Jun 082020
 


Harris&Ewing Protest: “Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage” 1916

 

New Zealand Has Eradicated Virus (AP)
800-Day Plan: Air New Zealand Warns Of More Job Cuts, Less Flights (R.)
China Stats Accurate, Lockdown Makes Little Difference – Nobel Winner (RT)
Coronavirus in Texas: Cases, Deaths and Tests (TT)
Guatemala President To Work Remotely After 18 Staff Get Coronavirus (R.)
US Bankruptcies Soar 48% In May (ZH)
Major Corporations Scramble To Support Black Lives Matter (JTN)
Minneapolis City Council Votes To Disband Police Force (AP)
Buffalo Police ERT Members Say Resignation Was Not In Solidarity (WKBW)
NYPD, City Hall Deny Police Brass Shake-Up (Pix11)
33 Russia Collusion Probe Witnesses The Senate Could Subpoena (Solomon)
Hillary: How Can Anybody With Beating Heart, Working Mind Support Trump? (Ind.)
Rep. Jordan: Not Surprising McCabe, Rosenstein Disagree
Out With the Old Blood (Mitteldorf)

 

 

Worldometer has global new cases for June 7 (midnight to midnight GMT+0) at + 113,090.

My count from about 6 am EDT to 6 am EDT is about + 108,198 cases. But it was Sunday yesterday, and Brazil ceased providing stats. Let’s see tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

New cases past 24 hours in:

• US + 18,905
• Brazil + 18,375 (first day gov’t stats are unavailable)
• Russia + 8,985
• India + 11,412
• Pakistan + 4,728
• Chile + 6,405

 

 

Cases 7,113,012 (+ 108,198 from yesterday’s 7,004,814)

Deaths 406,549 (+ 3,884 from yesterday’s 402,665)

 

 

 

From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close-:

 

 

From Worldometer:

 

 

From COVID19Info.live: Note: COVID19Info global cases and deaths are now higher than Worldometer’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course congrats are in order. But also for New Zealand things are far from solved, it’s an isolated place now.

New Zealand Has Eradicated Virus (AP)

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she was confident New Zealand has halted the spread of the coronavirus after the last known infected person in the country recovered. It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported, while 40,000 have been tested in that time. And Monday also marked the first time since late February that there have been no active cases. Ardern also announced the Cabinet had agreed to another phase of the country’s reopening, to take place at midnight. “We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort,” she said at a news conference.


“We almost certainly will see cases here again, and I do want to say again, we will almost certainly see cases here again, and that is not a sign that we have failed, it is a reality of this virus. But if and when that occurs we have to make sure and we are, that we are prepared.” She said her government’s focus will be on the country’s borders, where isolation and quarantine will continue. Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation of 5 million wipe out the disease. Its isolated location in the South Pacific gave it vital time to see how outbreaks spread in other countries, and Ardern acted decisively by imposing a strict lockdown early in the outbreak. Just over 1,500 people contracted the virus in New Zealand, including 22 who died.

https://twitter.com/farmgeek/status/1269804429693169664

And congrats for Thailand too:

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1269853178318577664

Read more …

Quite optimistic.

800-Day Plan: Air New Zealand Warns Of More Job Cuts, Less Flights (R.)

Air New Zealand will be nimbler, fly fewer passengers and routes, and may cut more jobs as it targets a return to “healthy profits” by 2022, its chief executive said as he navigates the airline through the coronavirus crisis. Greg Foran laid out an 800-day plan to customers and staff under which the national flag carrier will look at how to further cut labour costs, including leave without pay, reduced hours or possibly laying off more people. “We must first survive, then revive and finally thrive,” Foran said in an email to staff and customers, as he forecast revenue for the next financial year to more than halve from recent levels. Shares of the airline surged 11 per cent to NZ$1.82, its highest in almost three months.


Airlines have slashed thousands of jobs and set aside cash for impairments on aircraft as the coronavirus damaged demand amid global lockdowns. Even as countries re-open, profits may be threatened by people refraining from travel and lower fares due to discounts. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said last week that global airlines cut domestic fares by an average 23 per cent in May, and previously warned traffic would not return to pre-crisis levels until at least 2023. Foran envisions Air New Zealand will be 70 per cent of its pre-COVID-19 size by August 2022 and hinted at further layoffs as the second phase of a cost-cutting plan, to save around $NZ150 million began.

Read more …

Well, the richest ones, those that can afford to quarantine dozens of people.

Film-Makers Back To Work In New Zealand After Coronavirus (R.)

New Zealand’s capital has had an extra buzz of excitement over the past week since Hollywood director James Cameron and his crew flew in to film the much-anticipated sequel of the epic science-fiction film “Avatar”.The film is among a handful of productions kicking off in New Zealand as it begins to open up after containing the novel coronavirus, and looks to its film industry to give its battered economy a boost. New Zealand’s borders remain closed to foreigners but the government gave special permission for the 55 crew members working on the “Avatar” sequel to jet in on a chartered plane. “Certainly, the fact that we are able to start earlier than some countries is great, much as it’s distressing to see that the pandemic is still such a challenge around the world,” said Annabelle Sheehan, chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission.

New Zealand’s mountains, meadows and forests, made famous by “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, have drawn several major film productions over recent years. About 47 productions were underway when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern imposed a tough lockdown on March 26 to stop the spread of the coronavirus. It was a great success and the virus has been almost eliminated in New Zealand, which could be among the first countries in the world to return to normal this week, apart from the closed border. Avatar producer Jon Landau posted a picture of himself and director Cameron after landing last week and said they would self-isolate for 14 days in line with government rules.

“Your country has become a leader in how to deal with something like this, and I think films will want to come,” Landau told Radio New Zealand in an interview, referring to the coronavirus campaign. With people around the world cooped up at home, pressure is on film-makers and other content creators to make new material and get it out. But what’s holding them back is the lack of safe places to work, industry experts say. Now New Zealand is an option. “We’ve had a few international enquiries and that’s on the back of our COVID-free status,” said Gary Watkins, chief executive of Wellington-based Avalon Studios, which was used for the filming of the 2017 Scarlett Johansson starrer “Ghost in the Shell” and will also help with the new “Avatar”.

Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford defended the decision saying the border was only open to a few foreigners who were important for projects with significant economic value. New Zealand’s film industry is worth more than NZ$3 billion a year. A six-month international film can create an estimated 3,000 jobs. “You only need a few international people coming to trigger thousands of jobs,” said Sheehan. And New Zealand needs the jobs. The government expects hundreds of thousands to be lost because of the coronavirus.

Read more …

Some people just don’t care about credibility, and neither does the Nobel committee. What utter nonsense.

China Stats Accurate, Lockdown Makes Little Difference – Nobel Winner (RT)

Challenging the widespread belief that the worldwide anti-coronavirus lockdown has helped in slowing down the disease spread, Stanford Professor Michael Levitt said that it’s actually made very little difference. Speaking to RT’s Going Underground, Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist Levitt said that there was no reason to doubt China’s official coronavirus figures, since its statistics are corresponding with the dynamics observed elsewhere. “What happened in China outside of Hubei is exactly the same dynamics of the curve as what happened in New Zealand,” Levitt stated. “If China is forging statistics, they must have a time machine. And if they have the time machine, they would’ve beaten us in any competition anyway.”

The lockdown measures that have been implemented across many countries worldwide were actually not that effective, the scientist believes. The vast majority of the disease transmissions actually occurred before the lockdowns went into force – and in many countries the people were not that eager to abide by the rules, making the restrictions even more useless. Levitt believes that the best strategy for the government would have been focusing on protecting the elderly population and let others move freely.


“This virus really does seem to be limiting. It gets to about 500 to 1,000 fatalities per million people and then it stops. And this we’ve seen at so many places. I don’t think that Northern Italy practiced wonderful social distancing, I don’t think that social distancing was practiced wonderfully in New York City,” he said. What happened is that the virus is most infectious and most dangerous before you actually know it’s there. Sweden, for instance, which has been harshly criticized for its laissez-faire approach to the pandemic, remains within the European averages – and even falls behind the worst-hit nations, such as Belgium and the UK. “Sweden has had a much milder lockdown than anybody. The predicted number for Sweden was around 60,000 [deaths]. Sweden looks like it’s going to stop at 6,000 at the most,” Levitt said.

Read more …

This one is for the Automatic Earth’s resident physician Dr. John Day in Texas.

“74,978 Texans tested positive for the coronavirus as of June 7 — 1,425 more than the day before and 10,691 more than a week ago.”

Coronavirus in Texas: Cases, Deaths and Tests (TT)

Gov. Greg Abbott is looking at two specific metrics to justify his decision to restart the Texas economy — the positive test rate and hospitalization levels. Here’s how the numbers changed in the first two weeks of May when Texas began reopening. On March 4, DSHS reported Texas’ first positive case of the coronavirus, in Fort Bend County. The patient had recently traveled abroad. A month later on April 4, there were 6,110 cases in 151 counties. As of June 7, there are 74,978 cases in 235 counties. The Tribune is measuring both the number of cases in each county and the rate of cases per 1,000 residents.

The rate of cases per 1,000 residents is especially high in the panhandle’s Moore County, where infections are tied to a meatpacking plant. The rate of cases is also high in counties with state prisons such as Walker and Jones. In other rural areas where the presence of the virus has yet to be confirmed, testing has been scarce.

On April 6, the state started reporting the number of patients with positive tests who are hospitalized. It was 1,153 that day and 1,878 on June 7. This data does not account for people who are hospitalized but have not gotten a positive test. As of mid-April, concerns that Texas hospitals would be unable to accommodate a surge of COVID-19 patients seem to have been assuaged. As he makes decisions about how quickly to restart the Texas economy, Abbott says he is watching the number of hospitalizations and the hospitalization rate — the proportion of infected Texans who require hospitalization. [..] The first death linked to the coronavirus in Texas occurred March 16 in Matagorda County. As of June 7, 1,830 people who tested positive for the virus have died.

Daily infection rateGov. Greg Abbott said he is watching the state’s infection rate — the percentage of positive cases to tests conducted. The average daily infection rate is calculated by dividing the 7-day average of positive cases by the 7-day average of tests conducted. This shows how the situation has changed over time by de-emphasizing daily swings. Public health experts want the daily infection rate to remain below 6%.

Read more …

Makes you wonder how many are on his staff.

Guatemala President To Work Remotely After 18 Staff Get Coronavirus (R.)

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said on Sunday that 18 employees at his office and on his security detail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, so he will work remotely and the presidential offices will be disinfected. “I and the vice president will carry out our activities remotely. We’re healthy. We’ve been tested. We don’t have coronavirus,” Giammattei said in a televised address. The Central American country has registered 7,055 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 252 fatalities from the pandemic.

Read more …

“An estimated $7.4 billion in rent for April hasn’t been paid (May numbers have yet to be released), or about 45% of what’s owed..”

US Bankruptcies Soar 48% In May (ZH)

One month ago, when showing the uncanny correlation between defaults and the unemployment rates, we predicted that the number of Chapter 11 filings that is about to flood the US will be nothing short of biblical. All that was missing was a catalyst, one which according to Bloomberg arrived in late May as retail landlords started sending out thousands of default notices to tenants, who in turn experienced a collapse in foot traffic, sales and cash flow due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and were simply unable to pay their debt obligations. According to Bloomberg, restaurants, department stores, apparel merchants and specialty chains have been receiving notices from landlords – some of whom have gone as long as three months without receiving rent.

“The default letters from landlords are flying out the door,” said Andy Graiser, co-president of commercial real estate company, A&G Real Estate Partners. “It’s creating a real fear in the marketplace.” Pressure from default notices and follow-up actions like locking up stores or terminating leases was cited in the bankruptcies of Modell’s Sporting Goods and Stage Stores Inc. Many chains stopped paying rent after the pandemic shuttered most U.S. stores, gambling that they could hold on to some cash before landlords demanded payment. An estimated $7.4 billion in rent for April hasn’t been paid (May numbers have yet to be released), or about 45% of what’s owed, according to a recent analysis by CoStar Group, which also found that just a quarter of expected rent payments have been received by landlords.


“If the landlords don’t put a pause on their actions, you’re going to see more bankruptcies.” Last Thursday, these anecdotal reports were confirmed by the American Bankruptcy Institute which announced that as expected, corporate bankruptcies soared during May, pushing the number of filings to levels recorded in the wake of the 2007-09 recession. According to figures from legal-services firm Epiq Global, US bankruptcy courts recorded 722 businesses nationwide filing for chapter 11 protection last month, a yearly increase of 48% from 487 businesses in May of 2019. The surge was also seen on a month-over-month basis, which jumped by 28% from the 562 Chapter 11 filings in April.

