Trump Epidemic

I must here give credit to, I don't know who other than the American medical care system. The mortality rate in the U.S. has always been lower than in other countries and I have pointed that out before. But it rose, steadily, incrementally, from 1.2% to a high of 6.06%. The virus' progress in the United States and the world is now mature. That is, the data base is robust. I noticed this the other day when I found Hopkins' mortality rates but I was focused then on other things. I want to come back to that now. You will recall that Hopkins provided data on the ten countries hardest hit by COVID-19. They are: Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States--all Western countries, heavily industrialized, modern, post-modern, up to date. Look at the difference in mortality rates:

The U.S. is dead last, or BEST, in its mortality rate. Belgium's is 16.2%, 2.75 times what the U.S. rate is. If we had Belgium's mortality rate, our number of dead right now would be 287,229 instead of the 103,853 it is. That we have lost 103,853 is the blood that drips from Donald Trump's short, stumpy fingers. That he is not further drenched with the blood of 287,229 is no doing of his, it is due to the extraordinary American health care system, the best in the world.

Images and captions curated by USAToday:

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson high fives a woman who called his name as he marches with protestors of police brutality and in memory of George Floyd on Saturday, May 30, 2020 in Flint Township, Mich. Protestors marched along Miller Rd. in Flint Township before ending up at the Flint Township Police Department Headquarters where they were met by police in riot gear. Swanson deescalated the situation by asking one of the protesters what he wanted of them. They replied to walk with us and so he did with some of his deputies. "We're on the community's side. All we had to do was talk to them and now we're walking with them. Everybody wins. The cops in this community, we condemn what happened. That guy's not one of us. You have police officers here that do it everyday for the right reasons. We're asking people just to trust the police. Trust us tonight we're walking with you. We prove it by our actions," Swanson said. "When I look at that all the good we do in the community across the nation can be destroyed in one act. We were the heroes a week ago so we're going to get back on the hero platform and treat people right. Give people a voice."
RYAN GARZA, DETROIT FREE PRESS - USA TODAY NETWORK

A protester breaks a window at the Metro Courthouse in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, May 30, 2020 during the “I Will Breathe” rally to protest the death of George Floyd.
ANDREW NELLES, THE TENNESSEAN - USA TODAY NETWORK

Okay, a courthouse. Okay, out of a superabundance of empathy I’ll give you that one. Proper target. Not in Nashville, but in general.

A woman watches from her Greenwich Village apartment as several thousand protestors march in Manhattan May 30, 2020.

SETH HARRISON, THE JOURNAL NEWS - USA TODAY NETWORK

A protester smashes a window at the CNN center Friday May 29, 2020 in Atlanta.

Never understood this. Who are you, Trump? Why for godssake are you attacking CNN? Fox, GOOD target; CNN, you’re just stoopid.

This is a notably balanced article from LAT.

That is an image that, at first, and maybe lasting, blush establishes the reputation of those doing those acts as looters, not protesters.


As darkness fell on Los Angeles Saturday night, two of the city’s most famous retail strips — Melrose and Fairfax avenues — became a focus for looting and vandalism.

[That text, too]

Several businesses on Melrose Avenue, a trendy row of design and clothing stores, were looted. One building was set on fire and burned for hours.

[And that]

Dozens of looters ran into an Adidas store on Melrose and Edinburgh avenues at 9:45 p.m., running out with blue boxes of shoes. Empty shoe boxes and glass littered the sidewalk outside the store.

“It’s horrible. They need any excuse just to take something,” said Mel, a 39-year-old Compton resident who would provide only his first name.

[And there you go, a resident of Compton seeing it the same way.]


[But then]:

“Sometimes peaceful is not enough,” said Alexis Equihua, 20, who was marching along Melrose at 11 p.m., as rioters destroyed storefronts and stole goods. “I’m not one of the people vandalizing, but honestly, I get it. They feel like actions speak louder than words.”

