Message Forum

Lance,

I was looking through your list to see if there was a false term thrown in to test to see whether we were reading. I was hoping for some sort of reward.

Sandra,

I am not a Covid-19 denier. I wash my hands for twenty seconds in scalding hot water every five minutes.I carry a spray bottle of bleach to douse anyone who comes within ten feet of me. I don't touch my face except with a ten-foot pole that has been certified virus-free. (Note: I realize that there is a flaw in the logic of the ten foot pole. Someone else has to hold the other end, and then I am compelled to spray them with my bleach bottle. It's hard to get volunteers.)

I just think we are overreacting. There's no reason that financial markets should have fallen as far as they have. The economy is suffering because panic-stricken people are making it suffer. Some people are losing their means of employment. I'll probably put off retirement for another semester. Weddings are being postponed. Travel arrangements are canceled. (I am supposed to be in Washington, D.C for a conference right now.)

Sent to me by a lurker:

03/15/20 05:17 PM

#17676

David,

I am glad you are not a Covid-19 denier, and that you wash your hands as often as you do. I will sleep soundly tonight with the knowledge that at least one small part of the greater Metroplex is a bit safer with you and your family doing their part. We do the same here. I just wish that the majority of our fellow citizens felt the same. My sister in law's husband falls under the category of hoax believers. It is just all cooked up by the media according to him. If 30% fall into that category we are probably in for a tough spring and summer.

I just heard the President and Vice President speak along with the experts behind them. Trump's priority it seems is the interest rate, which is now what he has championed for quite a while, zero or near that. Free money with no where to go from there. High priority indeed. The economy. Then they mentioned the testing and getting that under way and how that group worked long hours and endured pizza for, what was it 42 hours, to get it together. That and meeting with grocery store execs, who assured them that supplies would be restocked soon. Aaron's best friend lives in Denver, he told him that the grocery store there is empty. Yes, you read that right, empty. At least they are prioritizing who gets the tests first and they are free. Whee! I feel so much better.

03/15/20 05:42 PM

#17677

Hmmm. Just wondering if I would be willing to trade a two-week case Covid-19 for a replenishment of my retirement account.

You may have heard that Italy is closed, but apparently they have taken the opportunity to refurbish the Sistine Chapel ceiling. (From a lurker.)

03/16/20 07:44 AM

#17678

This article from The Atlantic says it all for me. The Coronavirus Called America's Bluff

Otherwise, happy Monday morning folks! Waking up to a new reality. Empty grocery store shelves, tanking stock market, resturant and bar closings, and over 5 inches of rain over the last three days. Bright side, lots of families will cook at home, teach their kids at home and work from home. Something we did for years and years. We are used to it.

03/16/20 11:14 AM

#17679

Steve Keene

David,

I went to a little out of the way pharmacy in Hillsboro to buy hand sanitizer and masks. Two guys in front of me tried on masks and then pulled guns and robbed the pharmacist of two cases of viagra. The Hillsboro Sheriff’s office has put out an APB for two hardened criminals.

03/16/20 12:27 PM

#17680

Excellent, Steve!

Sandra,

It is impossible for Trump haters to see anything without looking through the "I hate Trump" lens.

Has Trump done everything well during this difficult period? No. Would Biden have rated an A+? How about Sanders? How about Hillary Clinton? How about the author of the Atlantic article? How about you or me?

We are all Monday morning quarterbacks. Everything we would have done if we had been in charge would have been perfect. Nothing would have gone wrong. No mistakes, missteps, or misstatements -- by anyone, from the president on down to the most basic decision-maker in the bureacracy. In the words of the Sam Cooke song, What a Wonderful World This Would Be.

Would quicker availability of testing have meant that we would have had no cases of Covid-19? No. Would there have been more cases recognized? Yes. Would fewer people have died? Who knows?

