All Men Are Created Equal, Therefore...

From the video lecture "The Separation of Powers" of Introduction to the Constitution course from Hillsdale College. 

All men are created equal.

Therefore, they may be governed only with their consent.

Therefore, the majority will be sovereign.

Therefore, the majority will be the most dangerous thing. 

Where is the sovereign of USA in the government? It is outside of Government. It only gets to exercise its voice and power every 2 years. 

Proof We can have a Civil and Productive Conversation about Blacks in America

This is proof that we can have a civil and productive conversation about blacks in America. It is long. If you are willing to give the first 23 minutes a listen you will hear a selection of deep thinkers that are largely agreed on many points. 
https://youtu.be/pHGt733yw3g

I was willing to watch this video because of my previous experience with Bret Weinstein, Glen C. Loury, John McWhorter, and Coleman Hughes.

Glen Addresses these three questions at 25:42

Welfare - Racially defined welfare is a terrible idea. We must address the ability to generate welfare. It will sap us of dignity. 

Affirmative Action is a fraud 

Crime - So many black people breaking the law.  

Following are the bios of those on the round-table from the YouTube description.  

Glenn C. Loury is Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University. He holds the B.A. in Mathematics (Northwestern) and the Ph.D. in Economics (M.I.T). As an economic theorist he has published widely and lectured throughout the world on his research. He is also among America’s leading critics writing on racial inequality. He has been elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economics Association, as a member of the American Philosophical Society and of the U.S. Council on Foreign relations, and as a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

@GlennLoury on Twitter

After spending a year as a Bartley fellow at the Wall Street Journal, Chloé Valdary developed The Theory of Enchantment, an innovative framework for social emotional learning (SEL), character development, and interpersonal growth that uses pop culture as an educational tool in the classroom and beyond.  Chloé has trained around the world, including in South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, and Israel. Her clients have included high school and college students, government agencies, business teams, + many more. She has also lectured in universities across America, including Harvard and Georgetown. Her work has been covered in Psychology Today Magazine and her writings have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall St Journal.

@cvaldary on Twitter

Kmele Foster is a co-founder at Freethink and serves as a lead Producer. His projects have included shows about the intersection of culture and revolution ("Pop Revolution"), fractious political debates (“Crossing the Divide”), and world-changing innovation (“Challengers,” “ Super Human"). Kmele is a regular contributor to various national outlets and co-hosts a syndicated media commentary podcast, The Fifth Column. In addition to his work in media and commentary, Kmele has previously helmed ventures in the technology, communications, and consumer goods industries.

@kmele on Twitter

Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of Losing My Cool and Self-Portrait in Black and White. He is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor at the American Scholar and a 2019 New America Fellow. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, Harper’s and elsewhere, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. He has received support from Yaddo, MacDowell and The American Academy in Berlin. He lives in Paris with his wife and children.

@thomaschattwill on Twitter

John Wood Jr. is a national leader for Braver Angels, a former nominee for congress, former Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, musical artist and a noted writer and speaker on subjects including racial and political reconciliation.

@JohnRWoodJr on Twitter

John McWhorter is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, hosts the podcast Lexicon Valley, and is the author, most recently, of Words on the Move. 

@JohnHMcWhorter on Twitter 

Coleman Hughes is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal, where his writing focuses on race, public policy, and applied ethics. Coleman’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He has appeared on many podcasts, including The Rubin Report, Making Sense with Sam Harris, and The Glenn Show.

@coldxman on Twitter 

Voting and Healing

Update 2020-10-03 

The following pretty much mirrors my thoughts about Trump from a friend's FB Post.

I'm just going to come out and say it:  I don't like Trump as a person.  I have a visceral negative reaction to him.  He reminds me of the bullies I knew in elementary school and middle school when I was harassed relentlessly because I was a nerd and my mom was a teacher at the school.  I have seen video of Trump speaking at rallies, and he appears more charming and funny in that setting, but overall, no, I don't like Trump.  But I am still voting for him.  Logic tells me that I don't like most politicians, so I can't trust my visceral dislike of Trump.  At the end of the day, I like about half of Trump's policies, and I cannot find any policies that Biden supports that I like.   Trump is generally more free market oriented and more against foreign wars than Biden is. And of course he is more likely to appoint conservative judges to the federal courts.  The greatest threat to the United States right now -- by far -- is the radical left that Biden and the Democrats are encouraging to riot and loot, and Trump is opposed to the greatest threat to America and may actually do something about that threat.  So, yes, I will vote for Trump even though I don't like him.