[Alexis is rught, sometines peaceful is not enough]

Travon Walton, a 25-year-old student from Long Beach, arrived in the Fairfax area in the afternoon to join the protests.

He said that he saw many nonblack protesters inciting the police from up close and worries that the black community will receive the blame.

“All the white people are in the front,” he said. “We’re going to be the ones that get the backlash.”

[I understand Travon’s concern but I am damn glad White people were up front. I was glad to see the raised middle fingers of those in front of the White House in the image on the header are a paler shade of white, too. Appreciating Alexis Equihua‘s point fully, it still matters who and what the violence is directed at. If you have the cojones to commit violence, to be legitimate, your violence should be directed at those responsible for triggering the violence. The Minneapolis rioters burned down a police station. At least I get the target selection. But if you direct violence at Adidas stores or Guess stores and in other cities, then you create a (barely) rebuttable presumption that you are not protesters for whom “sometimes peaceful is not enough,” but mere “looters,” vandals, burglars, misdemeanants and felons needing “any excuse” to get goodies. The burden shifts to them for an explanation, and that itself is a grave misstep. They have much less, not no, but less, burden in Minneapolis, but the burden in Los Angeles, in Miami, in New York City will be, and properly so, oppressing. Now some, unfortunately not all, will have a chance to explain themselves in courts of law where the burden is always on the government, but merely to prove that the crime of looting, burglary, and arson was committed, and that the defendant committed the crime. It is no defense to the crime charged that you stole, broke and entered, or torched because George Floyd was murdered, and your bare explanation that “sometimes peaceful is not enough” is unavailing.]
LaTimes

I am staggered at the efficiency of Michael Rappaport’s takedown of Trump.

-Blowhard, check.
-Dumb, check
-Animal, check
-Resign
-Pack
-Slob
-Pathetic
-Infection

That’s basically all the words in the tweet. You rank me, Michael. Tremendous work.

MichaelRapaport
@MichaelRapaport
6h
Hey BlowHard Dumb Animal, Sunday’s are a for Resigning.
We know you’re awake. Pack your stuff and resign now Slob.
You’re a pathetic infection
@realDonaldTrump
 #MAGANIGHT

that was a short fucking night, 1:59 a.m. when I finally went lights out, 7:57 a.m. when i turned them back on. that was a short fucking night.

The Trump Death

Did not think I'd be up late enough to do this, but at 10:41 my night sort of changed, know what I mean?

Okay, first Hopkins:

24,100 new cases May 30, two hundred short of May 29's tally. That's a pretty sturdy looking wall isn't it? Yeah it's got spikes in the center and it's higher there but it is at least 18.3k high from May 30 going all the way back to March 28. Over two full months. That does not pleasure me.

That pleasures me more. Looks like the goddamned Rock of Gibralter.

Solid like a rock, babe. Still very imposing BUT down baby, down. Stone stepping down. Zig-zaggin', make up your mind jaggin', DOWN. CLEARLY.

5.86% Trump all-time Kill rate. Inching lower.


WaPo:

WaPo has 23.6k cases May 30, 500 fewer than the Johnnies. Whaddya gonna do? What a difference two days makes. WaPo's Cases line is seven days and you get a swaying suspension bridge cable feel. Hopkins, five days, you're stepping on a fucking broken bottle. WaPo's dog's tail has elongated and tipped UP. What frustrates me about the seven-day line is just how lazy it appears, like, dude, don't rush me, chill, I'm going down. Yeah, okay, CAN YOU  PICK UP THE FUCKING PACE THERE BRUH!

Deaths.

103,781 Hopkins

102,577 WaPo. Off by 1,200, one of them, I think WaPo. Whatever.

Hopkins doesn't have a Deaths chart, can you believe that?, so we go with WaPo's.

I've always like WaPo's Deaths so much better. That's an okay rollercoaster ride, lots of ups and downs, some deep drops make ya lose your lunch and then coasting to...a landing? Well, it looks like that, a four-day seven-day average landing but t'ain't a landing. That's a flat ol' rock through four full days, slight tilt down. In that entire graph there never has been a line that flat for that long. Never. Tension in flat lines. You know it's not staying there but you don't know whether it's going to go up or down.

