buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 6:03:15 AM

1

And, for the newest Trump-isn't-literally-Hitler-but-he's-almost-Charles-Lindbergh-who-admired-Hitler, heeeeeere's our pals at NPR, with an adulatory interview of the producer of HBO's new dramatization of the Philip Roth novel, "The Plot Against America."

Great timing; fully calculated to shoo any Jews who might be wavering Trumpward back onto the Democrat plantation in time for the election.

vxbush 3/13/2020 6:14:18 AM

2

Morning, campers. Regarding Kosh's comment to me yesterday about all this activity to close down everything despite the fact that we're not supposed to panic makes him think there's something else going on that they are not telling us, two things: 

1. Have folks seen the website about flattening the curve? It's not about reducing the number of total infections but to slow the progression so the medical facilities don't get overwhelmed. I think there is  a *very* good reason for Public Health officials to limit interpersonal contact to prevent the run on medical services that have occurred in other countries. 

2. If, indeed, the Democrats are using this COVID-19 situation to damage Trump as much as possible--and we have the media saying on video that this would hurt Trump politically--then it would not surprise me that many states controlled by Democrats would choose to overreact and shut down events, schools, etc. to make the situation look worse. But I have not done an analysis to determine how many states or functions have shut down that lean left. 

I prefer answer #1. Besides it making a great deal more sense, I have learned that the more people are involved in a conspiracy, the less likely the conspiracy holds.  

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 6:27:07 AM

3

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 1:

By the way, here's a quote from that NPR segment:

And if you look just even at what's happening now with Coronavirus and the inability of our government to speak with one coherent voice on something as basic as a health issue, and you watch this level of misrule, I think you have to worry for the republic.

Isn't "speaking with one coherent voice" precisely what dictatorships do?  So this guy is, on the one hand, worrying about the supposed Nazification of America under Trump, while simultaneously bemoaning that the government is not behaving in dictatorial fashion.

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 7:00:49 AM

4

In #3 buzzsawmonkey said: So this guy is, on the one hand, worrying about the supposed Nazification of America under Trump, while simultaneously bemoaning that the government is not behaving in dictatorial fashion.

You're making the common mistake of thinking that NPards are capable of holding two thoughts in their head at one time.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 7:06:32 AM

5

In #4 lucius septimius said: You're making the common mistake of thinking that NPards are capable of holding two thoughts in their head at one time.

Isn't holding two thoughts at one time a prerequisite for doublethink?

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 7:18:32 AM

6

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 5:

I suppose I should have said the ability to reconcile two distinct thoughts.

I feel like crud this morning -- awful acid reflux all night.  I've felt run down ever since my trip last week.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 7:20:46 AM

7

In #6 lucius septimius said: I feel like crud this morning -- awful acid reflux all night.  I've felt run down ever since my trip last week.

I've been suffering from really bad acid reflux for a while.  The doc put me on Omeprazole, two 20 mg tabs a day.

It's over-the-counter, and not too expensive, and does the job pretty well.

JCM 3/13/2020 7:23:29 AM

8

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

Kafka or Heller, take your pick.

If differing opinions existing, disorganized.

If there is solidarity, dictatorship.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 7:32:37 AM

9

In #8 JCM said: Kafka or Heller, take your pick.

Orwell Oh, well, if you insist...

vxbush 3/13/2020 7:38:44 AM

10

Reply to lucius septimius in 6:

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 7:

Um, guys, I'm wondering if this is a bug. My acid reflux went through the roof the last two weeks. I'm on 40 MG of omeprazole twice a day, which is double the usual prescription dose. 

Has anyone heard anything about a viral infection causing this? 

JCM 3/13/2020 7:43:55 AM

11

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 9:

Kafka, Heller, Orwell.... when did liberals start using them as a how to manual?

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 7:47:59 AM

12

Reply to vxbush in 10:

I've been dealing with this for about a year, so I'm not worried, just annoyed.  It's one of the dubious pleasures of aging.

vxbush 3/13/2020 7:48:58 AM

13

In #12 buzzsawmonkey said: I've been dealing with this for about a year, so I'm not worried, just annoyed.  It's one of the dubious pleasures of aging.

Oh. The way you wrote that, it sounded like it was a very recent thing. 

Okay, I'll put my tinfoil hat away now. 

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 7:53:59 AM

14

Reply to vxbush in 10:

This is unusual for me.  it probably has to do with having eaten too late last night.  

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 7:55:42 AM

15

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 7:57:01 AM

16

In #11 JCM said: Kafka, Heller, Orwell.... when did liberals start using them as a how to manual?

They were simply engaging in reportage.  

It's fascinating to leaf through the book "The Commissar Vanishes," which is a chronicle of the various purgings of Soviet figures from photographs and paintings in the Lenin/Stalin era, and realize that Orwell's descriptions of "the memory hole" in "1984" are merely recognitions of what everyone saw going on at the time.

Orwell's recognition of the evils of socialism go back to some of his earliest writings; his protagonist's despising of socialism in "Keep the Aspidistra Flying," his own derision of elements of socialism in "The Road to Wigan Pier," which nearly kept the book from being published, his dismissal of vegetarianism and other food faddism in that book and in "Coming Up for Air," his description of the lies of the Loyalist government particularly after it was taken over by the Soviets, and he had to flee for his life because he'd fought in the "wrong" militia, on to his more-famous work in "1984" and "Animal Farm."