Read more …

In the same way that they all paint themselves green.

Major Corporations Scramble To Support Black Lives Matter (JTN)

As protests and demonstrations against racism and police brutality drag on for another week across America, numerous corporations are scrambling to capitalize on the moment by donating to various Black Lives Matter organizations and allied causes, winning praise and sometimes sharp criticism for P.R. efforts that are by turns successfully deft and sometimes unfortunately clumsy. Corporations today appear to be keenly aware of the marketing benefits to striking that balance, which is likely why so many of them are hastily jumping on board with the current Black Lives Matter craze — some with success, others with more difficulty.

Uber Eats, the food delivery app of the rideshare company Uber, announced this week that black-owned businesses would have free delivery privileges on its system. Uber is suspending delivery fees for black-owned restaurants through the end of the year, the company said in a statement, and will also offer discounted rides to those who own and work at black-owned small businesses. Uber’s announcement was perfectly timed for both the political climate and the economic one: Most restaurants have been surviving on takeout alone over the last few months of coronavirus lockdowns, and owners are still depending heavily on takeaway business as reopenings progress slowly across the country.

Other companies have pledged substantial monetary donations for progressive and racially conscious causes. YouTube this week announced a $1 million donation “to address social injustice.” The company was not clear to what causes exactly it would be donating that money, the sum of which accounts for about 0.006% of the company’s yearly revenue of $15 billion. The clothing company Spanx, meanwhile — known for its undergarments that men and women wear to appear thinner — said in an Instagram post this week that it would be donating “$100,000 across national organizations focused on combating racial injustice: Black Lives Matter, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and The Minnesota Freedom Fund.”

[..] It is not immediately evident what it means exactly to donate to “Black Lives Matter,” a mostly loosely organized movement of disassociated activists and protesters across the country and the world. The campaign’s nominal central authority does accept donations, though it is not evident how those funds are dispensed. The companies Ganni, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Pretty Little Thing and others all pledged to donate to Black Lives Matter, among other causes.

Read more …

I sort of see why they would do it, I can even see a few ways that might make it work, but a lot more ways that won’t. And if the council president says: “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”, shouldn’t the council perhaps disband itself also?

Minneapolis City Council Votes To Disband Police Force (AP)

A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said Sunday they support disbanding the city’s police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd’s death. Nine of the council’s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park Sunday afternoon and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it. Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would “dismantle” the department. “It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” Lisa Bender, the council president, said. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.” Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and “to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.”


[..] Community activists have criticized the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change. The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week, and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints. A more complete remaking of the department is likely to unfold in coming months. Disbanding an entire department has happened before. In 2012, with crime rampant in Camden, New Jersey, the city disbanded its police department and replaced it with a new force that covered Camden County.

Read more …

“57 officers did *not* resign in solidarity with the officers who pushed over a 75-year-old causing brain injury. This turns out to be a lie from the police union.”

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen?”

Buffalo Police ERT Members Say Resignation Was Not In Solidarity (WKBW)

“It went bad. It went bad.” Two officers of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team spoke with 7 Eyewitness News under the condition their names not be used. The officers are part of the 57-person volunteer assignment team that resigned Friday, following an incident involving two of their members Thursday night in Niagara Square. They did not resign from the police department, only from their roles on the team. The officers we spoke with said the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association’s statement asserting all 57 officers resigned from ERT in a “show of support” with the two officers that were suspended without pay is not true.

“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer with whom we spoke. “We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another. A representative from the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association told 7 Eyewitness News Reporter Hannah Buehler the officers resigned in “disgust” with how the two officers were treated. “Some of them probably resigned because they support the officer,” said another officer with whom we spoke. “But, for many of us, that’s not true.”


“The City, DA Flynn, they’re not representing those guys at all. They have to find their own lawyers, they have to come out of pocket.” 7 Eyewitness News was not able to reach PBA president John Evans to confirm this information or get a response to several officers shooting down his assertions, but we did obtain an email sent to PBA members by Evans. It states, in part: “In light of this, in order to maintain the sound financial structure of the PBA it will be my opinion the PBA NOT to pay for any ERT or SWAT members legal defense related to these protests going forward. This Admin in conjunction with DA John Flynn and or JP Kennedy could put a serious dent in the PBA’s funds.”

Read more …

Things are going to change one way or another.

NYPD, City Hall Deny Police Brass Shake-Up (Pix11)

Text messages and Facebook posts went into overdrive Sunday in New York’s law enforcement community, with claims top leaders in the NYPD were either resigning or being asked to leave, with replacements ready to step in. “This is not true,” tweeted Freddi Goldstein, press secretary to Mayor Bill de Blasio. NYPD Deputy Commissioner Richard Esposito, over the phone, also said it wasn’t true. But we’re learning there are tensions behind the scenes about the specific fate of two police officers involved in confrontations with protesters in the last twelve days. Both of the cops were suspended without pay on Friday. One of them allegedly knocked down a female protester, Dounya Zayer, outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the early days of the George Floyd protests.

Zayer said she suffered seizures, as a result. Another cop was seen on video pulling down the mask of a male demonstrator and spraying the man’s face with pepper spray. Multiple sources said there’s anger among the rank and file—and among some of the NYPD brass—about the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office considering criminal charges against the two officers. When PIX11 called a spokesman for the Brooklyn DA’s office Sunday evening, we were told, “We’re investigating both of these cases. It’s not true both are going to be arrested imminently. It might happen in the future.” The NYPD has dealt with a lot of turmoil in the last two weeks. “This is all about pandering to anti-cop sentiment,” said a former NYPD Deputy Commissioner.


Multiple police officers have been under siege during the protests, trying to fend off looters, brick and bottle throwers and the burning of NYPD vehicles. Officer Yayon Jean Pierre was stabbed in the neck last week while working an anti-looting post, and two other cops were shot in the hand. Several other officers have been hit by cars, one of them hurt seriously. Sergeant’s Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins, said his phone was exploding with calls about behind-the-scenes clashes between the NYPD and City Hall. “The losers in this are not going to be the cops,” Mullins said. “It’s going to be the public.” Mullins said he didn’t believe the protests were continuing because of the NYPD. “I think it’s about overthrowing the presidency,” he said.

