Did I do it again or did I do it again????? I reviewed this overpriced restaurant giving it a 1.7 out of 5. Everything was all kinds of bad here, from the tables and chairs still stacked up, to the absence of a menu, to food quality. The phony looking hanging sign inside displaying their name didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Well I went by the joint a week ago, and it was dark inside, at 12:30 mind you, heart of lunch time. Actually, there was a man working inside, he identified himself as the alarm installer. But no workers to be found, not really a surprise. I walked by the place again today, and they are permanently closed, I guess when there is a pandemic and folks aren’t allowed to leave their homes, overpriced, poor quality food is not the answer. Who knew?
Oh, check out their Yelp reviews, looks like they were universally bad.
So yes, they are permanently closed. Johnnie Does claims another scalp, (no offense to The Chief is intended by this remark). I have done more damage to poor/bad businesses in a few short months than The Chief has ever done. And frankly he needs to change his name, it’s very offensive, maybe indigenous blogger would be a better fit?
Just remember restaurants, Johnnie Does is always lurking about. You can try to hide, but if he gains entry, he can elevate you to the next level, or he can shut you down. Side Burn BBQ and Gordito’s have been shut down by Johnnie Does.
Bloggers note:Johnnie Does is apparently channeling his inner James Carville as he was so hot, he almost spontaneously combusted because of his lunch visit. Below is his account.
I visited Rubio’s on Bruceville Road on Friday 6/7 for lunch. Rubio’s is a chain, known for their fish tacos. The menu is a little pricy but that’s ok as they are known for quality. They operate as a fast-casual place, meaning you order at the counter, take a place at a table, and the food is brought to you.
I ordered a bacon and shrimp burrito. It comes with rice, beans, the aforementioned (great word by the way) shrimp and bacon as well as guacamole, which I declined. As the Blog Father can attest, I never order sour cream or guacamole as I am severely allergic. Yes, as in it could kill me; apparently, I had a health episode as a kid and have never touched it since. I even say no guacamole or sour cream even when the entrée doesn’t come with it just to make a point of my major food allergy. To continue, I placed my order and found an empty table. It was filthy, not with food remnants, but dirt and grime. Wasn’t this place closed for 11 weeks?
Continuing onward; I waited for about 20 minutes. I don’t mind waiting because I would rather that my food be fresh and made to order as opposed to a fast food, quick serve place where they have it precooked. As the lady brought the burrito out, I had a feeling something was wrong; especially when a side of guacamole in a small cup was accompanying it. She set the burrito down in front of me, to which I inquired… “is that guacamole?” pointing to the top of the burrito at a green, ¼ inch thick coating. She responded affirmative. I told her I am deathly allergic and asked for it to be left off. She said they would remake it, but only after checking my order ticket. I knew there was a problem here…. customer is allegedly always right, why the checking of the ticket?
So, the young lady promised to have it re-made After a 10-minute wait (again not a big deal), she came right back to the table… with the exact same burrito just face down. The same guacamole conveniently located now on the downside. When I pointed that out, the young lady apologized saying they would make it a third time…. funny she said third because it was never re-made.
Look, I know kitchens are reluctant to remake or scrape off, margins are thin as it is, but when a food allergy is involved… it was their error.
I declined a third attempt as I have a schedule to keep at work, one must earn a living you know. She told me it would take her 1 minute. Again, I declined. It was 1:22 and my lunch is over at 1:30. She insisted. I kept saying I have to get to work, let’s just refund the transaction, I never blamed her. She said she didn’t want me to leave without food, it’s a nice gesture but it was too late. I told her I had to go. She said, let me write your name down and come back later to a free entrée…. keep in mind I already paid for one that was never made correctly. I told her I would not likely be back for dinner, to which she offered just come to the counter your name will be written down whenever you want, like some sort of will call. When I declined, (let’s face it, Johnnie used to be a common name) I don’t want some other jamoke to grab a free entrée because they are a namesake.
This is when it got odd, they would not refund me my money. I used a valid credit card; it should have been easy. She kept insisting on this will call thing, which I was not interested in. I was told no refunds, but I could charge back my credit purchase. Funny, this is likely due to places of business being “protected” when charges are under $25. This means the business does not lose the revenue, yet I am made full.
Rubio’s, I will never visit your weak-kneed establishment again. Twitter followers pin this and retweet as I am in disbelief. They may have messed up on my order, but to re-serve it face down knowing someone could potentially get very sick and/or die from a food allergy is a wild move. To add, seems like your location has several cockroaches there, and I am not talking about just your kitchen, I’m talking about in your bathrooms.
Thankfully, Covid-19 has decided to stand with Black Lives Matter—except unborn blacks or black Republicans—and agreed to allow congregating in Democrat led political districts without worry of spreading the Corona virus. This truce has allowed protestors to pillage and burn black and minority owned businesses.
It seems that black folks are angry about having to social distance, shelter in place, and watch too much cable news or maybe they were looking for an excuse to let off some steam against the oppression of Democrats where they live and help themselves to a new television or pair of Nike sneakers in the process. Anyway, if Dems rule a particular city or state, the police have been told to stand-down and watch as their local elected officials stand (or kneel) with law breakers that are protesting the actions of a few rouge officers in another state run by Democrats.