--------------------
2020-08-26

I did not vote for Trump in 2016. It was the first time in my life I had not voted for the Republican nominee in the general Presidential election. For months I have concluded that having Trump would be better than Biden. Trump has been better than I expected for extracting or at least not worsening the wars around the world, for nominating judges that I am sure are better than what Hillary would have. 

I also believe that "Trump's egoism, narcissism, nativism, and all around contemptuousness is eroding the moral fabric of the conservative right" as said by Jeffrey Thayne. There is a part of me that thinks that Trump losing might be better in the long run for America. There is an equal part of me that disagrees with this. 

It comes down to whether I vote for someone I agree with, or do I compromise; bending farther than I have ever done to vote for someone that seems to currently have their personal ambitions aligned at least partly with myself. 

I also want to emphasize that whoever is elected is far less important than personal change in my own life, in my influence with my family, friends and community including voting for the school board, city council, and state government. And it is in that order. 

I hope that we all can be willing to have conversations with those we disagree in good faith. I hope for hope and healing and a firm resolution to do the right thing. 

The extended quote from Jeffrey Thayne:

"We are entering into an unusually contentious election year. 

Both major candidates have their sore spots. I believe that abortion is the silent, slow-burn holocaust of our generation, and so I cannot in good conscience support Biden and Kamala (who actively pursued and prosecuted pro-life activists with an ideological vengeance). I believe that Trump's egoism, narcissism, nativism, and all around contemptuousness is eroding the moral fabric of the conservative right, so I cannot in good conscience support him either.

In short, for many people, there are no good options. And that means, this election year, we must be especially generous with those who stack their political priorities a bit differently than we do. We must extend grace towards those who wade through the many shades of gray and come out the other side with different conclusions than we do.

Articulate your beliefs and principles, but this year, above all others, we need Peacemakers. This doesn't mean relinquishing our deeply held beliefs and convictions, or relaxing our values. But it does mean not letting the passion of our convictions overcome our humanity, nor letting our tribal grievances set our hearts at war with friends, neighbors, and family.

I worry about the contention that is souring the hearts of many, and it's only going to get worse. I've seen multiple friends, in various threads on social media, argue that God will hold us accountable for voting for the wrong candidate (Trump in some threads, Biden in others). That much may be true. But He will also hold us accountable for how we treat our friends and neighbors. And above all, our position will be most perilous if we stand before Him with a heart full of pride, believing ourselves morally superior to others because of our tribal banner-waving and virtue signalling.

Let us be both full of conviction and yet also humble and filled with the pure love of Christ. Let us not judge others for sinning differently than we do -- and for navigating a particularly confusing political landscape a little differently than we would."

Copied from my FB post. 

Americans Are Growing Less Willing To Beg for Permission To Make a Living

 I like this article "Americans Are Growing Less Willing To Beg for Permission To Make a Living"

Officials claim doing business is a revocable “privilege,” but many Americans see it as a right that they’ll exercise with or without licenses and permits.

J.D. Tuccille | 8.10.2020 8:00 AM, Reason.com

News Sources and Media Bias

I have a friend that likes this media bias chart. I am going to try using it as a guide. 

From https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Local Law Enforcement

From a FB Post of mine.

"We cannot give up liberty for security. Local law enforcement can and should be handling these situations in our cities but there is no place for federal troops or unidentified federal agents rounding people up at will." Rand Paul
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/3407406542645458  

"Reports: Camouflaged Feds Grabbing Vandals — And Protesters? — In Portland And Carting Them Off In Unmarked Vans" Allahpundit Posted at 11:21 am on July 17, 2020

It is a dangerous precedent to allow the federal government to police us. Local and state government should be policing us instead.

Talking Past Each Other

So often we talk past each other instead of listening wholly to what is shared.