Read more …

Again: storm warning. The “left” will try and label it all political. But if that fails, where are they?

33 Russia Collusion Probe Witnesses The Senate Could Subpoena (Solomon)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, Wis., now has the authority to subpoena the agencies and individuals he wants to interrogate or to turn over documents. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham hopes to get his subpoena power this week. [..] The scope of the subpoenas suggests a far-reaching inquiry. For instance, the FBI will be asked to surrender “all records related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. This includes, but is not limited to, all records provided or made available to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice for its review that resulted in the report ‘Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation’; and all records related to requests to the General Services Administration (GSA) or Office of the Inspector General of GSA for presidential transition records from November 2016 through December 2017.”

The State Department will be asked to produce records of its contacts with Christopher Steele, the former MI6 operative who penned the unverified dossier that was used by the bureau as essential evidence in pursuing the case. And the DNI will be asked for all records related to the Obama administration’s unmasking of Trump campaign and transition figures in intelligence intercepts. The list of individuals that Johnson’s committee is seeking to question or seek documents from includes some familiar figures in the controversy, like fired FBI Director James Comey, ex-FBI Counsel James Baker, fired FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his paramour, the former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice, whose final email on the day she left office about President Obama’s dealings in the Russia probe has stoked great intrigue.


Senate investigators plan to delve into discrepancies in stories between Comey and Brennan over the intelligence community assessment that Russia tried to help Trump win the 2016 election and Comey and Clapper over who briefed President Obama in early January 2017 about a sensitive intercept of a conversation between incoming Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador to Washington. One of the most anticipated witnesses is Bill Priestap, the former FBI assistant director of counterintelligence, who supervised Strzok’s Russia investigation and interacted often with former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

Read more …

In other words: half the country are deplorables. Same issue, same question she asked in 2016. Never learned a single thing.

Hillary: How Can Anybody With Beating Heart, Working Mind Support Trump? (Ind.)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out about her 2016 presidential rival Donald Trump, calling his time in office a “failure” and questioning how anyone could continue to support him. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Ms Clinton lashed out at President Donald Trump, criticising his leadership and characterising him as uncaring and incompetent. “What has been so surprising to me is how he can barely make an effort to rise to the occasion. I truly don’t think he can get out of his own way. Everything always has to be about him,” Ms Clinton said. She said Mr Trump tried to ignore the coronavirus pandemic until he was forced to address it, after which she claims he tried to turn the pandemic response into a “daily rally.”

Regarding the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against police brutality and systemic racism in the US, Ms Clinton suggested she had initially hoped that Mr Trump was going to respond with empathy, but that it quickly became clear that wasn’t going to be the case. “He doesn’t have even the minor amount of empathy to fake it, to look like he is concerned, and he reverts to the belligerence and the threat-making and the photo-opping, all the tried and true tactics that feed his need for control and dominance and attention,” Ms Clinton said. Of Mr Trump’s “photo-opping,” his appearance at St John’s Church near the White House – and the tear gassing of protesters to clear the path for the president – has become one of the many flashpoints in the George Floyd protests.


“It was beyond my comprehension. We have never seen anything like this,” she said. “He is without shame. It is a mystery why anybody with a beating heart and a working mind still supports him.” She said that despite the fact that Mr Trump’s character was apparent during the election, even she wasn’t prepared for the degree to which the president would shuck norms. “So much of what we’re seeing now, sadly, was known about Trump and the kind of people who were loyal to him. But it turned out to be even worse than what I thought it would be,” she said. “Despite having my own front-row seat and being concerned about his character and behaviour, he has gone further and broken more norms and undermined our institutions more deeply than I thought would have been possible in such a short period of time.”

Read more …

Jordan hasn’t had the best of times either.

Rep. Jordan: Not Surprising McCabe, Rosenstein Disagree

It’s not surprising that former FBI Director Andrew McCabe and ex-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagree about the events surrounding the Russia probe, Rep. Jim Jordan said Thursday. “Somebody is not telling the truth because former FBI counsel Jim Baker told us when we deposed him last Congress, in the Judiciary Committee, that Rod Rosenstein was serious about wearing a wire and using the 25th Amendment to try to remove President [Donald] Trump from office,” the Ohio Republican told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “Somebody is not being square and I guess maybe when you are engaged in this kind of wrongdoing which happened at the upper levels of the FBI, maybe it’s tough to keep your story straight.”

McCabe on Wednesday accused Rosenstein of lying about ex-FBI Director James Comey’s memos about his meetings with Trump. Rosenstein testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that McCabe should have told him sooner about the Comey documents, reports Fox News. “Mr. Rosenstein’s claims to have been misled by me, or anyone from the FBI, regarding our concerns about President Trump and the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia are completely false,” McCabe said in a statement Wednesday. Rosenstein signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, named Bob Mueller as special counsel, and broadened the scope of the Russia investigation, Jordan pointed out.


“The guy who did all of that now says there wasn’t anything there,” said Jordan. “That’s what we have been saying for three years … yet Rosenstein names Bob Mueller as a special counsel and puts our country three years of what we went through. That’s why people are upset about this and that’s why we have got to get to the bottom of it all.”

Read more …

Intriguing. Made me think of Einstein love of simplicity.

Diluting the blood of mice with saline/albumin rejuvenates them.


Original paper: Rejuvenation of three germ layers tissues by exchanging old blood plasma with saline-albumin

Out With the Old Blood (Mitteldorf)

There is great promise in 2020 that we might be able to make our bodies young without having to explicitly repair molecular damage, but just by changing the signaling environment. Do we need to add signals that say “young” or remove signals that say “old”? Does infusion of biochemical signals from young blood plasma rejuvenate tissues of an old animal? Or are there dissolved signal proteins in old animals that must be removed? For a decade, Irena and Mike Conboy have been telling us removal of bad actors is more important. But just last month, Harold Katcher reported spectacular success by infusing a plasma fraction while taking away nothing. Then, last week, the Conboys came back with a demonstration of the rejuvenating power of simple dilution.


They simply replaced half of the blood plasma in 2-year-old mice with a saline solution containing 5% albumin. What is albumin? Blood plasma is chock full of dissolved proteins, about 10% by weight. About half of these are termed albumin. Albumin is the generic portion. It doesn’t change through the lifetime. It doesn’t carry information by itself. But albumin transports nutrients and minerals through the body. The Conboys took care to show that albumin has no rejuvenation power on its own, and had nothing to do with their experimental results. Rather, they had to replenish albumin in diluting blood, because the animals would be sickened if half their albumin were removed. Replacing the albumin in a transfusion is akin to replacing the volume of water or maintaining the salinity.