Here are some thoughts:

Keeping the cruise ship off-shore may have helped slow the growth in Covid-19 cases. What would The Atlantic have said if one of the passengers had infected even one person on dry land?
Shutting off travel from parts of China in January almost certainly reduced the number of cases in the U.S. What was the response from the media? "Trump is xenophobic."
How about restricting travel from Europe? "Trump angered European leaders."

Was there praise from The Atlantic for those decisions?

It is fashionable to denigrate the US, and The Atlantic's article is a good example (as is the idiotic 1619 Project from the New York Times). How many articles in The Atlantic praise this country. As far as I can tell, the Washington and New York media will have nothing good to say about the US, not to mention about Trump, as long as Trump is president. If only a Democrat were president, everything would be just grand, and no diseases would ever occur. Indeed, What a Wonderful World This Would Be.

Except ... swine flu broke out in March 2009. President Obama didn't declare a national emergency until October 24, 2009, seven months later. On November 12, 2009, CDC reported that 4,000 Americans had died. On December 10, 2009, CDC reported that approximately 50 million Americans had been infected and approximately 10,000 Americans had died. Trump's fault??

To change directions, I appreciate the tone of the second paragraph of your post. The fact is that we will emerge from the other side of the Covid-19 crisis eventually, in both physical and economic health. Swine flu is a distant memory. People died, but people survived. The economy grew. The stock market grew.

The world is not going to end.

In the words of FDR, "The only thing we have to fee-ah, is fee-ah itself."

Or, to quote Pogo once more, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Take your pick.

03/16/20 12:39 PM

#17681

A funny one just now on FB. You will probably see the repost...

If I die from the Corona virus, please don't let me vote democrat!

03/16/20 01:32 PM

#17682

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

David,

Your post #18574 was excellent!

I'm so tired of the "Never Trumper's" piss-ant attitude! We all know Trump is not perfect, but he isn't the anti-Christ, as they would have us all believe!

And the virus DID start in China, to be grossly mishandled by the Communist leaders, because they didn't want the embarrassment. So when Trump said it was a "foreign" virus, which meant it came from outside the US, he wasn't being a xenophobe, he was stating a fact! Not that THE ATLANTIC would report it that way, nor the NYT, THE WASHINGTON POST, CNN, nor Andrew Cuomo!

And the Mainstream Media has purposely managed to cause hysteria, panic, (and hording of items needed by everyone of your neighbors who may live on limited retirement funds, & who don't have an extra freezer in their garages) in their continuning effort to smear Trump and help the Democrat Party, as the dutiful lapdogs they are. They should be ashamed of themselves, but they aren't. I suspect they are snickering and feeling smug.

Just heard on our local radio newscast that some parents were seen crying at the announcement that schools would extend spring break for an extra two wks., because they(parents) depended on the schools to be their babysitters, as well as the breakfast and lunch providers for their kids! It seems "the almighty government" has convinced these parents that 'THEY--The Government' will provide!! And here we are, allowing huge masses of Central Americans to "come on in(!)" since "the government" will "take care of you and all your family members, no matter how many family members you may have!" We have made our society a dependent society! Our ancestors must be 'rolling in their graves'!!

Our H.E.B. grocery store clerk told us that 70 people were lined up this morning as the store opened. They bought all of the new shipment of toilet paper and left none for the shoppers who shop at normal hours. They also bought all of the cans of Lysol spray.

03/16/20 02:44 PM

#17683

Kurt Fischer

I'm not sure whether my postings about Hong Kong are very interesting, but I still follow their news.

They have done a tremendous job in containing the virus, with only 157 cases and 4 deaths since November. That's for a population of around 7 1/2 million living in very close quarters with a great many of them very low income.

Yet the newspapers are filled with articles describing the incompetence of their government officials. It really reminds me of the criticism here. Their criticism went through the cycle - You should have planned better; You should have tested more; You should have provided more hospital beds;, etc.

Ultimately the individuals within the city played a great part in dealing with the disease. They have modified their travel, they have worked from home, they have kept and educated their kids at home, they have worn masks to limit the risk to other individuals.