Orwell was, socially and mostly politically much closer to an Evelyn Waugh Conservative than a "socialist," which makes his repeated protestations of support for "socialism" somewhat mystifying.  I lay it to his desire to be one of the Cool Kids, and his own unease from having been subjected to an immense amount of class snobbery as a scholarship student in prep school ("Such, Such Were the Joys") and later at Eton.

JCM 3/13/2020 8:08:31 AM

17

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 16:

Socialism appeals to people with empathy for others, or just plan selfishness, who don't go beyond the emotion.

I wonder if Orwell tried to retain his empathy, while his reason realized the truth and he had trouble reconciling the thoughts.

Occasional Reader 3/13/2020 8:09:50 AM

18

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 8:24:36 AM

19

In #17 JCM said: Socialism appeals to people with empathy for others, or just plan selfishness, who don't go beyond the emotion.

It's more insidious than that.  Socialism transforms vices -- greed, envy, wrath, sloth, gluttony, pride (in one's innate goodness) and lust (if you buy into the whole free love thing) -- into virtues.  So long as one is a socialist, one can take pride in one's greed, envy, wrath, etc. because all of them proceed from the fact you care so damn much.  No vice is so vicious that it does not become virtuous when done in the name of socialism.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 9:10:11 AM

20

By the way, since I was mentioning Orwell, it's interesting to see that he shares with Waugh not only a fundamentally-conservative social view, but a derision/disgust for Auden and Isherwood.  

Orwell casually derides "the Nancy poets" in a number of his writings, from "Wigan Pier" onwards.   He was referring to Christopher Isherwood, his school friend WH Auden, probably Stephen Spender, and others of their set.   Waugh, in several of his pieces, such as his early-WWII book "Put Out More Flags," refers to "Parsnip and Pimpernell," i.e., Auden and Isherwood, "two poets who had fled England for America" (which they did, on the eve of the war).  The names crop up---always derisively/dismissively---in some later Waugh works, including a late short story of his about euthanasia called "In the Ruins," wherein an aged Parsnip (or Pimpernell, I forget now which) shows up to "put to sleep" and join his already-deceased friend.

Syrah 3/13/2020 11:52:22 AM

21

Well,....

i was going to go out and buy/hoard more chocolate, but I may stop at the outdoor sporting goods store and stock up on something else.

Bad ideas are like bad viruses. They spread easily.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/03/13/illinois-mayor-may-ban-firearms-ammunition-as-part-of-emergency-over-wuhan-virus-n2564916

PaladinPhil 3/13/2020 12:30:40 PM

22

Syrah 3/13/2020 12:36:03 PM

23

JCM 3/13/2020 1:34:03 PM

24

No such thing as a stupid question until a report asks it.

Blow dried brainless media twit - Do we know why corona virus affects the elderly more than other people?

JEEZAUSCHRIST YOU FUCKING TWIT. Colds, flus and any other common illness affects the elderly more.

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 1:45:01 PM

25

Reply to JCM in 24:

I'm reminded of the tv coverage of Bill Clinton's inauguration.  At one point the talking hairdos -- all of them women -- were talking to a reporter on the street -- also a woman -- about Chelsea.  The question was raised "what might a teenage girl think about all of this."  To answer the question, the women journos called on an expert in adolescent psychology who happened to be male.  He explained to this gaggle of women what girls might think at times like this.

That was one of several moments where I realized just how retarded journos are.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 1:58:02 PM

26

In #24 JCM said: Blow dried brainless media twit - Do we know why corona virus affects the elderly more than other people?

Why, ageism, of course.

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 2:07:06 PM

27

In #26 buzzsawmonkey said: Why, ageism, of course.

The virus should be prosecuted at once!

Syrah 3/13/2020 2:18:08 PM

28

Reply to Syrah in 21:

it looks like I should have picked up some ammo weeks ago.  The store is cleaned out of 9mm.  

Apparently there was a bill in the legislature that would have required back ground checks for the purchase of ammunition. The store clerk said that this bill caused a run on the ammunition. 

It appears that the bill failed to pass.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20200313/washington-legislature-adjourns-sine-die

But that doesn’t help me.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 2:23:08 PM

29

Syrah 3/13/2020 2:25:55 PM

30

Reply to Syrah in 28:

on the up side, leafing through the stores sales flyer, I see that they have some nice stuff for sale. Just no 9mm ammo.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 2:37:13 PM

31

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 2:41:19 PM

32

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 31:

Because people are stupid?

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 2:42:46 PM

33

In #32 lucius septimius said: Because people are stupid?

I feel like I'm watching a herd of bison gallop over a cliff.

doppelganglander 3/13/2020 2:49:08 PM

34

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 29:

I haven't bought anything special. I already had 12 jumbo rolls of TP, hand soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, coffee, and cat supplies, and I have a full pantry and freezer. I have everything I need to set up my laptop to work from home, should the company decide to close the office. All set.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 2:53:30 PM

35

Lone Ranger: "Tonto, this coronavirus has me worried.  Go into town, would you, and pick up some more masks and a couple of boxes of silver bullets."

Tonto: "Yes, Kemotherapy!"

lucius septimius 3/13/2020 2:54:58 PM

36

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 33:

If they were Perfectly Normal Beasts we could at least make sandwiches.

buzzsawmonkey 3/13/2020 2:56:14 PM

37

Reply to lucius septimius in 36:

Slicin' and dicin' bison?