In preparation for this experiment, the Conboys have invested years in miniaturizing the technology for blood transfusions, so that mice can be subjected to the same procedures that are commonplace in human hospitals. The Conboy lab replaced 50% of mouse blood plasma. They got spectacular results with a single treatment, based on a lucky guess. They have not yet experimented with 30% or 70%. They don’t know yet how long the treatment will last and how long it needs to be repeated. As with previous papers from the Conboy lab, the group focused on repair and stem cell activity as evidence of a more youthful state. Three separate tissue samples were taken from liver, muscle, and brain. “Muscle repair was improved, fibrosis was attenuated, and inhibition of myogenic proliferation was switched to enhancement; liver adiposity and fibrosis were reduced; and hippocampal neurogenesis was increased.”

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 8 2020

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  • #59700

    Harris&Ewing Protest: “Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage” 1916   • New Zealand Has Eradicated Virus (AP) • 800-Day Plan: Air New Zealand
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 8 2020]

    #59701
    teri
    Participant

    Rosenstein, Comey, Trump, Obama, Clinton, Flynn, Page, Manafort…..dear God, it’s like reading an endless gossip column about the in-fighting amongst Marie Antoinette’s ladies-in-waiting.

    They’re all lying, they are all corrupt, the media just picks its side based on the political leanings of its editorial staff and then presents its lies about all of it, too. Who can possibly give a shit about any of it?

    Now, this sort of thing (below) bothers me, and seems important in the long run:

    Trump just signed an executive order using emergency powers to gut the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, waiving the requirement for environmental review for construction projects. 

    https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/501258-trump-signs-order-removing-environmental-review-for-major-projects

    #59702
    teri
    Participant

    By the way, thank you for explaining your intro to that article to me yesterday, Ilargi. I had not understood what you were saying at all. Your reply to my comment totally cleared it up for me.

    #59703
    zerosum
    Participant

    “They’re all lying”

    I’m not lying.
    I just cut and paste.

    The only lies that count/matter are from influencers, enablers, lawyers, accountants, politicians and elites

    #59704
    Mr. House
    Participant

    After our first weekend of being open since lockdown and some random conversations in public, i am very worried about how some people are handling this. The anti trump people have turned the volume up to 11, and if you try and explain to them that things aren’t very different under trump then they were under obama they storm off like you just insulted their mother in the worst way imaginable. They’re frothing at the mouth, i guess to get rid of trump, but i doubt that’ll change anything. You can’t have a conversation with these people.

    #59709
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “The only truly systemic dynamic in their plight is the campaign by government, ongoing for more than fifty years, to uplift them with social programs, cash assistance, and affirmative action, plus monuments, prizes, and holidays, and very vocal public encouragement from “allies” in media, entertainment and sports. All this “help” only seems to make the problems worse.” — Kunstler

    Huh. Funny.

    Taleb still applying high math to garbage data. So how good are masks? According to what? Used how? Didn’t we already find that they reduce only like 80% even when well-used? So if you are infected in 5 minutes, you’re now infected in 40 minutes — almost no help at all in a workday. Yet no one’s sick at Publix and WalMart. That’s aside from official hospital use – you know, with “science,” before we began using them as buffalo rattle talismans – which said masks couldn’t be used much longer than 30 minutes before being saturated and useless. And the public is under no such conditions to clean, not touch, swap, nothing.

    So, if I can smell someone’s cologne instantly through a mask, how good are viruses, which are far smaller? Masks then do NOT work in NYC – AT ALL — but DO somehow work in Wyoming. They work in Red States but not Blue states. And they aren’t necessary in million man marches next to Governor Whitmer because: Magic! Reasons! And that’s according to medical professionals who three months ago said “No masks for any reasons; they’re a useless waste as the public can’t use them right.” …And you’re going to apply second-level math to this. AFTER we already have data that masks WERE used in NYC and did NOT work, disproving his math in a real world situation…For five months running , which are the headline numbers he himself is working from. IYI man, you’ve jumped the shark. …The shark on the moon. Next to Brian Williams.

    This is what happens when you live in your ego and never consult the planet outside you. What is that about “skin in the game”? God, I wish I could have made a $50,000 bet with him on this to sharpen his thought. But I made my own bets and won. In fact, I overestimated by a factor of four, just to be polite. So far, 100,000 with normal Flu being 75,000. Standard Flu season range, already posted CDC’s own numbers. But, facts: no one cares. Facts don’t give the feelz.

    Stanford Professor Michael Levitt said that [the lockdown] actually made very little difference.”

    As predicted. And that was because of the very high transmissibility. But uselessly and intentionally closing DID destroy the economy, the middle class, and cause delayed medical care and riots that will lead to a lot more deaths, maybe 10x more. So thanks for helping. You know, the “help” that makes all problems worse? Like 99% of the time? Please consult the planet outside of you. Please calibrate your antenna of “helping” vs not helping over time, as Kunstler suggests.

    “1,425 more [cases] than the day before”

    Which of course, and again and again and again and again means nothing. Does it mean they have more testing now? Did a single person become inconvenienced or die? Is the test still 50% accurate? I’m not saying nothing DID happen, but numbering the cases or tests means no more to me than the number of Texans who wore red today. Hospitals are empty. And because of it, they’re going bankrupt. The intentionally stopped economy is both demonstrably and statistically killing 10-fold more people now.

    I’m not just making this up to play advocate: U of Pittsburgh says even those testing positive have a noticeably smaller viral load now. The virus is going away with no help from anything. Because how would anything we’re doing both allow infection and also reduce the load? So the Test ≠ Test now. That is, a test in January would suggest a viral load and therefore pursuant sickness of 80, but now that positive test indicates a load and severity and possible sickness of 8?

    For science and math guys, the Queensboro Bridge Troll has better math and logic. It’s d—-d embarrassing. My terrible math shouldn’t be beating anyone’s. Engage brian, not confirmation. We’ve got a stack of mysteries on CV to solve, but they’re stuck to the narrative like a tongue to the flagpole instead.