But the government provided the environment for coping with the disease. Our government seems to be laying a similar foundation. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

03/16/20 03:03 PM

#17684

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Steve: lol fo sho. Thanks.

03/16/20 03:41 PM

#17685

Wayne Gary

David,

I heard there were a number of cases of Corona-HO over the weekend. The normal cause of this ailment is a 12 pack of Corona. The ailment AKA Corona hang over.

03/16/20 03:59 PM

#17686

David, my responese in RHS High School Purple.

It is impossible for Trump haters to see anything without looking through the "I hate Trump" lens.

Trump hater. That must be me. I don’t have a “lens”. I try to use common sense, mixed with science to tackle tough issues like this. I do a lot of research, I don’t jump to conclusions. Yes, I don't like Trump. You don't have to remind me, I know how I feel.

For a start, I wish the Trump administration would get testing from the WHO, and quit saying he has it all “under control”, that only makes it worse. It is not under control. It will get worse. Who knows how any of the people you have listed would have done. They can’t do anything about it and looking to the past solves nothing. As for me, I am following directions as best as I can. I am staying home, washing my hands, and only shopping at grocery stores. I have 2 to three weeks of food to feed a family of four. I am very nervous about my mother. I cancelled her doctor’s appointment (foot doc), as it was not necessary and risky. What a wonderful world…

Would quicker availability of testing have meant that we would have had no cases of Covid-19? No. Would there have been more cases recognized? Yes. Would fewer people have died? Who knows?

I disagree. More testing would have revealed where the community outbreaks were happening and we would have a clearer picture now of where and whom to quarantine. Will more people die??, you bet they will. We don’t have enough hospital space, doctors or first responders to handle the 17% who get very sick. There is not enough medical equipment, beds, or space. New York is mobilizing as best they can, but the Feds are dragging their feet and should have admitted we had a problem sooner. Triage will weed out who will survive and who will not. Those that will, will get ventilators, those that won’t, won’t. I feel very sorry for the doctors, nurses and first responders who will have to make those choices. This is not a simple as “Monday Morning Quarterbacking”. It is life and death for thousands, perhaps millions. It will change this country for decades, perhaps forever. Yeah, what a wonderful world it would be. Here is a sobering thought, today the entire state of Texas reported ONE NEW CASE. Only one. Amazing isn't it? I guess it is because we are so great that nothing touches us.

Here are some thoughts:

Keeping the cruise ship off-shore may have helped slow the growth in Covid-19 cases. What would The Atlantic have said if one of the passengers had infected even one person on dry land? I don’t’ work for The Atlantic, so I have no idea. I think it would be cruel to keep passengers offshore for indefinite periods of time, not to mention the crew. It would only make the situation and threat of infection worse. No, we did the right thing to bring the passengers onshore. At least you can test, quarantine and treat on land.
Shutting off travel from parts of China in January almost certainly reduced the number of cases in the U.S. What was the response from the media? "Trump is xenophobic." I agree it was time to restrict travel. Should have done it sooner.
How about restricting travel from Europe? "Trump angered European leaders." It angered them because he gave them no notice. Instead of working with European leaders he has gone behind their back (Germany) to try to buy a company working on a vaccine to make it EXCLUSIVE TO THE US. Perhaps he is more interested in profit before public safety and interest? Seems strange he would want to make it exclusive and not share it with the world.

Was there praise from The Atlantic for those decisions?

Obviously I picked the wrong publication. My apologies. I know, I know…The Atlantic is way too liberal and critical of the USA. I am so sorry. I will try to find something more cheerful in the future. After all we must soldier on and be strong and only look for what will make us look good, feel better and strengthen our belief system.

Not Trump’s fault it was BT (Before Trump). All this must be Obama’s fault. Sigh. Fashionable? Seriously? How about freedom to speak truth to power?

