A Grim Milestone: 6 Million COVID cases in U.S.

There's that grim figure again: 6 million. 6 million Jews murdered, 6 million Americans infected.

From CNN:  "Just over seven months ago, no one in theUS had a confirmed case of Covid-19. On Monday, the US topped 6 million casesof coronavirus, which has killed over 183,000 people and left many young adults with long-term problems.  Why it's time to double down on masks and distancing." 

Why not triple down, since the offenders are obviously not listening and not caring. Plus, they are already vowing not to get flu shots or any COVID vaccine. Now that's great  personal responsibility for you.

(Poster by Greg Traverso. See article at the Washingtonian magazine.)

A Slander Suit in the Making

Trump says some pretty inflammatory things on Twitter, but this time someone else is in the hot seat. This is Connecticut's "Senator" Chris Murphy: "Can we take the gloves off and tell the truth? Trump is deliberately killing people.  He holds rallies where people get infected. On Thursday, no social distancing or masks, sending a clear message that the CDC should be ignored. His plan is to kill people. Let's just say it."

Gee, thanks for clarifying it, Senator! And all this time I thought it was COVID-19 that was killing  people!

Lots 'o Links

Make sure you read all the newsworthy links at Maggie's Farm; Liz Sheld's Morning Greatness; Larwyn's Linx; and Stephen Kruiser's Morning Briefing.

How long will these violent mob attacks be permitted to go on without any consequences?  What would have happened if they had killed Rand Paul, no jail time? Why don't they look for jobs with the same enthusiasm they have for smashing windows & looting stores?  Bring back the Civilian Conservation Corps and pay them to repair things rather than destroy things.

“A CIViC DUTY” to Stop Aerosol Transmission of COVID-19

In order to keep educating myself about COVID-19, I read a lot of articles in the coronavirus e-newsletters I receive. 

This one, seen at TIME magazine, is one of the best explanations of the aerosol transmission of the disease.

Author Jose-Luis Jimenez is a Professor of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is a highly cited researcher and a Fellow of the American Association for Aerosol Research and the American Geophysical Union.

Here are two excerpts:

He says that "When it comes to COVID-19, the evidence overwhelmingly supports aerosol transmission, and there are no strong arguments against it. For example, contact tracing has found that much COVID-19 transmission occurs in close proximity, but that many people who share the same home with an infected person do not get the disease. To understand why, it is useful to use cigarette or vaping smoke (which is also an aerosol) as an analog. Imagine sharing a home with a smoker: if you stood close to the smoker while talking, you would inhale a great deal of smoke. Replace the smoke with virus-containing aerosols, which behave very similarly, and the impact is similar: the closer you are to someone releasing virus-carrying aerosols, the more likely you are to breathe in larger amounts of virus. We know from detailed, rigorous studies that when individuals talk in close proximity, aerosols dominate transmission and droplets are nearly negligible."

"We should continue doing what has already been recommended: wash hands, keep six feet apart, and so on. But that is not enough. A new, consistent and logical set of recommendations must emerge to reduce aerosol transmission. I propose the following: Avoid Crowding, Indoors, low Ventilation, Close proximity, long Duration, Unmasked, Talking/singing/Yelling (“A CIViC DUTY”). These are the important factors in mathematical models of aerosol transmission, and can also be simply understood as factors that impact how much “smoke” we would inhale."

The unforgettable comparison of exhaled cigarette smoke with COVID aerosols might inspire more people to finally take this disease seriously and wear masks.

Fist and Shout

In all the coverage of the rioting, looting, attacks and intimidation, I have rarely heard about how shouting and yelling spreads the transmission of COVID-19. 

Here is an excerpt from COVID-19 Guidance for Singing or Yelling -  Delaware Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health – June 2020:  "Evidence around COVID-19 is ever-evolving.  From what we know now, it is currently not safe to sing, or yell in close proximity to others. The Division of Public Health (DPH) is especially concerned about singing or yelling indoors, in crowded settings and in settings with vulnerable populations.Wearing a face covering and social distancing more than 6 feet can help mitigate the spread of infection when people speak, yell or sing.However,when face coverings are not used,additional precautions may need to be considered."