This whole thing is a farce. It is a George Soros type operation that is paid for and coordinated by a few troublemakers bent on stirring up the masses just before the November election. This is an independent expenditure on behalf of Joe Biden intended to get the blacks back on the Democrat reservation just in time to mobilize their votes. Sorry folks but I have zero sympathy for these protestors.
I’m sorry that the arrest of Mr. George Floyd resulted in his death but last I checked, the police that were involved were being dealt with by local authorities and President Trump ordered the Feds to investigate as well.
Any way you want to calculate it, most blacks are victimized by other blacks. Whether abortion, robberies, homicides, assaults, etc. most blacks are doing it to their own community. Some white cops get filmed on a bystander’s cell phone restraining Mr. Floyd and suddenly we have nationwide protests. This is not a proportional response.
As stated many times before on this blog, if black lives really mattered, these protestors would be at Planned Parenthood every day protesting until the abortion facilities built to eliminate them—minorities and poor people—were all closed.The truth is that BLM is about creating social and societal unrest. It is just a Marxist tool to control people and further a political agenda.
Folks, when you close churches nationwide, don’t feign surprise when evil breaks out. Actions have consequences. I find it funny that the ones supporting the closure of churches for the last three months are now pretending surprise when evil is freely practiced on the streets. People in these communities are sheltering in place now for safety. They have traded fear of one disease (a virus) for fear of another (sin).
If you break the law, you should fear the consequences whether you wear a badge or not. If you smash windows and steal stuff, or beat up strangers, you have become the very thing that you claimed you were protesting. The Liberal response is to remove the consequences and not enforce the law.The solution is the opposite; namely, enforce that law regardless of race, occupation, or social status.
Folks, I’m all for review and reform of our laws—especially in the areas of immigration and criminal justice—but relaxing the consequences for either the cops or the protestors is not the proper framework to begin such an examination.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and likewise, fear of the Lord is the beginning of justice too.
Yep, I just put several pieces of pop culture together in a way that makes sense to our current situation. Here’s the explanation and it’s so simple that even many low information folks—oh, I mean those that binge watch 24/7 cable news or listen to streaming music all day—can understand.
Please note that there are spoilers here for War of the Worlds so if you don’t know the ending, turn back now.
Whether in its more recent rendition with a voiceover from Morgan Freeman or the original radio play by H.G. Wells, its not the men but the microbes that defeat the alien invaders. Freeman’s voiceover can be summed up as this, men have inhabited this planet for a long time and as germs have mutated, our bodies have responded by strengthening our immune systems to cope with the hostile environment encountered in world that we live in.
Please note that I’m not really a Keeper Of Odd Knowledge (K.O.O.K.) but I just watched the show over the weekend for the first time, from start to finish. When I read an article linked by Joe Miller today, the connection was obvious.
The article is an explanation of herd immunity which scientists know exists in the current Covid-19 pandemic but heretofore lacked a good way of understanding. Many, including me, sensed there was herd immunity at work but where we erred was in thinking that you had to be infected and recover from Covid-19 to be immune. Well guess what? That assumption is wrong.
On the one hand, this virus seems to be extremely contagious and transmissible.On the other hand, it appears to have been around for a while, possibly in December, and didn’t kill too many people until super-spreading events in March.
On the one hand, the virus seems to kill a lot of vulnerable people for several weeks. But then it peaks after six weeks or so and nearly disappears a month or so later.We’ve seen the same curve in every country, almost as if it hits a brick wall and then runs out of steam.
But why is that the case? Most antibody tests show no more than 10%-15% of the population contain antibodies in a given area – 25% in the most extreme case of New York City. Why would the virus not continue cutting through the population like butter, as it did the first number of people who contracted the virus? The theory of a more ubiquitous cross-immunity from other coronaviruses would answer those questions and explain that invisible brick wall.
A theory of partial immunity, at least from helper T cells (if not killer T cells) could also explain why, on the one hand, once the virus gets into prisons, most test positive for it, but on the other hand, nearly all of them seem asymptomatic. The outcome of prisons as a fully confined and defined population could be a harbinger of what would theoretically happen if the entire world were exposed to the virus after it had already targeted the most vulnerable population. It’s possible that upwards of 95% would be asymptomatic, just like we are seeing in prisons.
Perhaps, it could also explain why there appears to be a massive gap in severity of the virus in Asia vs. Western countries. Asian countries are regularly exposed to coronaviruses.
“In almost every context we’ve seen the epidemic grow, turn around and die away — almost like clockwork.Different countries have had different lockdown policies, and yet what we’ve observed is almost a uniform pattern of behavior which is highly consistent with the SIR model. To me that suggests that much of the driving force here was due to the build-up of immunity.”
Folks, as stated in this space previously, we should fear neither men nor microbes but only Almighty God. I’m not worried about Covid-19. The time and place of my death was appointed before the world began; all I can do is keep pressing on until my time is up. I suggest that you do likewise.
Victoria’s Secret is a women’s fashion company that has faced struggling sales and financial issues over the last year and a half, in fact they were even sold to a private equity company, only to have the buyer pull out of the deal. I am going to examine just how these problems began arising and what is being done to fix them.