I like the introduction to this video. It shows Mormon missionaries and an Evangelical talking to each other as if the other were mannequins. Taking time and effort to understand first brings great treasure.

https://youtu.be/DohZIzmpjVQ Cross posted from https://richalger.blogspot.com/2015/07/talking-past-each-other.html

Destructive Arguments or "Shiri's Scissor"

"Worth reading. TLDR: stop sharing political memes. It's rarely worth it, and it's generally tearing is apart. But, read." Jeffrey Thayne

From the article:
"When you realize that this meme is actually targeting conservatives *and* liberals, you also realize that the logical deficiency of the argument isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. It’s just another provocation... to squeeze out a few more interactions, a few more clicks, a few more shares. If you react to this meme with an angry rant, you’re still reacting to this meme. That means you’ve already lost, because you’ve given away your attention. "

(My FB Post that refers to "Hold Up Your Light", July 6, 2020 by Nathaniel)

Shiri's Scissor is from "Sort By Controversial" Posted On October 30, 2018 By Scott Alexander
https://web.archive.org/web/20181031212123/http://slatestarcodex.com/

“Scissor Statement.” A statement so controversial it was guaranteed to tear a social group apart.
from https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/facebook-is-shiris-scissor-e78413457d2c

From my reply to my FB Post

I wonder if Facebook is a "Shiri's Scissor". Are we inadvertently arguing because we disagree online? Facebook is designed for us to engage more. Because more engagement means more eyeballs for advertisers and more money for Facebook. See https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/facebook-is-shiris-scissor-e78413457d2c 

We need more civility among friends and acquaintances.  We need to ensure that we are not talking past each other.  We need more good will and good faith.
https://youtu.be/DohZIzmpjVQ

-

The above image is from https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/6ymuo3/a_study_found_that_on_twitter_the_left_and_right/

It seems like an accurate depiction of a divide in our country.

This post is from 2014. I think we are more polarized than we were 6 years ago.
http://allthingsgraphed.com/2014/10/09/visualizing-political-polarization/

When we use social media, we need to be aware that we are the product not the consumer. It is offered to us for free. The price we pay to use it is our attention, converted to money by advertisers. It seems reasonable to me that a "Shiri's Scissor" sort of result may be happening.

We certainly are more divided as a society over the last 12 years that I have been on Facebook.
Several, reputable looking results come up when I Google "does social media divide us?"
https://www.google.com/search?q=does+social+media+divide+us%3F&oq=does+social+media+divide+us%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57.11999j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

From https://allthingsgraphed.com/2014/10/09/visualizing-political-polarization/

Here is a comment I made on a post that can easily prompt people to talk past each other instead of listening to each other.

I see this sign as using a similar tactic that "Defund the Police" uses. It does not actually mean what it says. By your interpretation, the sign in the photo means "BY did nothing wrong by the standards of his time".
I get that this does not get the same sort of reaction that the picture does. I think we need to be careful to not post things like "Shiri's Scissor"

-

Year Four of Solar

2019 was our fourth year with solar panels. I have added up the bills from APS for 2016 and 2019. 2019 was cheaper by $25 annually. I think it is because we were trying supercooling our home in 2016. It ends up being more expensive. We keep our house cooler that we would if we did not have solar panels.

We have a 20 year lease for our solar panels. The return on investment would be better if we had bought.

Unemployment caused by Covid-19

Here is a chart that shows the unemployment that has been caused by Covid-19. The sooner we allow people to get back to work in measured, incremental ways, the sooner we can give these people opportunity to get new jobs.
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/jobless-claims

This one shows unemployment relative to the same statistic since 1967. To see the current stats click on Max on the graph at https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/jobless-claims

Handling the Novel Coronavirus

Update 2020-09-02

“Governments love pandemics. They love pandemics for the same reason they love war. Because it gives them the ability to impose controls on the population that the population would otherwise never accept. Their institutions and mechanisms are orchestrated, imposing obedience…the only thing a government needs to make people into slaves is fear.”  (Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Spoke to Hundreds of Thousands of People in Berlin Protest against “COVID scam”", 1 Sep 2020)

--

Data from "Weekly Number of Deaths by Age" at cdc.gov, image from my FB Post

See also "Tracking covid-19 excess deaths across countries" from economist.com 15 Jul 2020.

Update 2020-08-05

From a FB friend

I think the key point is that lockdowns don't work. There is absolutely no correlation between lockdowns and controlling the virus worldwide. Belgium has the most deaths per capita and also the harshest lockdown. The virus will get to people one way or another. The best way to control deaths is to isolate the elderly who are most at risk.