    And this is on top of learning that some very large percentage appears to be immune. We don’t know the limits or numbers (young healthy care workers are still sick at higher rates) but perhaps +50% appear unable to get it?

    I assume it’s because they’re in large crowds and rioting. A certain cure. According to official health care professionals and governments, I kid you not. Literally rioting is safe and legal but Temple is still closed and Jews are arrested at funerals. You can protest in your Bodega, but not sell water to the 5,000 people outside. Solution? A NC racetrack said they were having a “Protest”, with high ticket sales. Who says it isn’t?

    This same logic that says “When in riots, disband the police”. We can’t prove that ISN’T a good idea since nobody in the history of earth has ever been dumb enough to try it. But it’s their city: do what you want with it. Just don’t ask for bailouts of your dumb ideas.

    So anyway, the hilarity was people coming home from said police hatred-and-disbanding protests, get jumped, then say “Stop being mean to me or else I’m going to cry daddy and call 911 on you..” So, the you want the police disbanded AND to make them your personal bully? Gotcha. Well, hope you all like 2A because without police you’re all going to carry a handgun every minute for the rest of your life, like back on the frontier. And that probably won’t be adequate, so plan on joining the local posse or gang, who will naturally feud with all the neighboring posses and gangs. …Maybe we’ll all learn why we have this system and people are jumping the walls to get IN to the United States, not out. It’s so bad and lawless everyone’s trying to come here. I’m all for it. Having to do some work with some risk instead of whining, complaining, and demanding daddy fix it while they eat cheetos would do them some good. But 500,000 innocents will die in the turmoil before they learn. Maybe that’s what it takes. That’s what Alexander Tytler says anyway.

    Same with the NY Times. I think it’s awesome they want to shut down all opinions and all speech, that they literally can no longer publish “news” and “opinions.” Now it’s not just cranks on the internet saying it, it’s clear to the whole nation who and what they are. As with protests, Mayors, plans, orders, and so on.

    Million man march in D.C., shut down all police, not only stood down the national guard, but evicted them from their hotel rooms. Demanded all pathways to the White House be made wide open, and Mayors and CNN top reporters supported rioting and killing of black business owners as the innocent “voice of the people.” Disbanded all law and order, supported the violence in all DNC cities nationwide. This is the best possible, for now we all, every American, knows. If they like that sort of thing and the results, great. If not, they have options and responses. The Federal system is running fantastic, as states or cites have authority within their districts to do as they wish, so long as we’re not being invaded. They can call for Federal support any time, day or night, the minute they want violence to stop. But they don’t, which is their prerogative and right.

    So who will the voters blame? They’ve sold what, 6 million guns this month? And since nobody on the right needed a 3rd Bursa, they are overwhelmingly leftist city-and-suburban voters buying their first. Suddenly supporting 1A, with protests, which are perfectly legal. Chris “no quarantine” Cuomo said, “Who says protests have to be peaceful?” Well, Christopher, quote: “the right of the people PEACEABLY to assemble…” Also supporting 2A, as they have the right to self-defense, not only for their person, but collectively. At this rate we’ll restore all 10 human rights, but I’m still waiting on #4. So…question: which way do Constitutionally-minded, armed and prepped citizens usually vote?

    Good luck. The less the government gets involved, the better it’s getting and the more ground we’ve recovered. In just 4 weeks they’ve done what all the years since Reagan couldn’t. Pelosi, Schumer, DeBlasio, Cuomo, Bowser, Lightfoot, Whitmer, CNN, NBC, I owe you my deepest gratitude. Are you sure you’re not on the payroll? Every breath is a poster child and campaign ad, just like “All of the architects of the Iraq War think Donald Trump is unfit.” Thanks! I’m just going to run that on loop for 5 months and go golfing.

    Like I said, you don’t get out of what we’ve done for nothing. However, compared to a civil war, it could hardly be better, a heavenly dream of peace and harmonious progress, kumbaya.

    #59710
    WES
    Participant

    Mr. House:

    What you are running into are these people’s need to “pretend to nothing know certain things” especially those that conflict with their beliefs.

    These people’s leaders then “pretend to not know certain things” that conflict with their political beliefs.

    We know from experience, for example, communism does not work. The reason communism doesn’t work is because there is nothing in it for the individual person. Each individual person is quite happy to let the other person do all the hard work.

    If you try to explain this to a communist, they will simply dismiss this out of hand because it conflicts with their beliefs. It is very important to a communist that they ” pretend to not know this”, so they can continue to believe in communism.

    A more recent example of this “pretend to not know certain things” is Michigan’s Dem governor banning the use by doctors of HCQ to treat Covid-19. She threatened to revoke the medical license of any Michigan doctor who proscribed HCQ to patients suffering from covid-19.

    Why did she do this? She did it because after President Trump mentioned HCQ, the Dems immediately attacked the President for saying the obvious. As a Dem politician, it was more important for her, to do anything that might hurt the President, than it was to help the people of Michigan. In order to do this, she had “to pretend not to know certain things”.

    #59711
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for the Texas map of cases and article, Ilargi. I’m honored, and also recovered after breakfast and a shower, having pushed the little Honda mower another 2.5 hours this morning, before it got above 95.
    The map shows minimal COVID in Lavaca Country, where I am right now, and Dewitt county, one block west, and low concentrations in Austin, where I work, and San Antonio, where my daughter works in the county hospital.
    We have been remarkably spared.
    I don’t like Governor Abbot, but he’s not stupid.
    He is monitoring the hospitalizations and case severity, and opening up the economy as much as the hospital vacancies will allow, here in the peak months of vitamin-D.
    “As of mid-April, concerns that Texas hospitals would be unable to accommodate a surge of COVID-19 patients seem to have been assuaged. As he makes decisions about how quickly to restart the Texas economy, Abbott says he is watching the number of hospitalizations and the hospitalization rate — the proportion of infected Texans who require hospitalization.”
    Resident Physician With Plenty Of Tomatoes Lately

    #59712
    John Day
    Participant

    McCabe and Rosenstein.
    Caged rats will chew the eyes out of a weakened rat.
    I’ve seen it when I did exercise physiology research and over exercised some rats.

    #59713
    Mr. House
    Participant

    @WES

    Very interesting idea. I think its even more simple then that, i’m a firm believer that High School never ends. The people that hate trump are doing it because its the cool thing to do. You should see all the online dating profiles that state if you voted for trump don’t bother trying to date me. I doubt most of these people have any grasp of politics or philosophy beyond what the TV tells them.