Investing in a company like Victoria’s Secret should be a no-brainer, right? Most of their products are made using unpaid/sparsely paid jail labor and sold for a very large markup. Typically, if you sell a few items you have paid for the cost of the entire box and everything after that is profit. Items sold at VS are sold at very high margins, with the only expenses being rent and employee salaries. Add to that the long line of supermodels and stars who wear/market their products. Their annual fashion show gets millions upon millions of viewers. So why did the stock crater, profitability dry out, and cause 55% of VS to be sold to a private buyer?
The answer is complex and frankly I am not sure the company can dig itself out of the hole they created themselves.
Pink has VS seeing red
It seems like it started in 2002 when they opened VS Pink stores, aimed at the 15-22-year-old demographic. It used to be a brand for mature, older women who would buy a special something for themselves, and for their partner. It was sexy, unique, and basically you wore it in the bedroom for a little bit, or when you were feeling yourself (feeling good, head out of the gutter) or as a surprise for your man. This opening of Pink caused a sea change in the company’s philosophy and likely caused outright shock for anyone who has a daughter, fathers especially. Pink caters directly too college/high school students, but it’s not just the pajama’s, thong underwear, etc. that was shocking, it was the horrendously cheap quality. A hallmark of VS used to be an unmatched quality product.
In addition to poor-to-average quality products, Pink delineated the brand, in another way. VS used to be iconic with models/the bedroom, they began selling workout attire, perfume, swimwear, and regular clothing, similar to Abercrombie and Fitch. The phrase “I went to VS”, went from wow, am I in for a fun night, to……well she probably got some cheap underwear or a bath bomb. If you’re a company selling sex/smut/etc. you want to keep that identity, they threw it away.
Another thing, Victoria’s Secret didn’t keep up with changing times. This resulted in erosion of the brand’s perception. Back then if a girl was not skinny or didn’t have the right body type, her friends didn’t care, they bought the product anyway. Now girls tend to protest companies that do not foster inclusion. VS went all in on girls who were a size 0, basically very skinny, and had the perfect body type, think very toned and the perfect breasts and butt. This works for a while, but stories began to trickle out of VS associates telling certain girls “we don’t sell anything for your body type here” and not stocking sizes over a medium will get you killed in the social media environment we live in today. Think herd mentality (or Yelp), if you get treated wrong at a store, then you tell your friends. Often this results in a high likely hood they will boycott as well.
I spoke to several women about this issue ranging in ages from 18-55 and they all were very down on VS, I have included responses below.
Their products are cheaply made crap, the underwear rips after being washed about 4 times.
I wanted to get sized for a bra, they only had a guy working on the sales floor, he was more than eager to help…creepy!
VS isn’t for me, they market to supermodels…I like my body, VS wants me to hate it.
VS is for college kids, I am not longer in college, I found a new brand.
I’m not a skinny girl, VS has nothing for me…too bad because bigger women have sex too ya know.
I used to shop their religiously, then I realized at 30 I was double the age of the average VS Pink customer…. I found a new brand.
Not every girl looks like Kate Upton or Megan Fox. It creates a dangerous stereotype of perfect women, also it creates a culture of men not wanting to be seen with/date bigger women.
(Editor’s Note: who is Kate Upton? This is the first I’ve heard mentioned about Megan Fox since she quit the Transformers franchise over a decade ago. Guess Chief likes his squaws on the young side.)
Megan Fox Transformers (2007)
Note: every single woman I spoke with was done with the company and would not come back. When I asked their preferred brand, the answers ran the gamut; Aerie, was the number one choice. Most folks these days are intensely brand loyal and will not return if they have a bad experience or interaction.
The stock of VS parent L Brands has gone from about $100 to about $12 over the span of 18 months, most of this pre-pandemic. VS was actually sold (55%) of it to a private equity group Sycamore Partner, they are famous for buying distressed clothing assets and trying to turn them around. Sycamore backed out of the deal about a month ago. When private equity (think Mitt Romney, Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn etc.) want no part of you, it’s a sinking ship. VS is and continues to be a major drag on L Brands earnings. (L Brands also owns high growth brand Bath and Body Works). Problem is they have no buyer so they must do something to re-image the brand. I am not sure what the future will look like, but they announced they were closing 25% of their stores today. Ask how that strategy worked for Circuit City, Sear’s, Pier One, and a host of others. I think VS is circling the drain, problem is management likely doesn’t see the dark hole, they think there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The Chief
PS I spoke to a former girlfriend who works for law firm Lowe, Ballem & Lynch, a direct competitor of Dewey, Screwem & Howe, the latter being a friend of the blog. Anyhow the ex had this to say about VS. I used to shop there, I won’t anymore, the Pink store is 90% high school and college age girls, and I am not one anymore. As far as the flagship VS stores, they carry nice stuff but it’s very overpriced, and all the photos are of perfect bodied models. They also manipulate their sizing, I wear a size small at most places, at VS the medium was too small and sometimes the large felt just right? It made me feel very self-conscious and questioned my motives of being a customer of theirs. I shop at Aerie (American Eagle Brand) and they cater to all women, we all have unique bodies and I just feel more comfortable. It doesn’t help CEO of L-Brands Les Wexler (the founder by the way) was linked to Jeffrey Epstein and his underage girls…. I have a hard time supporting someone like that.
Blogger note: For the record Wexler did step aside.