Update 2020-07-15

From "Why Sweden Succeeded in “Flattening the Curve” and New York Failed", July 15, 2020, Jon Miltimore, Foundation for Economic Education.

The reason New York failed and Sweden succeeded probably has relatively little to do with the fact that bars and restaurants were open in Sweden. Or that New York’s schools were closed while Sweden’s were open. As Weiss explains, the difference probably isn’t related to lockdowns at all. It probably has much more to do with the fact that New York failed to protect the most at-risk populations: the elderly and infirm.

-

Without Sweden and a few similar outliers, it would be far easier for central planners to say, Sure, lockdowns were harsh and destructive. But we had no choice.

Update 2020-06-09
I think the deaths per day will show some conclusive results in the next month or so.
http://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/arizona

https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/covid-19/dashboards/index.php

http://covid19.healthdata.org/

Update 2020-05-07

This is very important. From a FB Post of my friend Dima Korolev

I feel the urge to go on record and say that it pleases me dearly to see how Americans are reacting to the current events.
~ ~ ~
We may disagree on whether the lockdown is necessary.
We may disagree on how dangerous the virus is.
We may disagree whether it's essential to wait until we flatten some metrics and/or until we have some medications stocked up.
We may disagree whether particular orders are constitutional or no.
We may disagree whether the USA as the country was prepared well or terribly.
~ ~ ~
But, I believe, we must agree that people protesting the lockdown in the quantities that are so huge that even the most pro-stay-home media outlets have to give the credit due — that's the true American spirit that is to be cherished and preserved.
~ ~ ~
One of the largest, if not The Largest Lesson of the events of early 2020 is that in quite a few cultures people are surprisingly "comfortable" obeying the order as unprecedented as "stay home until further notice". 

Again, we may disagree whether those unwilling to follow those orders are the heroes or the traitors, and we may disagree on whether they are saving our lives and our economy or whether they are costing us lives and economy. 

To me these considerations are second-order. 

The first order consideration is that the people's natural reaction is to loudly resist the governments' attempt to slice and dice and herd us one way or another. 

We shall overcome and grow stronger "thanks to" these events. Other nations, who chickened out — well, I'm not so sure about it.

From my friend who is a doctor,

"At least 300 people have send me this "Plandemic" link, the the conspiracy documentary with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Judy Mikovits.  Please stop!
First, There are always two sides to the story.  This is apparently another one of her attempts to share her side.  I don't fault her for it. However, she is clearly lying during part of it. Her body language clearly demonstrates that not everything she is saying is truthful.
Second, the director has an apparent agenda as well (as an anti-vaxer) . . . and, to sell her book.
Third, she is disgruntled because her paper on vaccine risk got pulled and retracted from publication for bad science and shotty experimentation, but the documentary isn't clear about this at all and insinuates that she was arrested for writing the paper.
Fourth, they use a chiropractor's viral rant as a source of legitimacy.  And, they use other physician's comments out of context.
Who knows what the real reason is for her arrest, but to be absolutely frank, I don't really care.
So, please stop sending it to me."

From a FB Post of a friend.

Here is a partial list of the freedoms that have been violated by state, local and in some cases the federal government during the lockdown:
--Freedom to worship:  various governments have prevented people from going to church or even listening to sermons in their own cars.
--Freedom of assembly:  governments have sent the police to break up peaceful groups of people either assembling at parks or to protest.
--Freedom of movement:  governments have insisted that people stay under house arrest except for "essential" trips in which governments get to decide what is essential and what is not.
--Freedom of commerce:  governments have capriciously decided which businesses may open and which may not.
--Freedom to work:  people who want to work have been prevented from making a living.
--Freedom of the press:  articles that government officials deem unacceptable are suppressed for "misinformation."

Update 2020-05-06

Here is a refreshing thread speaking on standard deviations and such. I look forward to having more data.