    #59714
    Mr. House
    Participant

    disclaimer: I didn’t vote for trump or clinton

    #59716
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Dr D pointed out some problems with the counting of Covid-19 cases. The number of deaths (looking at all causes) would probably give some better clues about what’s really going on.

    The latest numbers for the US show that the number of excess deaths (from all causes) during 2020 is a lot worse than the significant spike during the 2018 flu season.
    https://public.tableau.com/profile/dataviz8737#!/vizhome/COVID_excess_mort_withcauses_06022020/WeeklyExcessDeaths

    Breaking this down by cause of death (last updated 3 June) reveals that the overall weekly numbers of deaths for all categories, for all states combined, are now down to about “normal” levels, except for deaths caused by “Alzheimer disease and dementia.” Deaths attributed to “Respiratory diseases” are currently below 2015-2019 levels. Curious.
    https://public.tableau.com/profile/dataviz8737#!/vizhome/COVID_excess_mort_withcauses_06022020/LargeCauseofDeathGroups

    The data can be examined further at the CDC page on “Excess Deaths Associated with Covid-19.”. The category “other select causes” can be broken down to show that deaths attributed to diabetes were significantly higher in 2020 (and remain higher) than the 2015-2019 average.

    #59717
    John Day
    Participant

    Let me comment, as a medical doctor, who has seen a fair number of head injuries and even had a couple, that there is something very fishy about the claims that Martin Gugino the 75 year old protester from Albany (nor Buffalo) was injured at all.
    I AM NO FAN OF POLICE BRUTALITY! (I am being accused of that.)
    Watch the video:
    There is a modest shove to the chest, and Gugino takes 2-3 steps back, about 6 feet, before he falls, off-camera. When the camera pans onto him he is lying flat and still, holding his head off the ground, and holding his smartphone in his right hand, with good control, looking calm.
    He appears to be holding his head off the ground because he has so much thoracic kyphosis, raising his neck off the ground, that he cannot easily get his head to the ground. This is clearly a position-of-conscious choice he is maintaining, not the position of chance that somebody who just sustained a massive basilar skull fracture and had lost consciousness would be in.
    I do not see how he could fracture the base of the skull under his right ear without having something like a curb to hit. There is nothing at all like that.
    There is no sign of injury to his head on examination, yet something bloodlike is suddenly pouring out of his right ear as he lies there in his controlled position of choice, awake, deftly and gently holding his smartphone.
    These things do not go together medically.
    Somebody showed me a close-up of the right side of his head, where the elastic band goes around his ear, holding his mask on, with a little tube going from inside the mask into his ear. I looked it up, and the image is here, way down in the comments scroll. You may be able to enlarge it.
    Buffalo Officials Duped By Professional Antifa Provocateur – Arrest and Charge Two Police Officers – Righteous Police Team Stand Together and Walk Out…
    Martin Gugino was awake, alert, oriented and conversant in the hospital, immediately on admission. His lawyer asked for “privacy”, and I can find no further update on his condition at Erie County Medical Center. No further updates. Is he still there? What are his discharge diagnoses, if not?
    The police officers are not being supported, and they acted with good self-control, well within training. They are being charged for a public perception, not their actions. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/buffalo-police-officers-charged-shoving-elderly-protester-200607063709360.html
    This goes to hearing in late July. there will be “discovery” of facts and evidence, regarding any injuries.
    I predict that this goes away before that, but it is quite influential as propaganda in the meantime.

    #59718
    Arttua
    Participant

    “We know from experience, for example, communism does not work.” Wes, have you looked at what Cuba and Vietnam’s success story with covid is? Compare that to the “great” democracies of th US and UK.

    #59719
    zerosum
    Participant

    Nobody has a health system better than the USA, that why the USA was able to “flatten the curve”.
    Just look at the large numbers that the USA is handling. More that anyone else.

    From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close
    😉

    (“to pretend NOT to know certain things”.)

    #59720
    John Day
    Participant

    Half minute video of Martin Gugino advancing quickly to police, scanning 2 with his smartphone, being pushed in the chest, taking 3 big steps back out of video frame as he lowers his bottom, hitting his motorcycle helmet in left hand on the ground (audible), presumably to break his fall, lying with smartphone and helmet held in hands and head held up, while dark fluid immediately pours from his right ear.

    #59721
    John Day
    Participant

    http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/06/arrested.html
    I am grateful to Eleni for this very good John Helmer article about what is going on with Libya between all of the global power brokers and surrogate death pawns they pay and equip.
    IN LIBYA, TURKEY HASN’T WON YET; RUSSIA HASN’T LOST YET; THE US AND ITS PROTECTORATE OF GREECE, CYPRUS AND ISRAEL ARE LOSING EVERYTHING
    http://JOHNHELMER.NET/IN-LIBYA-TURKEY-HASNT-WON-YET-RUSSIA-HASNT-LOST-YET-THE-US-AND-ITS-PROTECTORATE-OF-GREECE-CYPRUS-AND-ISRAEL-ARE-LOSING-EVERYTHING/

    Yes, that knee-on-the-neck thing is an Israeli move, practiced daily on the rightful citizens of the land they stole, and whom they hold as prisoners and punching bags. Thanks Eleni.
    Israeli forces trained Minneapolis cops in brutal ‘restraint techniques’ at US conference
    At least 100 Minnesota police officers attended a 2012 conference hosted by Israel’s Chicago consulate, the second time such an event had been held. There, they learned the violent techniques used by Israeli forces as they terrorize the occupied Palestinian territories under the guise of security operations. The so-called counterterrorism training conference in Minneapolis was jointly hosted by the FBI…
    https://www.sott.net/article/435748-Israeli-forces-trained-Minneapolis-cops-in-brutal-restraint-techniques-at-US-conference

    #59722
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    I don’t know, John Day, I’ve fallen like that in the past and couldn’t prevent the back of my head from hitting the ground, before instinctively raising my head off the ground. A local news article from Buffalo today says the guy is still in the hospital.

    Protester injured in Niagara Square still hospitalized
    The 75-year-old man who was injured when shoved by Buffalo Police officers during a protest in Niagara Square last week is still in the hospital recovering.
    Updated: 4:31 PM EDT June 8, 2020

    https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/protester-injured-injured-in-niagara-square-still-hospitalized-buffalo-new-york/71-7a8c4179-8d88-4c99-88ae-86430bea468a

    #59723
    WES
    Participant

    Arttus:

    I have been in Cuba and my brother has been in Vietnam.