Photo-05/16/2020 residents of Virginia flocking to beaches in violation of their governor’s order that they can only fish or jog.
I wish to tweak a saying quoted often here so it reads, “Lie, damn lies, computer models, and statistics.” This applies not just to Covid-19 but to every other catastrophe of the imagination including population explosion, climate change—formerly global cooling and/or warming depending on which decade and paperback prophet of doom is quoted—rising sea levels, rainforest depletion, fossil fuel depletion, viability of socialism, and just about everything else that leftists have popularized over the years.
High on my list of news recently is the fact that Gavin Newsom is being dragged kicking and screaming, like a spoiled little girl throwing a tantrum, into allowing California into opening despite his wishes. As we have been demanding, the Orange Man has taken up our cause stating that churches are essential. Last week the Justice Department told California to reopen churches and so did the CDC. Look we know the CDC didn’t want it to happen but since Trump is their boss and churches elsewhere are opening anyway, Trump got the CDC to move churches toward the front of the line and issue guidelines for doing so. Frankly, the CDC guidelines sound way too much like those from Tennessee but at least Trump got the ball rolling.
Further irony can be found that my church declined to participate in the statewide protest to hold services on May 31st—not wishing to disobey the civil magistrate—but Newsom will likely be forced to open all churches by then anyway. Look for mandatory and reduced attendance and social distancing to be required when California rolls-out the rules tomorrow. Basically, we will get services without worship and people will be allowed to congregate. Many of the masses will claim victory but without the sacraments is it truly worship—I think not. You will find that we are still a long way from singing, greeting, weddings, funerals, and “regular” resumption of church life.
Folks, I can think of nothing worse in the current climate than dying right now. Denying a Christian burial in such times as these is a curse. That most churches never protested such is a sad commentary on the weakness of the faith in our country. Ditto for weddings.
Anyway, here are news stories that you may have missed.
Sacramento Bee attacks Newsom.
“If we move through Phase Two, that’s roughly 70 percent of the economy. That may sound significant, but modifications are real restrictions in terms of commerce, and the biggest restriction of course is customer confidence,” Newsom said at a press conference last week.
He expanded on that claim during Tuesday’s press conference, when he said that 21 sectors of the state’s economy were now able to operate.
“You go industry by industry, sectors that never closed, construction and the like. And each one of those categories, you add them all up, you’re now north of 70 percent,” Newsom said.
But is it fair to say 70 percent of the state’s $3 trillion-a-year economy is reopening now? Sung Won Sohn, a business economist at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, questioned Newsom’s analysis.
Take the restaurant industry, for example. Sohn said the restaurants where he lives are open for takeout, but their business probably is off 90 percent. The same with car dealers, another major segment of the economy.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” said Thornberg, founder of Beacon Economics and a business forecaster at UC Riverside.
Thornberg said that there is no way to fact-check the statement because it was an empty one.
However, there was good news because of the shelter at home order as deaths in other areas are down significantly.
The pandemic is having a positive impact on California’s highways. The California Highway Patrol says the number of crashes and DUIs have dropped significantly in the past two months.
The agency says the number of crashes is down 75% from March 19 through April 30, compared to the same time last year. There was also an 88% drop in the number of deaths on the road and a 62% decrease in the number of crash-related injuries.
Oh, Newsom is not the only governor leading from behind. In Virginia, the governor there has declared that since so many disobeyed him last weekend, he will bless their behavior, specifically at the beach.
Under Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s eased coronavirus restrictions in effect Friday, the state’s oceanfront was relegated to fishing and exercise only, and social distancing was required.
But that didn’t keep crowds away from Virginia Beach over the weekend as temperatures reached the high 70s. Sunbathers took to the sand, bikers peddled along the bustling boardwalk and newly reopened gift shops were crowded with customers buying hermit crabs and snow cones, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
Following the weekend crowds, Northam announced during a press conference Monday that Virginia Beach would be allowed to reopen May 22 at the start of Memorial Day weekend, which normally kicks off the coast’s busy summer tourism season.
OK, here’s a sampling of stories that focus on the lies of Covid-19 in terms of deaths and other myths.
Scott Adams of Dilbert fame wrote many years ago that, “There is a right way, a wrong way, and the weasel way.” Often the way of the politician and the weasel are indistinguishable.
Newsom Moves the Goal Posts Again
Recently, our embattled monarch, Gavin Newsom, has been moving the goalposts of reopening California businesses in reaction to all the pushback that he has received. Barack Obama called this style of leadership, “Leading from behind.” Newsom is being forced to let California resume operations not because he wants to but because the revenue is falling frighteningly short of projections and the natives are getting restless. (Oh, and for the first time in 22 years, Republicans just picked up a House seat in last week’s special election.)
Today Newsom redefined the requirements for opening California counties for business.Please note the science has not changed since last week, only the politics.
The changes eliminate requirements that a county have zero deaths and no more than one case per 10,000 residents over 14 days.
Johnnie Does nailed this very point on our blog a few days ago.
Newsom estimated 53 of 58 counties could meet the new criteria.
Twenty-four counties in mostly rural Northern California had already been cleared to move faster under the old standards.
Folks, in part, you have Elon Musk to thank for this change not you local county supervisor. Elon has embarrassed the crap of out of the unelected bureaucrats and made sure the whole nation knew what horse’s asses the Alameda County Health guy is and by extension, Newsom as well.