From what I could see, the protesters yelling in the faces of diners at close quarters were not 6 feet away from their targets. And every night there's an awful lot of yelling in the streets by people who seem to have nothing better to do than to wreak havoc,

Why isn't this flaunting of the rules getting more attention?

No Matter What Else is Happening, Make Sure To Blame the Jews!

You have violent rioters, looters, arsonists, and anarchists destroying our country during a global pandemic while the police are helpless to stop them. Nobody seems to care.

And despite all the destruction, some geniuses still found time to blame the Jews! Isn't this amusing?

"Honk if you know the Jews want a race war.”
"That was the message scrawled on two signs hanging on a Los Angeles overpass on Saturday, in view of hundreds of cars passing on I-405.
The hair-raising incident alarmed the Los Angeles Jewish community and spurred coverage by the local press, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Times of Israel.
Now, it appears that Petaluma resident Jon Minadeo Jr. and a handful of antisemitic cronies known as the Goyim Defense League were behind the hateful display. Last year Minadeo was linked to antisemitic flyers posted in the North Bay.
Known as a 'banner drop,' the act was just one of many exploits Minadeo and his crew engaged in while driving around Los Angeles in a white van over the weekend, recording their activities during what they called a 'Name the Nose tour.'"

And drivers were actually honking.

"Twindemic": a Nightmare Scenario

The New York Times has an alarming article about a "twindemic", a simultaneous attack of both the flu and COVID-19.  You have anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, a lethal combination. These unconcerned morons who still refuse to take the pandemic seriously should be the only ones to get hit by both viruses, and then maybe, finally, they will change their tune. But I doubt it.

Lots 'o Links

 Here's a lot of good reading for you, including Stephen Kruiser's Morning Briefing; Maggie's Farm; Liz Sheld's Morning Greatness; and Stephen Green's Insanity Wrap #33.

The Q Must Stand For Quackery, or Questionable

These QAnon cultists are nuts. The pandemic seems to have brought out the worst in people, and they seem to be spending all their time engaged in wild conspiracy theories.  The Washington Post calls them a menace.

The Wall Street Journal defines them as "a far right-wing, loosely organized network and community of believers who embrace a range of unsubstantiated beliefs. These views center around the idea that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles—mainly consisting of what they see as elitist Democrats, politicians, journalists, entertainment moguls and other institutional figures—have long controlled much of the so-called 'deep state' government, which they say seeks to undermine President Trump, mostly with aid of media and entertainment outlets."

Between these crackpots, the ignorant anti-mask crowd, and the anti-vaccination zealots, it's getting harder than ever to fight COVID-19 when so much common sense is missing.

A Flight In Memory of Murdered Jews

From The Times of Israel:  

In historic tribute, Israeli and German air forces fly over Dachau, Olympic site

"During first joint drill on German soil, planes overfly Nazi concentration camp, also buzz Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield to honor 11 Israeli athletes killed in 1972 Munich massacre".

Life in the Time of Coronavirus - for Those Over 60

I saw an important article today at MarketWatch - but then, everything about COVID-19 makes important reading.  Here's an excerpt:

"Life will never be the same for people over 60— even with a COVID-19 vaccine 

"These are the likely long-term impacts on gatherings, travel, eating, medicine, home life and even public restrooms"

'Before COVID-19, baby boomers — those born after 1945 but before 1965 — felt reassured that with all the benefits of modern medicine, they could live for years and years,' said Dr. Mehrdad Ayati, who teaches geriatric medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and advises the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. 'What we never calculated was that a pandemic could totally change the dialogue.'

...

'One of the most disastrous places you can go into is a public restroom,' Poland said. 'That’s about the riskiest place.'"