I will do my best to survive this, my mother survived the Nazi occupation of Holland, I can deal with this. I might lose her or some of my friends and family. I am not sure I can prepare for that, but I will fight like hell and speak out all I want to make a difference. That is just me. Outspoken liberal. I can't believe that has become an ugly word. What a wonderful world.

The world is not going to end. At least we can agree on this, it will change though and sometimes change is good.

In the words of FDR, "The only thing we have to fee-ah, is fee-ah itself." That and no toilet paper.

Or, to quote Pogo once more, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Take your pick. I pick this: United we Stand and Divided We Fall.

03/16/20 07:23 PM

#17687

A long time friend, darts, golf, social, and fantasy football owns some 28 Irish bars here in Houston, Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Galveston, and Clear Lake.

All ordered closed tomorrow, 8:00 A.M. (indefinitely? I don't know)

St. Patrick's.

And I am just hoping people pay their home and auto insurance premiums, (and flood and windstorm.)

03/16/20 10:47 PM

#17688

Anyone have a theory as to why Texas hasn't been hit too hard by Covid-19? It is almost 9% of the national population, but

85 of 4661 cases - 1.8%
0 of 85 deaths.

I know Washington state skews the numbers, but still ...no deaths?

03/16/20 10:55 PM

#17689

heat no tests

Also, David. I was very surprised at my co pay on my own mos surgery about 60 days ago. Did you have any issues on your final payment invoice?

03/17/20 01:46 AM

#17690

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

I just heard part of a discussion on the radio, of a man who has lived in China and has done an indepth study of the G5 mobile phone system that China is trying to get many countries to buy from them. He was saying that THAT phone system is extremely dangerous to buy into, because he claims it is loaded with the abilites to "infect" all types of operating capacities in any country, and when it "latches on" to a country's intricate technical systems, it can alter the systems without detection, and it can infect them in ways that are startlingly "eerie" to almost everyone who finds out about them. It can even cause a person's immune system to become diminished, which I have never heard of before. He claims that undetectible messages can cause a person's memory to be altered in nefarious ways, or that a person's mind can be controlled somehow. (I suppose in a hypnotic process of sorts, unbeknownst to the person holding the phone.)

What I was hearing was rather scary to learn about, and I am wondering if others have heard reports about the capabilites of these new phones. I believe they have been banned from the US, but I've heard that Great Britain is going to be purchasing them.

They can dangerously mingle with our military's technical programs and secret operations, also.

The man who was speaking on the radio program, said these phones can connect to AI systems, and can interfere with AI systems that the US is developing, in a very negative way, so he was warning people in the US to beware of what is being offered for sale from China, as the Chinese are truly trying to infiltrate our country and our intelligence as to overwhelm us with their control, as we have suspected for some time.

Since I only heard a small portion of the program as I was driving, I didn't catch the man's name before I reached my destination and had to leave my car. I wish I had heard more.....

Another report I heard earlier tonight, was a report about a drug that was used long ago for malaria, during WWI. Doctors were saying that the drug has shown promising results with Covid-19, as an anti-viral medication, so that's great news! Hopefully, it can be used right away on patients with the virus!

03/17/20 06:33 AM

#17691

Lowell,

The cost to me for the Mohs surgery was my $35 co-pay, plus the $35 for thie initial evaluation visit. I have been back twice for concerns about whether it was healing properly and possibly being infected (it was/it wasn't). They didn't charge for those visits. I think the bill to the insurance company was around $2,000. I am still insured by UT System.

My regular dermatologist doesn't do Mohs. He has a special radiation machine that pinpoints the radiation and wanted me to consider it. However, it would have taken eighteen visits (hassle) at $35 co-pay per visit.

I will have some scarring, but it won't be hideous. Some would say it will be an improvement! This graphic (obviously not my real ear!) shows where the issue is.

03/17/20 06:46 AM

#17692

Janalu,

I have had scores of students and several teaching/research assistants from China, and I haven't had any issues with them. They are very good students, except for not being responsive in class.