Alameda County is allowing Tesla to restart, while the vast majority of other businesses in the county must remain closed.
Oh, lastly, we get this little nugget about Sacramento County.
“In all the hospitals in the county, there are a total of 15 people with COVID, so that’s an example of how the epidemiological data has gone down,” –Dr. Peter Beilenson, Director of Sacramento County’s Department of Health Services
OK, so now even the densest amongst us learn we’ve been sheltering in place for two months for no reason; 15 people hospitalized in the whole county. WTF?
State Worker Pay-cut
As a “good” Democrat, Newsom is promising that State workers will feel the pain of California’s economic shortfall as well but will they really? Will Newsom really cut State worker wages by ten percent?
The better question, is ten percent of what? What state workers make now or what they will make in the new fiscal year starting July first? Or something else?
First remember that a government budget cut has nothing to do with current expenditures. A cut is measured in terms of what fiscal planners wanted to spend next year versus what they actually got. For example if the boat patrol agency wanted to increase spending by ten percent and the legislature and governor gave then six percent, in budget language, the boat patrol agency had a four percent budget cut even though in real dollars they were given six percent more than last year.
Given the above, exactly what budget cut is the governor talking about? The only thing you know right off is that it wouldn’t really be as simple as paying workers 90 percent of what they got this year. Thus, we need to invoke the weasel way of budgeting. Only by invoking weasel logic can you divine the likely way Newsom gets to claim his ten percent salary cut without actually having to cut ten percent.
Given the above, how does he get to ten percent?
Here’s my best guess based on what I know combined with some early trial balloons for accounting gimmicks. Look for the plan to include these four points:
The following is based on SEIU contracts which cover over 90,000 State employees; other unions will vary.
First, the promised pay raise of 2.5 percent is gone.
Also, the promised healthcare stipend of $260 per month may go away also. It was set to start in the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
The CERBT may be suspended to backfill a cut in pay so workers won’t feel the pain as much. (Remember, weasel way.)
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration could offer some relief from potential pay cuts for state workers by temporarily eliminating one of the paycheck deductions workers see each month, according to an Association of California State Supervisors web post.
Newsom this week proposed reducing state workers’ pay by 10 percent on Thursday in a budget that aims to reckon with a projected $54 billion deficit.
Most state employees pay roughly $2,600 per year toward the benefit, although the amount varies by salary and bargaining unit, according to a State Controller’s Office report. Public safety workers, who typically retire earlier than other employees, pay much more.
The deduction shows up as “CERBT” on state worker pay checks, which stands for California Employers’ Retiree Benefit Trust Fund.
Back in 2016, the CERBT fund was implemented as a way to deal with unfunded liabilities related to healthcare of retirees.
The retiree health care contributions are intended to pay down an unfunded $74 billion liability that the state faces.
Other unions may have different arrangements with the State.
Oh, and look for a hiring freeze or similar gimmick.
Lastly, buried somewhere in the agreement will be something that backfills the money at some point in the future, either in the form of employee retirement being calculated on the basis of no cuts or something similar. Somehow, I think Gavin will make the unions whole at some point in the future or else…
Like most things in life, what you think you know about Covid-19 is probably a lie…if all you know about it is from cable news sources.
Very few places have a problem with this virus
Did you know that 30 counties in the United States account for 55 percent of all Covid-19 deaths and 1,996 counties had zero or one death?
10 percent of counties account for 95 percent of all deaths.
Half of all counties in the US have zero deaths.
As of May 11, for example, 10 states accounted for almost 70% of all U.S. cases and nearly 75% of all deaths (but only 52% of the population).
Together, New York and New Jersey alone account for 35% of all cases and 44% of total COVID-19 deaths, though only 9% of the U.S. population. These state-level figures do not, however, adequately describe the concentrated nature of the spread of COVID-19.
The 30 counties with the most COVID-19 cases, for example, account for 48% of all the cases in the U.S. and 55% of all deaths, three to four times greater than their 15% share of the U.S. population.
That is, just 1% of all counties, representing 15% of the U.S. population, are responsible for almost half of the country’s COVID-19 cases and more than half of the deaths.
Of those 30 counties, 24 are in the Northeast corridor between Philadelphia and Boston, the passageway served by a commuter railway system that runs through Manhattan.
Overall, only about 10% of all counties contain 95% of all the COVID-19 deaths, even though they account for 64% of the population.
Just as important, 50% of all counties (with 10% of the U.S. population) have zero COVID-19 deaths as of May 11. In fact, 63% of all counties (with 15% of the population) have no more than one COVID-19 death each.
Why is our approach to the virus the same for all people, when the virus itself is so overwhelmingly biased toward a defined group of people?
Understanding that this virus only kills the elderly and sick in statistically significant numbers does not diminish their lives or even the seriousness of the virus. This understanding magnifies the need for a strategy that lets out healthier and younger people keeping the country running while shielding the vulnerable population until the virus burns out.
According to Minnesota’s health department, 99.24% of all statewide COVID-19 deaths have occurred either in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, or among people with significant underlying health conditions, with the overwhelming majority (78%) of decedents in the former category. That would mean just three individuals who died of COVID-19 in Minnesota were outside a nursing home and had no underlying condition. That is a 0.05% fatality rate just out of the known cases, and we’ve seen from serology tests that the true number of cases is exponentially greater than the number who tested positive. This fact should change our entire approach to the virus.