Commemorating V-J Day

From the National WWII Museum: "Finally recognizing that victory was impossible, the Japanese government accepted Allied surrender terms without qualifications on August 14, 1945. That same day, President Harry S. Truman announced from the White House that the Japanese acceptance met the terms laid down at the Potsdam Conference for unconditional surrender. As soon as the news of Japan’s surrender was announced on August 14, celebrations erupted across the United States. The United Kingdom announced that its official V-J Day would be the next day, August 15, 1945, and Americans exuberantly joined in that day’s merriment, too."

Tribute in Light Goes Dark

So you can loot and riot all you want, and you can take part with 250,000 others in the Sturgis motorcycle ride -- but you can't for one night allow the Tribute in Light display to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks and honor the dead?  That's really sad.  New York without the Tribute in Light is like New York without the twin towers.

Lots 'o Links

Here's your weekly reading from Larwyn's Linx; Stephen Kruiser's Morning Briefing; and Maggie's Farm. 

Harold Ticktin tells us in his Yiddish Vinkl column that the word lid means song, as in: "The yiddishe lid, 'Bei Mir Bistu Shein' (To Me You’re Beautiful) was popularized by the Andrews Sisters, a hit singing trio, in 1937; followed by 'Ot Azoy' (The Tailor’s Song) sung by famous black jazz singer Cab Calloway in 1939." Don''t you just love it?

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Important Reading for American Morons:

In coronavirus news, the great medical website STAT has a somber must-read titled "America's Window of Opportunity to Beat Back COVID-19 is Narrowing." Too bad it's not required reading for the incredibly selfish idiots in this country! Here's an excerpt:

"Ehresmann and others in public health are flummoxed by the phenomenon of people refusing to acknowledge the risk the virus poses.
'Just this idea of, ‘I just don’t want to believe it so therefore it’s not going to be true’ — honestly, I have not really dealt with that as it relates to disease before,' she said.
Buckee, the Harvard expert, wonders if the magical thinking that seems to have infected swaths of the country is due to the fact many of the people who have died were elderly. For many Americans, she said, the disease has not yet touched their lives — but the movement restrictions and other response measures have.
'I think if children were dying, this would be … a different situation, quite honestly,' she said.
Epidemiologist Michael Mina despairs that an important chance to wrestle the virus under control is being lost, as Americans ignore the realities of the pandemic in favor of trying to resume pre-Covid life.
'We just continue to squander every bit of opportunity we get with this epidemic to get it under control,'’ said Mina, an assistant professor in Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and associate medical director of clinical microbiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
'The best time to squash a pandemic is when the environmental characteristics slow transmission. It’s your one opportunity in the year, really, to leverage that extra assistance and get transmission under control,' he said, his frustration audible.
Driving back transmission would require people to continue to make sacrifices, to accept the fact that life post-Covid cannot proceed as normal, not while so many people remain vulnerable to the virus. Instead, people are giddily throwing off the shackles of coronavirus suppression efforts, seemingly convinced that a few weeks of sacrifice during the spring was a one-time solution."

Exciting News From Israel!

Two things:

What a surprise, and what an achievement!  "Israel and the United Arab Emirates have reached an historic peace agreement, the first such event to take place since Israel and Jordan signed their peace treaty in 1994. The two countries are expected soon to exchange ambassadors and embassies, Reuters reported."

Also: a one-second coronavirus test from Israel achieves a 95% success rate. Think of the difference this will make.

It's Trump or Else

In "Why Trump's Losing", Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru have written a very good analysis of Trump and his chances of being re-elected. Here are some excerpts:

"Trump hasn’t conveyed steadiness, resolve, empathy, and seriousness of purpose to the public — the sort of thing that other political figures, whatever their ideologies and even competence levels, have done to their own benefit — because he does not possess them. He does not give much sign of even recognizing that the public would appreciate them. Reassurance is not his brand. “Fighting” is, and Trump especially enjoys taking public shots at people who, by virtue of their position, cannot fight back. His most successful recent such campaign has targeted Dr. Anthony Fauci — if it counts as success for Trump to persuade many of his supporters to distrust one of his own advisers."

