The Daily Gouge Archive, Monday, March 23rd, 2020

On March 24, 2020, in Uncategorized, by magoo1310

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We apologize for any inconvenience, but this could be a ChiCom-caused quarantine issue.

It’s Monday, March 23rd, 2020…but before we begin, consider this headline and the accompanying tweets:

Council on Foreign Relations President Gets Key Detail Wrong in Tweet Admonishing U.S. Over Wuhan Coronavirus Response

Even a person of average intelligence would have to try awfully hard to get so significant a fact so glaringly wrong. One would also think, as president of the mythic Council on Foreign Relations, Haass isn’t of average intelligence, let alone stupid; which makes him either woefully misinformed…or a purposeful peddler of Progressive propaganda aimed at damaging The Donald.

As Matt Vespa notes…

“…The longtime diplomat was then fact-checked, with those noting that in January, China was still denying there was human-to-human transmission. Also, they destroyed samples that exposed the virus in December, strong-armed doctors who were trying to do the right thing, kept medical crews in the dark, and prevented doctors from reporting on cases of Wuhan coronavirus they encountered. They allowed Chinese New Year to be celebrated, exposing legions to the disease and allowed 5 million to leave Wuhan. This is all China’s fault. Their incompetence unleashed this mayhem upon the world. And we should be unapologetic in that regard. For now, the liberal news media is peddling Chinese communist propaganda because…’orange man bad.’…”

We term the ChiCom response to yet another disease born within their borders as “incompetence coupled with an overriding, misplaced concern about appearances rather than people”.

Speaking of incompetence coupled with an overriding, misplaced concern about appearances rather than people, the subject of this headline from AEI notwithstanding, inquiring minds want to know…

Covering the Uninsured During the COVID-19 Pandemic

…”uninsured”…WHAT “uninsured”?!? What happened to the assurance ObamaCare was going to provide health insurance for the uninsured?!? Let’s face it: other than driving the average American’s health insurance rates through the roof, The Dear Misleader’s “signature” domestic initiative was apparently as successful as his trail of foreign policy failures.

Meanwhile, as the this meme from Shannon suggests…

With a proactive pardon for her French.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, since we’re on the subject of his failed foreign policy, taking a cue from Obama’s bestest buddy…

Start at the 0:04 mark.

Iran’s leader points to coronavirus as reason for US to lift sanctions

No problem: it will only cost you$150 billion…in cash! Oh,…and total disarmament, a complete cessation of your global sponsorship of Islamic terror, recognition of Israel’s right to exist and complete AMERICAN access to all of your known or suspected nuclear facilities.

Here’s the juice: we no more wish innocent Iranians ill than our forefathers likely did the civilians under Hitler’s and Tojo’s control. Unfortunately, the fact remains, like the people of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the trials and tribulations everyday Iranians suffer are solely the responsibility of the deliberate policies of their diabolical dictators. And until their leaders either renounce the practice and promotion of terrorism, or the Iranian people replace their leaders, it would be inadvisable for the U.S. government to provide them succor…if not criminally irresponsible.

We should add current sanctions in no way prohibit Iran’s access to medical supplies or pharmaceuticals, though the resultant financial squeeze may make it difficult to pay for them.

View from the 0:40 – 0:47 mark.

Or not have provided untold billions to the cause or global Jihad.

Next, two sets of twofers: first, both the WHO and Bloomberg are revealed to be part of the problem rather than the solution, as Taiwan reminds us its warnings about the Wuhan Virus to the WHO in December were ignored, and Little Mike’s mouthpiece highlights a negative side effect of any drug ever devised.

Second, feel the Bern as the WSJ’s Dan Henninger relates a recovery idea Bernie Sanders won’t like , while Kim Strassel records how the coronavirus has vindicated Capitalism, as the drug companies will save lives even as Bernie is denouncing them.

Moving on, courtesy of Jeff Foutch and Balls Cotton, writing at Watts Up With That…and NBC’s doom and gloom to the contrary aside…Willis Eschenbach records the…

Diamond Princess Mysteries

“OK, here are my questions. We had a perfect petri-dish coronavirus disease (COVID-19) experiment with the cruise ship “Diamond Princess”. That’s the cruise ship that ended up in quarantine for a number of weeks after a number of people tested positive for the coronavirus. I got to wondering what the outcome of the experiment was.

So I dug around and found an analysis of the situation, with the catchy title of Estimating the infection and case fatality ratio for COVID-19 using age-adjusted data from the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship so I could see what the outcomes were.

As you might imagine, before they knew it was a problem, the epidemic raged on the ship, with infected crew members cooking and cleaning for the guests, people all eating together, close living quarters, lots of social interaction, and a generally older population. Seems like a perfect situation for an overwhelming majority of the passengers to become infected.

And despite that, some 83% (82.7% – 83.9%) of the passengers never got the disease at all. Why?…”

“Why” indeed?!?

As Jim Freeman relates at Best of the Web…

“…Meanwhile over at the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—the agency that spent years devoting significant resources to obesity instead of infectious diseases—the coronavirus is still not important enough to merit new case reports on weekends.“

Don’t knock yourselves out, fellas.

And in the EnvironMental Moment, writing at Townhall.com, Paul Driessen reports on a looming catastrophe which can be laid directly at the feet of the uncaring followers of Rachel Carson, the most-prolific mass-murderer in history, as he reveals…

The REAL Reasons Africa Has ANOTHER Locust Plague

“…The 1986-87 plague was truly calamitous. As the late entomologist Dr. J. Gordon Edwards noted in 1988, four major locust species hatched simultaneously in 15 countries, and the crop devastation was so massive that the UN Food and Agricultural Organization predicted 50 million Africans and Asians might starve to death. Malnourished survivors would suffer reduced mental capacity and have greater susceptibility to diseases. Other near-biblical infestations followed, with predictable regularity and results.

The obvious, burning, essential question is this: In this era of amazing modern agriculture, aviation and pest control technologies, how could Africa have reached this frightening precipice yet again?

…When it comes to insect control, the driving force is aid money totally skewed to agro-ecologyand its ideological focus on “food sovereignty” and “traditional subsistence farming,” with wood plows and oxen, “in harmony with nature,” free from Western seeds, fertilizers, tractors and, above all, pesticides.

It’s a clever new moniker, but the ideology and donor-driven attitudes are nothing new. Dr. Edwards documented them in his 1988 article. The FAO, USAID, USEPA, World Bank, Environmental Defense Fund and other organizations were pushing “all-natural, biological, integrated pest management” practices back then, too. They were totally opposed to the use of dieldrin and other insecticides that actually work.

Just as today, their focus back then was on alleged, possible side effects of modern insecticides, which used properly by trained applicators are safe for people, livestock, wildlife and most non-target insects. The key is having the necessary staff, equipment and chemicals ahead of time. Pressured by all these external forces, East Africa failed to do that – and now it is reaping the proverbial whirlwind.

The donor agencies and pressure groups’ attitude is akin to demands that chemotherapy for cancer be banned, because the chemicals impair patient’s immune systems and cause hair to fall out. Saving their lives is inarguably far more important than these side effects – just as saving millions from starvation and associated diseases, and preventing total crop and habitat loss, is inarguably far more important than the temporary loss of some insects or even slight risks to cattle, wildlife or people from the sprays…”

Unless of course, you’re Rachel Carson…and her blood-thirsty, Gaia-worshipping hell spawn. Then…