I have spectacular news to share with you. Amid all the death, doom, and gloom resulting from the coronavirus, we can now celebrate the fact that the virus has cured all other forms of death. Nobody dies from other causes of death anymore. At least that is what we are seeing in some states that are so eager to use the virus as a pretext to crush our liberties.
Approximately 2.8 million people die every year, which means roughly 470,000 will die over a 2-month period. Given that it’s very likely 5%-10% of the country have the virus, but very few die from it as a percentage of those infected – nearly zero among younger people – how many of those typical deaths are now being coded as COVID? This is particularly concerning when we see states report a few random deaths among younger people. While anomalous death from the coronavirus is certainly possible in younger people, this raises serious questions about the accuracy of any existing recorded deaths for those particularly young.
We saw this play out in April when Ventura County, California, coded the death of a 37-year-old who overdosed on fentanyl as a COVID-19 death.
Nearly 70,000 are dying every year from drug overdoses, particularly young adults. How many of these respiratory deaths will easily be coded as the coronavirus so long as they test positive?
There was much commotion when Georgia officials announced the death of a 22-year-old in Columbus, but the local coroner absolutely disputes that assertion. The 22-year-old new mother tragically died four days after giving birth, but Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan believes she died from a complication stemming from the C-section. “The E.M.S. personnel and myself pretty much came to the same conclusion,” Bryan said. “I personally don’t believe she died from the virus.”
Nowhere is this more of a concern than in nursing homes, where we are seeing more than 50% of the recorded deaths and where many of them are being added retroactively. Naturally, roughly 25% of the annual 2.8 million national fatalities occur in senior care facilities, and many have already tested positive for the virus, but didn’t necessarily die from it. But per CDC guidance, it must be counted as a COVID-19 death.
Face Masks are Bad for You
While this is a no brainer for me, most folks think masks are good. The reality is that masks are a placebo. For those in Rio Linda, a placebo is more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect. Wearing a mask is just as effective at preventing Covid-19 as wearing a breast cancer ribbon is at preventing you from getting this type of cancer. As we documented here previously, even the renowned Dr. Fauci said as much a few months ago.
With the advent of the so-called COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a number of medical practices that have little or no scientific support as regards reducing the spread of this infection. One of these measures is the wearing of facial masks, either a surgical-type mask, bandana or N95 respirator mask.
Now that we have established that there is no scientific evidence necessitating the wearing of a face mask for prevention, are there dangers to wearing a face mask, especially for long periods? Several studies have indeed found significant problems with wearing such a mask. This can vary from headaches, to increased airway resistance, carbon dioxide accumulation, to hypoxia, all the way to serious life-threatening complications.
There is a difference between the N95 respirator mask and the surgical mask (cloth or paper mask) in terms of side effects. The N95 mask, which filters out 95% of particles with a median diameter >0.3 µm2, because it impairs respiratory exchange (breathing) to a greater degree than a soft mask, and is more often associated with headaches. In one such study, researchers surveyed 212 healthcare workers (47 males and 165 females) asking about presence of headaches with N95 mask use, duration of the headaches, type of headaches and if the person had preexisting headaches.
They found that about a third of the workers developed headaches with use of the mask, most had preexisting headaches that were worsened by the mask wearing, and 60% required pain medications for relief. As to the cause of the headaches, while straps and pressure from the mask could be causative, the bulk of the evidence points toward hypoxia and/or hypercapnia as the cause. That is, a reduction in blood oxygenation (hypoxia) or an elevation in blood C02 (hypercapnia). It is known that the N95 mask, if worn for hours, can reduce blood oxygenation as much as 20%, which can lead to a loss of consciousness…
CDC Has Two Sets of Books on Covid-19
The CDC’s count of Covid-19 deaths is half of the John Hopkins count for the same period; of course since “if it bleeds, it leads” the media will use the high score.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday updated their coronavirus tracking numbers, leading to confusion on social media about two websites within the organization that show vastly different death tolls.
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) website for the coronavirus lists the total deaths from COVID-19 – the disease caused by the virus – as 37,308 in the United States. That’s a much lower number than what has been reported in the media or by other coronavirus trackers. For example, the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, lists the number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. at 65,645.
Most of what you’ve been told about Covid-19 is untrue or severely distorted. Most of the information is geared to get you to trade your freedom for security. This is always a losing proposition for the masses. Covid-19 is mostly lies, damn lies, and bogus statistics. Covid-19 is no longer a public health issue, just another political tool that folks can use to transform the United States into a country where the masses serve the elites. Our founders called this tyranny, but you think its security.
Quarantine cannot and will not stop me from trolling…well maybe when the police forcibly remove my camp from under a local overpass, but anyways here we go!!!!!!
Christy Smith concedes special election to Mike Garcia:
Instead of preparing for a new job in congress, Democratic Assemblymember Christy Smith is going back to work in Sacramento. Her political opponent, former Navy pilot Mike Garcia, is poised to be the first Republican to flip a Democratic House seat in California since 1998.