    Cuba Is a mess! The only part of Cuba that works is the tourism industry run by western hotel chains.

    Vietnam has a capitalistic economy and is doing much better than Cuba.

    I have also worked in Russia and Serbia back in the 1970s and 1980s.

    Russia was truly a nightmare! Russia didn’t function period! A total police state! KGB everywhere! I crossed swords with them more than once! Today communists are outlawed in Russia!

    Serbia allowed some private enterprises so was at least somewhat functional. There are no communist left in Serbia today!

    So, I know a few things about how communism doesn’t work! Seen it first hand!

    #59724
    WES
    Participant

    John Day:

    Interesting read on Libya.

    I worked in Morroco in the late 1970s and Jordan in early 1980s. My brother worked in Libya for Westinghouse back in the early 1980s.

    So much for living in the Sarhara Desert! That dam dust getting into everything! Bloody cold at night too! Then dam mud during the rainy season!

    Libya, even when left alone, is a mess for sure!

    If it wasn’t for the oil, nobody would go there!

    #59725
    Huskynut
    Participant

    Lovely screed Dr D.. amen to all of it.

    I visited my GP today for the first time in ages. Sat in the waiting room amidst the remnants of Covid fear-porn posters and the handwashing/distancing theatre. Was very relieved when it became apparent that despite compliance with the official theatre, my GP was a skeptical as I am. We agreed that Covid is primarily compressing a years worth of mortality in susceptible people into a shorter period. And that “eliminating the virus” was always an idiotic goal. So now NZ is going to remain isolated from the world forever? Or hold out for the second coming of a 100% effective vaccine? He observed that we’re unable to have any rational discussion because that must necessarily invoke the spectre of death which our societies and many (most?) individuals within them are simply unable to do.

    Yesterday I attended the funeral of work colleague (cancer, 59). He was incredibly talented and well-liked – huge IQ, humble demeanor and great interpersonal warmth. In a normal scenario his funeral would’ve packed out a large venue, and would’ve been a social outpouring that reflected his especially talented life. But under NZ’s Covid-2 restrictions the maximum gathering allowed was 100 people, so they family in their time of grief had to pick and choose a guest list of 100. The Level 2 restrictions were then dropped at 5pm yesterday, so he obviously timed his death poorly.
    Each and every one of the OTT cotton-wool interventions has a cost, not only to the economy, but to the social fabric and to the dignity of people within it. Yay NZ – eliminated the virus! *gag reflex*

    #59726
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    I’m still looking at excess deaths for clues about what’s really going on.. In today’s news, “Sweden records first week with no excess mortality since pandemic struck.” But “the deaths might still be revised up to show a slight excess mortality.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-mortality/sweden-records-first-week-with-no-excess-mortality-since-pandemic-struck-idUSKBN23F1WK

    Excess deaths for New Zealand are shown on the lower half of this page, in a graph titled “NZ death registrations by week (all causes).” It looks like the worst of the NZ excess death numbers (above the 5-year average) occurred before the lockdown began on March 25, but the weekly deaths during 2020 still didn’t extend past the 5-year range by much (if at all).

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/28/1181352/weekly-charts

    #59727
    Huskynut
    Participant

    Doc R – if you look closely at the excess deaths over the Feb/Mar period of 8 weeks there appears to be average of 100 excess deaths per week over that period. So, say 800-ish total, give or take.
    Given there were only 22 recorded deaths attributed to Covid in NZ *in total*, I suggest Dr D’s pithy remarks re the impossibility of inferring anything meaningful at all from these stats applies in spades.

    #59728
    Huskynut
    Participant

    “Some people just don’t care about credibility, and neither does the Nobel committee. What utter nonsense.”
    Ilargi – given the guy’s a Nodel Laureat, perhaps you could go further than your own highly confirmed and tripled-down on prejudices and state for us precisely the flaws you find in his modelling?

    #59729
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Huskynut, I’d say that the cause of death numbers can be gamed more easily than the excess death numbers. If NZ says there were only 22 deaths from Covid-19, but there were 800 excess deaths recorded during that period, then it could indicate some undercounting. But as I mentioned earlier, the NZ weekly deaths during 2020 still didn’t extend past the 5-year range by much (if at all), and seeing this can add some perspective to the situation. So I’m not ready to ditch all the stats.

    I hear you about the economic and social impacts of the lockdown. I can’t argue that it was worth it. I admit that I don’t know what approach would be best.

    #59730
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    So, if I can smell someone’s cologne instantly through a mask, how good are viruses, which are far smaller? Masks then do NOT work in NYC – AT ALL —

    I am not sure that this passes the smell test. As I understand it, the esters that make up most aromas in cologne are low molecular weight compounds that do not need to hitch a ride in a water droplet. It takes a few molecules to register a smell. In contrast, SARS-Cov-2 is transmitted primarily by droplets, with thousands or millions of viruses packed in a single droplet. There was some speculation that SARS-Cov-2 might be aerosolized, and it might be possible, but is certainly not the main route of transmission. For an infection to take place, dosage is important, and it is doubtful whether just a single virus particle can cause disease. In any event, it is common ground in the medical community that masks work best when work by the (asymptomatic) infected person to reduce the volume of droplet transmission in the immediate vicinity. Is there a single medical profession who will deny this?

    #59731
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    So now NZ is going to remain isolated from the world forever? Or hold out for the second coming of a 100% effective vaccine?

    Thjs strikes me as a false dichotomy. A third option could be to wait and see if the virus continues to weaken in its virulence even after the cold weather returns, and then reopen the border if that trend continues, which it may. A fourth option could be to reopen the border with other countries that successfully contain the spread. A fifth option could be to wait until there is more research on how to effectively treat symptoms (not talking about a vaccine or a cure, but just a better way to manage the disease). The point is that NZ now has choices that many other countries do not.

    #59735
    Huskynut
    Participant

    Boogaloo – thanks, your points are true and well observed.
    I would counter that elimination is not a prerequisite to any of those strategies, and that releasing the knee from the throat of the virus before it succumbed to elimination would have been essentially as effective, with lower social and economic cost. What NZ did wasn’t bad. It was just very, very expensive for the sake of reaching the remote end of the long tail.

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