"When the State prevents you from buying cucumber seeds because it's dangerous, but allows in person lottery ticket sales and When the State tells you it's dangerous to go golf or fish alone but they can get make up and hair done for 5 TV appearances, it's not about your health." -  Kevin Sorbo
https://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/actor-kevin-sorbo-wake-people-when-state-does-these-things-its-not-about-your?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cns&utm_campaign=b-SorboWakeUpPeopleItsNotAboutYourHealthWhen

Common sense from a doctor.
  - Flattening the curve does not change the area of the curve. We are just spreading out the cases over time to not overwhelm hospitals.
  - Vaccines are not a magic wand. "The flu vaccine is usually 40% to 60% effective" https://www.insider.com/how-effective-is-the-flu-shot
'Doctor: "There's No Evidence to Keep People Inside and Lockdown Parks and Beaches"'. interview by Ben Shapiro https://youtu.be/t8kzTSVTxVQ

-

"Right now Medicare is determining that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital you get $13,000. If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator you get $39,000, three times as much. Nobody can tell me after 35 years in the world of medicine that sometimes those kinds of things impact on what we do." (US Hospitals Getting Paid More to Label Cause of Death as ‘Coronavirus’ by Wayne Dupree, Global Research, May 02, 2020, https://www.globalresearch.ca/hospitals-getting-paid-more-label-cause-death-coronavirus/5709720)

-



Update 2020-05-02

"This has gotten to where people are divided"

I liked that the host here voiced the concern that we cannot just stay locked down. We do have significant cost benefit analysis to do. One one side, we should not unduly put those at risk that are elderly and/or in densely populated areas. On the other hand, we should not cause an undue depression worse that what happened after 1929. Somewhere in the middle will be the best policy.
"Elon Musk's calls to end lockdown reflect a 'growing sentiment' in the U.S.: Dr. Scott Gottlieb"
https://youtu.be/4qsQn716YFk?t=257

“I would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights ... breaking people's freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America,” Musk said during a public call with analysts and investors after reporting first-quarter earnings results Wednesday afternoon, adding an expletive. “It will cause great harm, not just to Tesla, but to any company. And while Tesla will weather the storm, there are many small companies that will not.” 

“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that's great,” Musk added. “They should be allowed to stay in the house, and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom.”
("Tesla CEO Elon Musk lambasts 'fascist' coronavirus stay-in-place orders" Yahoo! Money, 29 Apr 2020, https://money.yahoo.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-lambasts-fascist-coronavirus-stayinplace-orders-000243948.html, https://youtu.be/LXFoZfFTzro, FB Video https://www.facebook.com/richalger/posts/10221131341300873?comment_id=10221131447743534 ) 

-

"Dave Rubin and Ben Shapiro Discuss COVID-19 Lockdowns and Big Tech Censorship" https://youtu.be/1npyj792w_c
Particularly interesting is Ben's questions to Dave about his transition from the left to a classic liberal or libertarian. How the left treated him as a gay, married man and how they treat him now. Also how those on the "right" treat him.

My response to a FB friend.

It seems clear that we have over reacted to Covid-19. I am pretty sure that if we had the data then that we do now, that we would not shut-down economies all over the world to the extent that we have. 

It certainly is a concern for certain segments of societies and in densely populated areas. That is the benefit of a federal, state and local system. Let the most local government's decide what is best in each locale. 

You seem to be focusing on the worst parts of the health crisis and not saying much about the economic crisis. Both are important. 

In my comment, I mentioned the extremes on a spectrum of possible public policies. Somewhere in the middle is the best policy. The fact that choosing that is not immediately evidence to policy maker is not excuse to move forward. 

The pendulum is easily on the side of panic from the pandemic. Certainly we have been taken measures that are historically unprecedented to protect our collective health and lives. There is a cost to this. It comes at the economic health and lives of those most at risk. Unemployment has spiked to incredible levels. If we do not adjust our policies to take in the data that we have gotten, we could easily pass the Great Depression in the consequences. 

Do you care more about the lives of those dying from Covid-19 than those that will die because charitable contributions to third world communities are dropping like a brick? Those that commit suicide? Those, whose families are put into poverty because their family businesses are gone and cannot reasonably be re-opened for a generation or two. 

It is time to re-open the economies in measured and incremental ways.

"Federal government says all COVID-19 testing, treatment will be free", Medical Economics, 13 Apr 2020, https://www.medicaleconomics.com/news/federal-government-says-all-covid-19-testing-treatment-will-be-free

Update 2020-04-30
The FB Post of Adam Nally.