There you have it folks two good old American names facing off for a congressional seat. I for one was shocked when I found Smith listed her occupation as “Assemblyman” and Garcia as Navy Fighter Pilot…I figured with names like those, they worked at a local diner. Congrats to Garcia for winning, but I’m very disappointed in Smith for conceding early. Reports said a local ACE Hardware got an online pick up order from “LA DEM PARTY” for a chisel drill bit, to be used to ensure Smith’s victory. Problem for the Democrat Party is they hired Jorge “The Drunken Jedi” Riley to pick the drill bit up, and sadly he saw an open watering hole on his trek and as is his custom, his car stopped automatically. Riley never made it to ACE and as a result, the following day Smith cancelled, notice the state and national party are still holding out hope Riley finds the ACE as they have not given up yet.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) doesn’t want the Senate to re-convene due to Corona concerns: Good lord this clown was Governor when The Troll was birthed in Knoxville, TN, the best state in America. By the way, little trivia…. Did you know Tennessee’s state flag, the 3 stars….what do they represent? Tennessee was the third state to join the Confederacy.
Tennessee flag shaped like the state
But now back to Alexander……. You dumb dumb, you really need to take a dirt nap. So you force folks who work at Wally World, grocery stores, pharmacies, slaughter houses, and auto makers forced to make ventilators…yet this jackhole doesn’t want to report to work because he is scared of the ‘rona? Folks are barely clinging to what possessions they own, let alone guns and religion, trying to make ends meet, and you refuse to take a pay cut or even show up to work! Yeah, this clown is getting a full salary while sheltering in place instead of doing his job. He’s just more swamp trash that needs to be taken to the local landfill. Other folks are scared of this disease too you low life, seriously you can’t retire soon enough for my liking. During a cursory look at your work history, you love suppin’ at the public trough…congrats; while us working folks pay your salary, you refuse to come out of your ivory tower. I hate to break it to you, but under the Constitution, a document I doubt you have ever read, says your job is essential. You are a check on the President and Judiciary you moron. Classless scum you are.
Deandre Baker and Quinton Dunbar (NFL) arrested in Florida for armed robbery: Ummm, well I have to blame Trump for this, it has to be his fault right? Seriously like shouldn’t the NFL be practicing right now? Dunbar is charged with 4 counts of various armed robbery offenses, Baker with 8, both have refused to turn themselves in; however, both have hired attorneys who claim their client is innocent.
Two NFL players — including a 2019 1st round draft pick — have been accused of armed robbery and arrest warrants have been issued, TMZ Sports has learned.
Law enforcement confirms NY Giants cornerback Deandre Baker (the 30th overall pick in 2019) is facing 4 charges of armed robbery and 4 charges of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Seattle Seahawks corner Quinton Dunbar is facing 4 counts of armed robbery.
Well my god it’s a miracle…if neither of them did the deed, then who did? I cannot believe these two young men find themselves in such a tough spot; even with a police report saying “they dun’ it.” Their attorneys find themselves in the unique position of defending clients who claim they didn’t do it and actually have enough money to pay them…at least for now. Baker was a first round pick in 2019, so he is likely to forfeit about 30 million, since NFL contracts are not guaranteed, but he is still dumb as hell. Like I said, I blame all of this on the lockdown, and because both are black, it must be Trump’s fault. Don’t believe me? Apparently, many a governor is studying why this disease affects blacks more than whites…your honor I submit this as exhibit 1000 to impeach Trump. Between this, Russia, Ukraine, the sexual assaults, and Covid-19 deaths, something has to be done, just ignore the party of compassion when they encourage confiscating semi-automatic weapons and yet continually threaten to shoot the Orange Man.
We will be back soon for more trolling, got to move camp as the local PD has just shown up. But I will leave you with a new flame for Troll. Yes, Aniston is too old, and at 50 the baby making days are over, as far as Hope Hicks goes she has not responded to my hourly Twitter direct messages, so I present to you, Paige Spiranac, a great women’s golfer who let’s just say I would love to lay up on her hills.
When this virus thing went down, it started as “we must flatten the curve” and for the most part, we all tried to do our part. We put up with essentially house arrest, social distancing at stores, and admired most folks who were viewed as essential. Now the narrative has changed, we now “can re-open fully when there is a cure.” I want to examine that last statement closer.
Until we “have a cure” is the literal definition of weasel words that can be used to pick winners and losers. Governors Newsom, Cuomo, and Wolf (PA) are the worst of the worst when it comes to this. To be fair Cuomo has a big problem in NYC, and Gavin has issues in LA County, and depending on how you look at it, the surrounding areas should be cautious. Governor Wolf in PA is an absolute tyrant. He actually exempted his family’s cabinet manufacturing business from the shutdown…. well I guess his royalties are essential, aren’t they?
Gretchen Whitmer
These governors, including Duchess of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer, have very little interest in your health or financial well-being; instead, they want to pick winners and losers. If you voted/campaigned/donated to a rival, now is their chance to get even. They have shutdown dine-in operations, movies, and retail shopping, forcing millions of low-income workers from the workforce. Worse yet, they are forcing grocers, slaughterhouses, and certain big box retail to remain open, regardless of worker fears.