That said, it bothers me that our country has become so dependent on China for the supply chain and final production. For example, our smartphones are made in China. How secure are they? Yes, Apple controls production, but bad things can happen anywhere. Do I trust Huawei with 5G? No. I consider China to be a competitor. I don't know if I would call China an enemy, but it's pretty close.

There's probably someone right now in Shanghai looking at the photos of naked women that my friends send me.

Clarification - my friends send the photos, not the women. (I wish!!)

03/17/20 07:38 AM

#17693

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3550308

Re Covid-19

This abstract of a paper is intriguing. The whole paper can be downloaded or viewed in a browser.

03/17/20 08:25 AM

#17694

David,

I agree that China is a competitor. China supplies 80% of our prescription drugs. I call that putting too many eggs in the same basket. Since they don't have regulations in place and the FDA does not test adequately there, I am very concerned. I have been concerned since the 1990's when jobs were shipped over to China to save large corporations on labor. We were affected because programming jobs went the way of China, India, the Phillipines etc. Not only were jobs lost, but proprietary software technologies and software code as well. I wish we would put incentives in place to encourage US companies to keep productions like this here. Another liberal thought....

03/17/20 11:56 AM

#17695

Sandra,

I wouldn't call that a liberal thought. Trump has railed against China for 20 years. Of course, he also used China in the production of his line of neckties, but he might be forgiven for that since China is almost a monopoly producer of silk.

I am not an isolationist, but I believe in self-sufficiency. That concept extends to energy self-sufficiency, too. The Arab oil embargo is still fresh in my memory, and I believe in fracking. Biden and Sanders apparently don't.

03/17/20 12:32 PM

#17696

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

David,

I think the Chinese people are basically good, hard working, decent people, and most of them seem to be quite intelligent, although I would question their knowledge about the proper foods to eat. Certainly they should learn not to eat bats, pangolins, certain snakes, koalas, cats, dogs, etc., which I heard they were buying from their "wet" markets. (One newscast I was watching showed a cameraman photgraphing 'live' animals in one of those markets, on the sly, but he was quickly run out of the market and scolded not to use his camera there.) I guess the Chinese government doesn't want the world to know of the Chinese eating habits. (I wonder why?)

But I think the communist government is the entity we need to be very cautious about. They are the ones who have their tenacles on the Huawei products, evidently, therefore we probably need to find out more about them.

The government there are trying to overtake us in power and in world-wide direction of the future, it seems to me.

Another fact I learned, was that they manufacture and sell us so many of our drugs, or the ingredients we need to manufacture our drugs here! I think we need to get that problem reversed, if possible, right away! It doesn't make sense to me to have them in so much control of the drugs on which our citizens rely. I sense danger there.

03/17/20 12:46 PM

#17697

Houston is 29.75 latitude....

Whoosh..

On China...not just pharmacueticals, but for almost everything else that needs it,

they mine rare elements and ,minerals.

We are late on getting started on that, but there is or are some ventures...(strip mining.).

I think there are avenues to invest...

03/17/20 01:09 PM

#17698

Apparently, the first COVID-19 death in Texas occurred in my wife's home county, although it isn't clear that the death was actually due to COVID-19. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavirus/1st-death-due-to-covid-19-reported-in-matagorda-county/2332003/

The Matagorda County Emergency Operation Center said in a news release that a male patient in his late 90s died Sunday evening at Matagorda Regional Medical Center with symptoms consistent with the virus. The patient was a resident of the county.

Late 90s?!?!

At the risk of being flippant, one of the best ways to survive this virus is to avoid being in your late 90s. I've been really good at that so far.

Obviously, those of you fortunate to have elderly loved ones need to be much more concerned about them than my children are concerned about me! Actually, in my case, I don't think my children will be very concerned about me when I do get to my 90s. And I will! I intend to live as long as possible to deprive them of their inheritance for as long as possible! I have an image of them hovering around my death bed, tapping their feet while looking at fancy cars on their smartphones.

03/18/20 07:59 AM

#17699