So that's that. I'm just going to get pissed if I look at the time.

MIAMI – A peaceful protest that began Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Torch of Friendship turned into a chaotic scene around nightfall prompting Miami-Dade County’s mayor to sign an emergency order for a curfew.

The order was put into place after there were reports of looting at Bayside Marketplace on Biscayne Boulevard.

A SWAT team was dispatched to the area and looters took off before police arrived. They had smashed the window of a Guess store with a trash can and took merchandise, along with looting other stores...

[Ah, Guess! Yes, those brutal racists working at a Guess store! That abusive merchandise they sell at Guess stores, STEAL IT! Great idea.]

...
The City of Lauderhill issued a statement that they had been working with Black Lives Matter for a protest Sunday to take place at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center.

“We stand with the family and friends of George Floyd and all those who have lost their lives to police brutality or any social injustice."

[Not good enough for ya, huh?]

They postponed the event in the interest of public safety.

[That's what happens! Congratulations, you just stepped on your dicks]

“We hope to work with Black Lives Matter in the future to secure support from additional public safety agencies as well as identify an appropriate location for a peaceful protest.”

The mood starts to change

Around 5 p.m., a group had stopped traffic on Interstate 95. After they eventually cleared out, some of the protesters gathered in back of the City of Miami police department. Officers in riot gear held the line.

Things remained peaceful for more than an hour. Some in the crowd were throwing water bottles directly at the police, but there was no interaction with the protesters.

After a few people began throwing rocks around 7:45 p.m. near the City of Miami police department and firecrackers were tossed near police, tear gas was fired into the crowd.

[Tear gas at that precise moment, I don't know about that.]

Peaceful march turns into fiery protest in downtown Miami on Saturday.

Local 10 saw about four or five teenagers climb on top of a police car and start stomping on it. When the police car was set on fire, the protest took a different turn.

On the south side of the Miami police department headquarters, some other cruisers were torched. Several police cruisers under Interstate 95 were vandalized with windows smashed out, graffiti spray painted on them, and were heavily damaged.

Bursts of tear gas were released to push what had now become an unruly crowd.

[Tear gas there, no prob!]

Many of the original protesters said those who started the mayhem were agitators “from the outside.”

[Oh yeah, it's always outsiders. You guys have NO CREDIBILITY.]
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/05/30/watch-protests-in-downtown-miami-in-response-to-minneapolis-death-of-george-floyd/

The hundreds of people of all different races and ages packed Miami streets in what was supposed to be a protest over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police, more than a thousand miles away in Minneapolis last Monday.

“I think this helps to show how many people are outraged by this senseless murder,” one protester said.

With tensions mounting across the country, city of Miami leaders joined forces earlier Saturday with the faith-based community to issue a message of calm.

“What you saw on that video was hate," Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said regarding the video that has been widely circulated of the white Minneapolis police officer with his knee in Floyd’s neck. Colina pleaded with Miami protesters to not vandalize the city.

“I want to urge our citizens to please demonstrate peacefully, we want you to exercise your first amendment right. We want you to get whatever pains and anguish you’re feeling inside, out but we want you to do it in an appropriate manner,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said during a morning meeting with pastors and Colina.
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/05/30/hundreds-of-protesters-stop-traffic-on-northbound-i-95/

Hey, don't miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. There you have Chief Colina again; there you have the Mayor of Miami telling you "we want you to exercise your first amendment right"--they were on your side, and you take it out on them. You have embarrassed a well-meaning POLICE CHIEF WHO SIDED WITH YOU! A MAYOR WHO ENCOURAGED YOU TO PROTEST! AND YOU TOOK IT OUT ON THEM. You embarrassed THEM. everyone was on your side, my son and I were on your side, you couldn't miss the opportunity to be on he opposite side. You guys have fucked the fuck up.

#THUGtoo

ME: Oh! George Floyd?