Why is it churches cannot open? Not necessarily for service but for funeral/weddings? Yet one can get married at the County Clerk’s office if you file the right paperwork? This is punishing a business you do not care for, and in my opinion, Gavin has a large bone to pick with organized religion ever since the Prop 8 (Anti-gay marriage) commercials that used his likeness in 2008. What better time than now to keep the lid on and stymie the church’s finances/well-being going forward. Since churchgoers tend to skew older, I don’t see any services being held this year. Notice, sports with fans, movies, and churches all fall in “phase 4” of the re-opening which is when a vaccine is produced.
My issue is why are they treating the entire state like its one gigantic outbreak? Let’s take the hometown of our blog, if you look at the “Sacramento Area” (Sacramento County) last I checked we have had 54 total deaths, in a county with a population north of 2.1 million.
Sacramento County Covid-19 cased as of 05-14-2020
If I was a betting man, I would lay heavy odds 7/9ths of those deaths occurred in nursing homes.
Covid-19 deaths in Sacramento County all were over 65 years old and/or with underlying conditions
How come we cannot apply for the county to re-open? Oh, I forgot, seems we had a one person in Sac City die of Covid-19 on Tuesday, so we had to restart the “2 weeks no deaths” clock. Notice Dr. Beilenson even stated we should get a waiver from the Governor because our infection rate is low. Sorry Dr. but Gavin lives in the Sac suburb Fair Oaks, and most if not all the electeds in Sacramento reside here as well, so we are not going to re-open until it’s absolutely safe. Even when we are allowed to reopen, things will not be the same for a very long time.
As William has stated, when exactly do we think we will have a cure? Let’s be real, cancer, AIDS, the common cold, and the flu, we may have shots or feel good remedies, or in the case of cancer use a combination of tactics to defeat it, but we do not have a cure let alone a magic elixir to prevent it altogether be it a vaccine or whatever. Truth is we probably never will. With the Corona virus mutating like it has, we do not even know what we are up against. Even If we were able to find one vaccine to prevent all the various types of Covid-19, how do we mass produce it? How will it be mandated? Remember here in California, we have a large group of anti-vaxxers. To see what kind of pushback to expect from them, look no further than the recent measles outbreak and Disney or the anti-vax headquarters of wealthy Marin County. It is clear that Governor Newsom intends to mandate that everyone have whatever experimental vaccine gets to market first and damn the side effects.
Try to internalize what’s happening now. We have shutdown fairs and firework shows, and recently have moved our Junior Colleges and CSU classes to online only for the fall semester. L.A. has promised to be shut down until the end of August at the earliest. Does anyone really think we are just going to re-open everything after Labor Day as if none of this had happened? We all know that answer.
Hey, Johnnie if you were in charge, what would be different?
Given all the above, I was posed a question by 90-Day Guy asking me how I would have handled all of this if I were Governor. What follows is my answer and it may surprise some of you. Keep in mind that 90-Day Guy didn’t offer his own plans as the nightly edition of Cable’s Primetime Lineup hadn’t aired yet to tell him what to think.
As governor, my hands would have been tied. I think Newsom did well reading the initial outbreaks. It seemed like the lion’s share were in the Bay Area and parts of LA. Keep in mind the Bay Area has cases, but not many deaths. I would have kept monitoring and received daily updates from the counties themselves. Once a few Bay Area counties and LA County had their Directors of Health Services shut the county down, my hands were tied. Sacramento and a few others followed suit and I had no choice. I would have to shut the state down. (Remember that at this point in the outbreak, the experts were projecting that millions would die if we did nothing.) While many will disagree, we cannot just have people traveling all over the state to do shopping that does pose a public health risk. Yes, I would have shut it all down for two weeks, everything. No cars on the roads, as far as food goes, I guess you could leave the grocers/pharmacies open for pick up only. But what we needed was to stop the transmissions, not simply say try to stay at home but its ok to come out if you need to.
After the two weeks, I would have lifted the order, but said to the counties, it’s up to you to enforce, continue, or rescind. I would have put out suggestions like the older folks should consider staying home longer. Ditto for those with bad immune systems; leaving it up to them to form a plan with their employer. Those who are scared of their own shadow may continue to cower at home but know that we would eventually get back to normal. This would give me some insulation and make the counties do their own work. In truth the Bay Area and LA area counties would remain closed longer and maybe a smattering of more populated areas, but the rural ones would re-open in full. Boom, just like that I would be lauded for shutting down for a bit, putting no one out of work for a prolonged time, yet making folks aware of distancing.
That is precisely where Newsom went wrong. He enjoys playing king and loves power. Instead of supporting small businesses, he threatened their livelihoods by bullying them with threats of pulling their cosmetology/alcohol licenses. That behavior is rule by a dictator and an evil one at that. Newsom wants us kept at home and enjoys seeing businesses closed. Need more proof? Why is it that the government workers still get paid, essential workers get paid, and the teachers get to stay home collecting their full salaries, yet regular working families are paying a heavy price and being expected to do without with no end in sight? Most hourly employees have now gone two months without the dignity of working to support their families. The working poor are the hardest hit by this shutdown and stand to lose what little they have accumulated. Newsom has no care for them, his only solution is telling Donald Trump to print more money and give it to California because we don’t want to help ourselves.
Final Thought
Keep waiting for a cure folks, just understand we aren’t all in this together because some of us are getting paid and still doing well, it’s the rest of you we want to stay confirmed in their homes. At least until there is a cure…….