There is NO science to prove that quarantine of the healthy prevents significantly greater numbers of disease.   literature searches do not demonstrate this is scientifically effective.  And, in fact, quarantine of the healthy for longer periods of time are psychologically and ethically inappropriate. (https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/163/5/479/61137) (https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2820%2930460-8)

Update 2020-04-15
"South Korea or Taiwan's model of battling against COVID-19 may not work in India or West as culture shapes largely battle against pandemic"
https://www.firstpost.com/india/south-korea-or-taiwans-model-of-battling-against-covid-19-may-not-work-in-india-or-west-as-culture-shapes-largely-battle-against-pandemic-8256151.html

“The city has added more than 3,700 additional people who were presumed to have died of the coronavirus but had never tested positive.”
https://www.facebook.com/alisonmooresmith/posts/10224245316100954

Update 2020-04-12
What I wrote as a comment to a post a couple friends shared.

This certainly is a great time to reflect on what is important. Certainly businesses will try to sell us feeling better. Feeling sorry for ourselves does not seem like a solution either. We certainly do not save enough; are not generous enough; do not love our neighbor as we could. 

Getting back to work is a salve that many would love to do right now. We have to balance the risk of life from disease with the risk of life from businesses never coming back. From dreams being shattered.  

I do not see easy answers. We need data and we need to learn from what we have not done well so that we can react as South Korea and others did.

"Leadership Means Reopening America Now" by  Christian Whiton

Another comment to a friend.

I think that we can begin to take steps to return to economic normality. If we can determine who has had and likely will not contract Covid-19 again, we can let those people back to work.  

We need to balance two opposing needs: protect those vulnerable to Covid-19 and those vulnerable to a severe economic depression.  

We can do both, it will take leadership and data and agility to thread this needle. 

Video 'Trump: "We Built The Greatest Economy In The World, I'll Do It A Second Time"' by Ian Schwartz

Update 2020-04-04
I am hopeful that Antibody tests will be available and widely used soon. This will allow those who have had the virus and have successfully fought it to return to work without the risk of spreading it.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-antibody-test-20200403-i6wzmddt5zffpeqgk4xbwmkbmy-story.html


Following from 2020-03-24 or before
-----------
"Tracking the Spread of the
Coronavirus Outbreak in the U.S."
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-united-states-coronavirus-outbreak/
- 2,798 Confirmed cases in U.S.  59 Deaths in U.S.  As of March 14, 2020, 8:56 PM MST

"See How Coronavirus Compares To Other Pandemics Through History"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2020/03/16/see-how-coronavirus-compares-to-other-pandemics-through-history/amp/


From an interesting post of  Dima Korolev

"Okay, given my prediction about the US economy restart is taking place way before I expected, let me share more.
...
note how carefully was this idea of possibly re-starting the US economy sooner than expected thrown out to the public. It was first phrased as a weak hypothesis, by very few people with not much voice. People reacted positively, and this idea took shape. Ultimately, even though it took just a few days, there were several waves of testing its acceptance. And only when it was clear that the people are not going to unanimously "boo" over it, was it phrased on the top level, by the President, in the ever-persistent sixth-grade English
...
being able to gather people's opinion at scale, quickly, and then react to it, quickly, is actually a great thing. That's how democracy should work. Had we not had this large-scale highly sensitive and highly adaptive machine functioning so well in the US by today, this epidemic may well have ended with the US either losing to China, or turning itself into a totalitarian state. So, whether you like this informational noise or no, and whether it makes you anxious or no, let's just agree that, rationally speaking, what we are living through is democracy in action.
...
The United States is most certainly making a large bet when it comes to openly speaking up about restarting the economy so soon, pretty much in the middle of the pandemic.
You could call it a solid bet, or you could call it a reckless gamble. Haters gonna hate, and I've explained this in detail above.
But keep in mind that every single life-changing decision was looking reckless to the vast majority of the population when it was first voiced. And yet it's those decisions, cumulatively, that keep pushing the world forward.
I believe it's the system that is better at telling the right big decisions from the wrong big decisions that prevails. And I believe the US is acting out what such a system should look like today.
Regardless of whether the economy does or does not get restarted soon, by the way. It's down to the will of us, The People. Personally, however, I believe it's better to begin gradually re-opening businesses as opposed to keeping everyone and everything locked down, and, since I believe most people think the same, I still am comfortable betting on this."
(Full post is at
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2979227492136544&id=100001479685356)


https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/covid-19-coronavirus-infographic-datapack/
Data is at https://bit.ly/COVID19-DATA

There have been many urging us to take measures to flatten the curve (#flattenthecurve) of those getting infected so that our health care system has the capacity to take care of those who get sick.

