retirees. As fate would have it, I happened to sit across from one of the uber liberals in the group. (Actually, not my choice, as I was sitting there before he came in!) It didn’t take long before he was haranguing, unprovoked, against President Trump. After a bit, I politely said, “in this kind of terrible coronavirus situation, all Americans should unite as we are all on the same team. Politics should not play a part.” He didn’t get that i was referring to him!
After he took perhaps a single breath and he started again with the same CNN-like diatribe. I then informed him that probably right at that very minute, President Trump was meeting in the Oval Office with the heads of various Health Plans on behalf of the American people. (At that meeting the President convinced them to have any coronavirus testing be free of charge, and to eliminate co-pays for any visits, possibly related the present pandemic.) My across the table “friend,” let’s call him John, was not about to listen to anything good that our President was doing. I again repeated that reasonable Americans shouldn’t allow politics to play any role in this kind of a disaster. He still didn’t understand that I was referring pointedly to him!

Certainly, you must think that with all that President Trump is doing during this crisis, there should not be any TDS out there now. No, no, no! They are still out there. In fact in my ultra-liberal local paper, another diatribe, disguised as an editorial, a venomous one at that, against our President. I wrote my expected letter to the editor, but there is little chance that it will be published as I expressed surprise at the nastiness of the editorial, and commented that “I thought that all Americans would be on the same side in this time of crisis!”

However it is apparent to me that John, my local newspaper, as well as the TDSers just don’t get it, as they are not on the same side as the rest of us Americans!

The headline in today’s local paper: 

Worldwide Death Toll From Virus Tops 100,000

The sub-headline read: 

County deaths rise to 44, with 65 new cases reported

(Keep in mind that these types of headlines sell newspapers.)

In the body of the article the actual present statistics on the Wuhan virus (Covid-19) in San Diego County were given as follows:

Positive Covid tests / total tests for Covid = 1693/23,353  = 7.2% (only 7.2% of   those tested actually had the virus)

Patients hospitalized / positive tests = 374/1693 = 22% (less than one in four with a positive test had to be hospitalized)

Patients transferred to I.C.U / hospitalized patients = 140/374 = 37% (only a little over one in three hospitalized patients were sick enough that they needed to be transferred to ICU)

Covid deaths/ I.C.U. Covid patients = 44/140 = 31% (assuming that most of those that die are already in ICUs, one in three of the sickest ICU patients do not leave the hospital)

In addition in the article it was stated that half of these deaths were seniors living in congregate facilities (housing in which each individual has private living quarters, but shares other facilities.)

I then looked up the following:

Population of San Diego County = 3,100,000

I then calculated the following:

Your present chance of dying of Covid-19 in 

      San Diego County = 44/3,100,000 = 0.0014% !

Would we in San Diego feel the same angst about the Wuhan virus if instead the headline read: 

“Your chance of dying from the coronavirus in San Diego County is only 0.0014%”

Or what if the headline read: 

“If you do not live in a congregate facility, your chance of dying from Covid-19    in San Diego is 0.0007%”

(Keep in mind that these types of headlines do not sell papers!)

If I were now laid off and now unemployed and read either of the latter two headlines as well as the above statistics, I would probably say, “Are we overreacting?”

Hmmm! I wonder!

My son is a good chess player. Believe it or not, I taught him how to play about thirty years ago. It took him about a year until he then beat me, and I haven’t beat him since. I suppose that I could fabricate a reason as to why he consistently beats me, but the bottom line is that he is able to recognize patterns and he can plan ahead. 

Right now I am reading Range by David Epstein, and in chapter 1, he is talking about Susan Polgar, a champion chess player, who at a very early age was practicing the end-game and some opening-traps. I guess that this means that in chess neither the end of the game nor the beginning of game just happen . . . often there is a plan. Imagine that – a plan!

Which leads me to the gist of this piece. What is the plan for getting us out of this coronavirus lock-down, shut-down, isolation mess in which we are presently mired in. Someone recently told me that he thought Gov. Newsom was doing a good job with this virus situation here in California. When I politely  asked, “How does he plan to get us out of this lockdown?”, he merely shrugged his shoulders. At present I think that it is pretty reasonable to say that those who have come up with these continue-to-isolate and stay-at-home plans have never played serious chess, because I am not seeing an ‘end-game’ plan. For them, I have a few simple questions: When are we going to be able to walk in our neighborhood parks? When are surfers going to be able to go back in the ocean? (BTW, I have never seen a dedicated surfer within six feet of another surfer!) When am I going to be able to go outside without wearing a face-mask? – a mask that were told was of no benefit up to a few weeks ago. When am I actually going to be able to go to a restaurant or a movie, or to my gym? Church . . . when? I could go on and on, but you get the idea. 

Is there a plan? If so, what is the plan? Is there an end-game plan?

The one big obvious problem here is whenever someone, whoever that may be, decides to back off on these semi-totalitarian dictums, the number of cases is going to go up. You can take that to the bank! . . . err, the banks aren’t open, so maybe you can take it to the ATM . . . that is, if you wear gloves!

Be that as it may . . . The number of cases is going to go up! Then what?

The best analogy I can think of is the baseball player standing in the batter’s box and the pitch appears to be coming directly at him. Is it a curve? Will it go back to where it should go, over the plate. Does the batter have the kahunas to stand in there and wait for the ball to curve over the plate? Imagine that this batter is the person deciding what to do when the number of cases start to go back up. Will he stand firm or will he bail, and reinstate the stay-at-home, etcetera policies? In other words does he have and will he stick to an end-game strategy?