SON: Yup. Cop car(s) Set afire in downtown.

ME: DAMN IT! Damn it, damn it, damn it. NO EXCUSE for that shit. NO FUCKING EXCUSE!

SON: I agree 100%

You have NO CAUSE to be lighting cop cars on fire in MIAMI! That is BULL SHIT! Now you listen you motherfuckers: you have now turned a long-time CRIMINAL DEFENSE attorney and a young man who works with INMATES against your ASSES. We wrote the fucking book on riots in Miami. Multi-chapter book, too. You do this down here or anywhere else WITH NO CAUSE, that is a decision you will regret but once, and that is eternally. Do you know right from wrong? You are doing WRONG. The Miami Police Department did not kill George Floyd. The Chief of Miami police issued a very strong condemnation of those Minneapolis killer cops. You turned HIM against you, too. You are going to regret this, you are going to regret this. FUCK YOU!

The Trump Death

Oh my goodness. The two stats, Cases and Deaths, at least according to WaPo, have been weirdly out of sync for a couple of days. Deaths are down today (so far, but it is getting late); before I checked WaPo I checked Hopkins and subtracting what I posted very early this morning from today's count I came up with 932. WaPo has 961 deaths for the day. WaPo usually has lower numbers, whatever, that's close enough for government work. It's the third day in a row down for WaPo. But Cases, today's cases are just about there with yesterday's which was the third consecutive day of increases. Deaths are not going to catch yesterday's count, but Cases just might. Mother humper. 

#THUGtoo

Folks: Stop it. Stop the fucking looting. Stop the arson. March, protest, curse, occupy, DO NOT DO VIOLENCE. IT'S WRONG! Period there.

"Biden's going to win"

I was reading Kristin Labransdatter for a few hours until about thirty minutes ago. My mind was completely elsewhere, in fourteenth century Sweden, far, far away from politics, Trump Virus, protests, news, anything current. It seemed to me I had been reading for a good while and checked the time. "Oh shit! I have to go get something to eat." I took a shower. Out of the blue I got this feeling, "Biden's going to win." I pay attention to those, feelings that are unprompted by proximate thought. I cannot say that those gut feelings have always been right (because I don't remember) but I always note them. They are "pure"--You can rationalize any damn thing. Biden's gonna win, Trump's gonna win, Trump Virus is going to peter out, it's not, you can use your rational thought and come to a judgment but that is not the same as feeling it unprompted.

I think of the jury instruction on reasonable doubt. I fucking know it by heart.

"A reasonable doubt is not a possible, forced, speculative or imaginary doubt. Such a doubt must not influence you to return a verdict of not guilty because the doubt is not reasonable...If you have no abiding conviction of guilt or if having such a conviction it is one that is not stable but waivers or vacillates, then the doubt is reasonable and you must return a verdict of not guilty."

Of course my shower feeling is not the same as deciding a verdict. One is a...prediction? No, not quite; a feeling! It's just an abiding feeling; the other is a mandatory decision-making tool. But I have thought for quite a long time that an abiding conviction, and one that is stable and does not waiver or vacillate, is a good fit for my gut feelings. You know it when you see it kind of thing. I'll tell you this: for the differences between my shower feelings and jury verdicts, my gut has never been wrong about what the jury is going to do when they go out. Guilty or not guilty, I get a strong gut feeling just like here and my gut has never been wrong.

And of course I have not been away from this subject for a long time, I think about it and read about and think some more about it, just about all the fucking time. So my rational processes do inform the feeling it's just that I'm not trying to convince myself or playing devil's advocate. The feeling is pure. I know it when I feel it. It's calming.

Now what in a nutshell are the thoughts that gave rise to my gut feeling? A big one is that the polls, both nationally and in key states, have been, to me, remarkably stable for quite a while. I may be wrong but the feeling I have is that the polls have been stable since about the third week in March, after Trump declared the national emergency. He got a "crisis" bounce but it was not stable. I am almost certain that the last state to flip was Florida, in early to  mid-April, and Biden has held that same ~3% lead ever since. North Carolina is another one. That goddamned thing has been Trump +1 for I think as long as I have been looking at the polls. It is a teeny, tiny difference but it has been almost unbelievably stable. Arizona: Biden for the longest time. Hasn't moved.