"His vices have taken a toll. There are periodic hopes that he will reset and adopt a more disciplined approach, always dashed. In 2016, he did show he could tone it down for brief periods, but he can’t help himself for long. So it is probably only events that can save him now: a waning of the pandemic, a clear economic rebound, a Biden stumble, some other exogenous event. None of this is unimaginable, but obviously none of it is certain — and none of it is in his control, or in the control of the many other Republicans whose political fates are tied to his. Trump won an upset as the de facto challenger four years ago and will have to win a bigger one as the incumbent."

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Even if you're a Republican and you voted for him in 2016, you really can't disagree with this assessment,  especially the incomprehensible decision not to take the lead against COVID, but there's absolutely no way I'd ever vote Democrat and turn America into Portland.

State Coronavirus Reduction Contest

 The numbers of cases and deaths are published constantly. Too bad these numbers can't be used to inspire citizens in each state to compete against one another by wearing masks and adhering to the other rules to lower their state's totals. Post the numbers on Facebook and Twitter to bring even the resisters into the fold. After all, you don't really want YOUR state to be #1 in infections and deaths, do you?

Lots 'o Links

There's a lot to read if you can stomach it at  Larwyn's Linx; Maggie's Farm; Stephen Kruiser's Morning Briefing; and Stephen Green's Insanity Wrap #22.

Daniel Greenfield's columns are always a good read.

Check out this coronavirus page at the medical website Stat, reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine

And don't forget to look at Harold Ticktin's enjoyable Yiddish Vinkl. The word for July 31 is "shtummie, which means a dummy; one who doesn’t say much ('shtum' means silent)."

"Unconcerned" About the Coronavirus and 300,000 Dead

Masks not required: "‘It’s the freedom of it’: Bikers rally in Stateline ahead of Sturgis, unconcerned about virus."

From an opinion piece in Canada's The Globe & Mail: "American bikers' display of free-dumb is yet another reason to keep our border closed.  The Black Hills will be a petri dish of contagion, spreading back through the United States after the partying rally-goers return home in mid-August."

The latest IMHE model: "Researchers behind an influential model are projecting that the US death toll from coronavirus could reach nearly 300,000 by December 1 -- but that can be changed if Americans consistently wear masks."

Unconcerned. This tells you a lot about the recklessness and selfishness in our country. If a number like 300,000 doesn't scare you into changing your behavior, nothing will.

Blast in Beirut

That horrific explosion in Beirut reminded me right away of something I'd read about the Texas City Explosion of 1947 - and also Timothy McVeigh's brutal terrorist bombing against the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Of course, Israel has offered assistance  - but will they accept it?

Can We Do Whatever it Takes to Stop COVID-19?

I read a lot of coronavirus news and subscribe to several coronavirus newsletters to educate myself and learn as much as I can. So I keep getting infuriated by people who still won't take this disease seriously despite the death toll, and who refuse to take the steps necessary to stop it. I love how the Australian official said that the residents "don't deserve" the inconvenience of a lockdown.

What they and all of us don't deserve is to get sick and die because thanks to deliberately inconsiderate morons who are spreading it! And if they don't like the lockdown, maybe they should be locked up instead!

This is definitely not the greatest generation.

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One of the world’s ‘most livable’ citiesjust went into full lockdown mode as coronavirus cases spike

How strict? Starting Sunday evening, a curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. will be enforced, with the premier of Victoria ordering the region into a 'state of disaster.'

Hear more from Premier Daniel Andrews:

'We have to do more,' he pleaded, 'and we have to do more right now,' telling people that, 'Where you slept last night is where you’ll need to stay for the next six weeks.'

Furthermore, only one person per household in Melbourne, which spent most of July under these restrictions, will be allowed to leave their homes once a day outside the curfew restrictions. And that’s only to pick up essential goods within a five-kilometer radius of their home.

As for exercise, only an hour a day is allowed within that same radius.

State opposition leader Michael O’Brien reportedly took exception to the decision, saying Victorians 'don’t deserve this' and that, 'In declaring a state of disaster, Andrews has conceded that his government has lost control of COVID-19 in this state.'