"This 18 seconds is probably the best single piece of advice I’ve heard about the #coronavirus"

So most people have a fear of acquiring the virus. I think a good way of doing it is to imagine that you _do_ have the virus and change your behavior so that you're not transmitting it. Don't think about changing your behavior so that you won't get it. Think about changing your behavior so that you don't give it to somebody else. 

Graham Medley - Professor of Infectious Disease Modeling, London School of Hygience and Tropical Medicine.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1238475687830355970

https://www.facebook.com/richalger/posts/10220608993802512 

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/medley.graham

This resonates with me.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/03/02/doctor-paul-offit-coronavirus-pandemic-trump-response-aman.cnn

Matt Walsh says "I was wrong" about the Coronavirus
https://www.facebook.com/MattWalshBlog/posts/3125920074107748

"Wake Up Call: Yes, Young People Can Also Get Seriously Ill From Coronavirus"
Guy Benson
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2020/03/16/data-yes-young-people-can-also-get-seriously-ill-from-coronavirus-n2564977

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99caCoronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

From above article

In this theoretical model that resembles loosely Hubei, waiting one more day creates 40% more cases! So, maybe, if the Hubei authorities had declared the lockdown on 1/22 instead of 1/23, they might have reduced the number of cases by a staggering 20k. 

And remember, these are just cases. Mortality would be much higher, because not only would there be directly 40% more deaths. There would also be a much higher collapse of the healthcare system, leading to a mortality rate up to 10x higher as we saw before. So a one-day difference in social distancing measures can end exploding the number of deaths in your community by multiplying more cases and higher fatality rate. (Emphasis added)

From https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus



"Number of cumulative cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States from January 22 to March 13, 2020, by day"

Find more statistics at Statista
From https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103185/cumulative-coronavirus-covid19-cases-number-us-by-day/

"Number of cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States from January 11 to March 10, 2020, by day*"

Find more statistics at Statista
From https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102816/coronavirus-covid19-cases-number-us-americans-by-day/
"Supplementary notes
* Date of illness onset. Illnesses that began between March 4 and March 11 may not yet be reported. Does not include cases among persons repatriated to the United States from Wuhan, China and Japan; does not include U.S.-identified cases where the date of illness onset has not yet been reported."

Why did we not react the way we are today when the 2009 H1N1 pandemic happened? FB Post of a friend discussing it. My FB Post trying to find out.

"Global deaths: over 284,000; 12,469 in the United States; death rate was .02 percent"
Jan 2009 - Aug 2010
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-deadly-is-the-coronavirus-compared-to-past-outbreaks#2009-(H1N1)-flu-pandemic 

5,375 deaths so far for covid-19 in 3 months
compared to 284,000 deaths in 20 months for 2009 H1N1
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

If we take the average from Jan 2009 - Aug 2010, that is 20 months or 600 days. That makes it an average of 473 deaths per day.

Where can I find stats for the first 3-4 months for the 2009 H1N1?

Here is a source with data from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)
https://blog.datawrapper.de/weekly-chart-coronavirus-growth/

"Our focus should be on slowing the spread of this disease."("What an epidemiologist tells friends about COVID-19" Arizona Republic, Friday, 13 March 2020, http://arizonarepublic.az.newsmemory.com/?publink=167b2f4e6)

SARS did not result in nearly as many deaths.(https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-in-charts-covid-19-symptoms-spread-deaths-warnings-2020-2#this-chart-shows-the-rate-at-which-the-coronavirus-case-total-has-shot-up-worldwide-5)

"Why new diseases keep appearing in China" video from Vox. https://youtu.be/TPpoJGYlW54

I just watched these two TV shows. In one of them it said that we got lucky with SARS in that it did not last very long. Somehow the virus did not continue it is mutated form.

"The Next Pandemic", Season 2 Episode 7 of "Explained" series on Netflix. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11244670/, https://www.netflix.com/title/80216752

"Pandemic Is Now" Season 1 Episode 2 of "Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak" series on Netflix. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11652668/, https://www.netflix.com/title/81026143

zoonotic - "A zoonosis (plural zoonoses, or zoonotic diseases) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites that spread from non-human animals (usually vertebrates) to humans. Major modern diseases such as Ebola virus disease and salmonellosis are zoonoses."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis

Current Statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/
-  138,274 confirmed cases and 5,082 deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of March 13, 2020, 12:25 GMT.