Another big one that went into my feeling was another feeling actually, not a thought that was the product of reason: I really, really feel that people have made up their minds how they feel about Trump, pro or con, and certainly little, probably so little as to be close to nothing, is going to change people's minds. And Trump is losing.

Finally, there was an article in, Politico I think it was, with a headline tending to doubt provoking, something like "The Democrats Nightmare Scenario." "Oh jeez, let me see what this is." An Obama economic adviser has been saying since the lockdown went into effect that we are going to see the biggest economic rebound in mankind's history. Of course, it was credible for coming from an Obama adviser, but it didn't give me any nightmares. I could be wrong but I don't think the Obama economic adviser opined the logical, ultimate step, that therefore Trump was going to overtake Biden in the polls. Completely logical, right? "It's the economy, stupid." (Except this is not 1992, stupid.) If he did take that logical next step it didn't cause me to waiver or vacillate. Some other guy made the point in that article, look, Trump has always gotten good marks from voters on his handling of the economy, still does! Still did when 30,000,000 applied for unemployment compensation. How much of a bump is Trump going to get for his handling of the economy if, instead of tanking, it's roaring, was this guy's point. In other words: people have made up their minds. Trump being an economic savant is already baked into the polls. And Trump is losing.

Now of course, of course, maybe the Obama adviser is right--Harry Truman used to say he wanted a one-handed economic adviser because they all would tell him, one the one hand, on the other hand--so maybe this Obama adviser is right and we're going to bam, zoom, to the moon! (I, a non-economist, do not think we're in for bam zooming to the moon--we'll go in orbit. Maybe.) and that will give Trump just enough of a bump to beat Biden. It's five months out! The polls are too close to rule that out. The Russians are coming! All true, I just don't feel it. I feel Biden's going to win.

#THUGtoo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Golf is degenerate Western game of capitalist, morbidly obese, cuckolded onanists. Marshal Kim Jon un does not play golf.

Marshal Kim Jong un gets tons of pussy.

“Recently more and more high school boys and girls are engaging in immoral sexual deviance. The local Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League in Sinuiju inspected high school students. The immoral sexual behavior of students, who are influenced by capitalist lifestyles, has become a problem.The committee defined sexual promiscuity among teenagers as a treasonous act."
https://nypost.com/2020/05/29/kim-jong-un-launches-bizarre-attack-on-teen-sex/

https://mobile.twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1266721632317575171

DPRK News Service

@DPRK_News

·

20h

DPRK Ministry of State Security sends advisors to train Minneapolis police department on humane handling and interrogation of suspects.

DPRK News Service

@DPRK_News

·

May 27

Marshal Kim Jong-Un has never been "fact-checked" by Twitter, or any similar social media world wide web home page.

DPRK News Service

@DPRK_News

·

May 28

Effort by Donald Trump to regulate "Twitter" is called the limp-wristed flailing of a mincing degenerate. Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea prohibits all Twitters, for protection of moral hygiene.

Epidemic Trump

Hey Trump, sorry I know it’s late. Bad news. Your total Killed rose at 12:04 a.m. to 102,836. Your total cases rose today too, over yesterday. This is from Hopkins:

I mean, Trump, look at that. Now here’s WaPo’s graph, dailies cum trend line:

I mean does that give you wood Trump? That’s a decline, for sure, but goddamn man, I’m not making a campaign commercial out of that! “We’re a Little Better!” It isn’t “powerful,” you know. You’ve seen other countries’ graphs right. I mean Trump, their cases drop off a fucking cliff! You’re treating this thing with a powder puff. You’re a tough guy, right? Why haven’t you thrown a haymaker at this sucker? Oh, your hands, arright.