"Number of confirmed coronavirus cases, by days since 100th case"
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19799191/VoKBM_number_of_confirmed_coronavirus_cases_by_days_since_100th_case.png
 - From https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/13/21178289/confirmed-coronavirus-cases-us-countries-italy-iran-singapore-hong-kong

Total Confirmed COVID-19 cases 2020-03-13

2020-03-13 https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19805339/total_cases_covid_19_who.png
From "9 charts that explain the coronavirus pandemic" https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/12/21172040/coronavirus-covid-19-virus-charts

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus

Oldest Presidents

Joe Biden would be the oldest President by 8 years if he were to be elected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_age

Media Bias Chart

From https://www.researchgate.net/

From https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

From https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Another

From PBS twitter post

Should America move rapidly toward socialism?

"I am inclined to welcome a matchup between Sanders and Trump, not because I’m enamored of either of them but because the campaign would be fought over an important issue: Should America move rapidly toward socialism? That’s an important debate to have, and in between the name-calling, perhaps the country would render a useful and definitive answer." -John Fund

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/2020-campaign-bernie-sanders-plan-to-boost-turnout-could-backfire-help-trump/

The appeal of Bernie Sanders
"24 years old, African-American, college degree, drowning in student loan debt, living at home with his mom and working like mad to pay off the debt so he can start life. He is a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer. I listened to him talk about why he’s for Sanders. All the usual woke language we hear from the Left never once came up. For him, it was entirely about a system that appears to him to have locked his generation out of what he said, “the things your generation took for granted that you would have, sir”: the possibility of a stable middle class life, including home ownership." - Rod Dreher
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/bernie-solidarity/


"Bernie's Wrong: We Are Better Off Today Than We Were 45 Years Ago"
By David Harsanyi

Panhandlers or Freeloaders?

Watch what happens when these panhandlers were followed home. By John Stossel.

https://www.facebook.com/prageru/posts/2971308652911971
By John Stossel.

Trump: the good, the bad and the ugly

Update 2020-04-12

Posted as a comment on several of my friend's posts

There is way more to life than who will be the next President. I want the President to have so little power that it matters _way_ less who it is.

-------------
I think I will vote for Trump. While I do not like the way he talks, I do like the results of his policies for the most part.

https://youtu.be/mkosbgYIOWM


A good friend of mine posted an article by David French called "Will Somebody Please Hate My Enemies for Me?" I agree with much of the article, This was my reply to her

"I fully recognize that refusing to hire a hater and refusing to hire a liar carries costs. If we see politics through worldly eyes, it makes no sense at all. Why would you adopt moral standards that put you at a disadvantage in an existential political struggle? If we don’t stand by Trump we will lose, and losing is unacceptable." 

Losing is unacceptable. There is no reasonable way to nominate someone other than Trump for the Republicans. 

He has done some good, some bad and definitely some ugly.  

At this point, the reduction in regulations that allows business to prosper is better than the bad and the ugly I have seen from Trump. 

It is not a pleasant decision. I think it is the best of the options I have.  

I did not vote for Trump in 2106 in the primary nor in the general election. I chose an unknown 3rd party candidate.  

The difference this time is the track record of judges chosen and other positive results that I have seen.  This weighs out to more good than bad at this point. 

-

One Of The Best Events In A Generation

Electing Bernie Sanders as the Democrat nominee would be one of the best events in a generation.

He will be defeated and socialism is given a trouncing.

Perhaps even better is if he wins the Presidency. He then will implement some fraction of what he wants and everyone will see the failure of the results.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It is a phrase that makes you think.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satires (Satire VI, lines 347–348). It is literally translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?", though it is also known by variant translations, such as "Who watches the watchers?" and "Who will watch the watchmen?". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quis_custodiet_ipsos_custodes%3F)

-

Contrasting Two Political Approaches

With the recent news of Mitt Romney voting to convict Donald Trump on one count in the impeachment, I have noticed some differences Romney and Rand Paul.

Rand Paul is not shy about his opposition to quite a few of Trump's policies. He seems to have figured out a way to dance with Trump such that he can get the best he can from Trump. He works with him where they agree. Rand is often outspoken when he disagrees.

Mitt Romney seems to have a different approach.