Well, Deaths, you can take some solace on, at least per Chief WaPo.

Deaths were slightly down even today; down slightly yesterday,  fucking skrocketed, Bam! Zoom! the day of the 100,000. What I call thr tail of the dog is goddamned flat, but not perfectly. That table lists slightly to the right, which is down, which is good. But it has been eerily level in a way it has not been before. I am confident (but it’s ME) that tomorrow it’ll be going the right way even more.

But the Case rise is going to come back to bite you Trump. That thing has gone up and has been pretty doggone high the last two days. Just under 6% of those cases are going to become deaths.

The Trump Death

Trumpie, ya hittin' the links manana? What say ye we take one final gander at your handicap tonight-o. I predict, this is a pretty safe prediction, that at least according to WaPo your Death handicap is gonna be up over yesterday :( I'll put your score up on the leader board so you won't have to squint. Your Cases handicap was up a few hours ago. Survey says!

102,808 Geez, that's only ten more than the last time we checked. That didn't hurt at all. Oh, it actually just went up one to 809 but don't worry I'm not changing it.

5.88% And your Kill rate is down to as low as it's been in a good while a good while.

Now we have to turn to Chief WaPo to get the relatives.

I was WRONG Trumpie. You still haven't caught yesterday according to the Chief. 1,170 deaths today to 1,207 yesterday. It's passed eleven bells, I think you're safe for an hour. Your seven-day trend line continues to head south, as it has for over a month. Your tail though is straight as your pecker with Stormy Daniels and the same length, three.

You had a bad case of the Cases today, though. 24,463, higher than any day for a week. Your Cases inchworm humped up an inch, no biggie. The overall line continues down. 

I think you're good for the night, boy, go to sleep and don't think about what might happen overnight.

LET THEM COME! LET THEM COME! LET THEM COME!

The GOP convention is set for Charlotte, North Carolina in August. Over 50,000attendees are expected. Of course, since they are Republicans they want no social distancing and no masks. The Democratic governor and mayor are pressing the party for details on how they plan to hold the convention safely. Trump has threatened to move the convention. Personally, I think nothing could be finer than for 50,000 Low Lifes to be in Caroliner all smooshed together.

The Trump Death

Gettin' up there, Trumpie! Chief WaPo has May 29's deaths just shy of May 28's. Ominously WaPo has more new cases already today, with five hours to go, than May 28. This would mark the third straight day of increases as plotted by WaPo. It's not going to be a better day.

Epidemic Trump

This is really interesting! The Johnnies have more resources than I realized. First, this is an overlaid five-day trend line map of the ten hardest-hit countries.

We're in green, the line that dwarfs the other top ten combined. That shows comparatively just how shockingly bad Epidemic Trump has dealt with the Trump Epidemic.

Then the Johnnies have individual maps for each of the top-ten countries. Most of them look like a volcano or mountain peak that just towers over the countryside.

Italy's Mt. Vesuvius.

Spain is another volcano.

                          

See, as bad as it was, and it was HORRIBLE in Italy, the governments were functional and just knocked it flat on its ass.

Switzerland's Matterhorn:

France. Look at that pale daily spike right before the five-day spike. 26.849k cases that day. There is nothing like that in any other country's graph. Macron took a sledgehammer to that sucker.

And then there's the U.S.

A grandma's pat on the butt. Naughty, naughty, not too much infecting now! A kinder, gentler, stupider approach.

The U.S. graph doesn't look as similar to other countries' graphs as the group of competently governed "mountain" countries graphs do to each other. The U.S. trend is generally, consistently, but gradually down. The U.K.'s graph looks kinda like the U.S.' but they got real serious the first week in May and got a huge drop.

The U.S. map has the herkie-jerkies like Sweden's map, but Anders, oh my God Anders, you done fucked up, Anders, Sweden's herkie-jerkies don't go down over time like the U.S.'s do.

So, you can roughly group the U.S. with the other failures at life like the U.K. and Sweden. You cannot group the U.S. with the governments that knew what they were doing.