April 15-16, 2020

Apr 15 00:09 Pandemic in the Midwest?
Apr 15 02:32 Why you shouldn't ask a question you don't know the answer to
Apr 15 11:07 Why is Minnesota shut down?
Apr 15 20:56 What's with all of the Democrats' one-size-fits-all lockdowns?

Apr 16 12:31 Paycheck Protection Program pennyless, Pelosi, Schumer are absent
Apr 16 21:36 Intro to Draz's Constitution 101

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Pandemic in the Midwest?

Pandemic in the Midwest
By Ramblin' Rose

We, the People: who are we? Are we lambs following Christ the Good Shepherd? Lemmings following our presumed leaders without question? Loyal and obedient citizens who embrace the concept of obeying the law - no matter the source? Fear-filled persons hoping that our families, our country and the world will survive the pandemic? I don't know: does it really matter? We, across the world, are restricted in how we spend each day.

Each day we get more numbers, more graphs, more announcements, more theories of where to place the blame, more name-calling: and the list continues. President Trump announced his hope that a freer lifestyle could be resumed on Easter - also the symbolic day of new birth through the resurrection of our Lord. Let's start with an examination of the data on Easter weekend.

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have a combined population of 320 million with 55,000 deaths from the coronavirus. The same source reported our population as 328 million with 20,600 COVID-19 related/caused deaths. It appears that our efforts from closing our borders to social distancing have reduced the mortality rate.

Media sources have focused on the situation in the 'hotspots' in the densely populated urban areas. We live in the Midwest - rural, fewer people, lower numbers of victims, but we are also limited in our movements by a coronavirus model (University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, aka IHME) with a prediction of 61,545 fatalities in our nation by August 4.

President Trump has allowed the states' governors to determine the appropriate response in each state. What is happening in our five-state region?

Looking at the data for these states and five (5) hotspots. All deaths are devastating. The tables usually provide the raw data - shocking numbers of fatalities from the virus. The Washington Post provided data from Johns Hopkins University with comparative rates.

BUT: IMHE projections appear to differ significantly from the current data. Minnesota and Wisconsin have stay-home orders and have closed many businesses. IMHE projects 442 fatalities in Minnesota and 357 in Wisconsin. In the other Midwest states with no stay-at-home order and lesser restrictions on businesses, the model projects 743 deaths in Iowa, 350 in South Dakota and 369 in North Dakota.
Currently, the greater number of fatalities (real numbers) in the Midwest are in the two (2) states with the most stringent restrictions. In the other three (3), the numbers are far below predicted numbers, unless the virus will not attack the citizens of those states until much later than the rest of the country.
Or, maybe, the totalitarian measures were not / are not needed. Maybe, as the governor of South Dakota stated, citizens value their independence and are able to make appropriate decisions to take care of themselves, their families and their neighbors.

Many citizens are restless: they want to be safe and healthy, but they are not feeling that level of security when they are under draconian mandates to become prisoners in their own homes. President Trump and his administration, and many governors, recognize the need for people to live as independent thinkers and productive contributors in society.

Soon the official announcements will come about the safe and reasoned way to again be a free people.

We, the People: have followed the guidelines from our leaders. Now our leaders need to let us again 'Make America Great." Editor's note: If you want to watch a leader in action, watch this video:
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Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 12:09 AM

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Why you shouldn't ask a question you don't know the answer to

Paula Reid apparently is auditioning to become the next Jim Acosta at the White House daily Coronavirus Briefings. It's apparent because she's asking some pretty stupid questions. In fact, she's asking questions that've gotten thrown back into her face.

At Monday's virus briefing, Reid tried getting under Trump's skin. Here's the fight -- if you can call it that:


Reid kept asking President Trump what he'd done with the extra time he bought with the China travel ban. The Trump War Room jumped into the fight, first with this list:

then with the rest of that list:

What a blithering idiot. She had to know that Trump's War Room would have a list a mile long to reply. Reid didn't have anything to respond with. Why would you ask a question that the War Room is anxious to jump on?

If Reid is attempting to become the next Jim Acosta, she should remember that CNN's rating are in the toilet. Acosta hasn't worked out worth a damn as a shock jock correspondent.

Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 2:32 AM

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Why is Minnesota shut down?

Powerline's Scott Johnson has done fantastic work asking questions that the Strib reporters won't ask. Scott started by highlighting how the reporters didn't question the model Gov. Walz is using to justify the shutdown. This morning's post highlights the fact that "the death toll attributed to COVID-19 by the Minnesota authorities ramped up to 79" and that over "two-thirds of the 79 have died in nursing homes or assisted-care living facilities."

This table shows some of the types of pre-existing conditions decedents had at the time of death:


With the vast majority of Minnesota being rural where they've practiced social distancing from the day they were born for multiple generations, why did Gov. Walz opt to shut the entire state down? Why didn't Gov. Walz opt to trust Minnesotans that they'd make smart decisions if given the CDC guidelines on how to reduce risk of COVID infection? Does Gov. Walz think that Minnesotans aren't responsive enough to make the proper adjustments?

Daily, President Trump talks about how extraordinary the American people have been throughout this crisis with their social distancing. Does Gov. Walz think that Minnesotans wouldn't do what the CDC tells them to do? South Dakota's Kristi Noem didn't shut the state's economy down . Instead, she gave the people the information they needed, then let them make good decisions.

The Washington Post tried smearing Noem when there was a COVID outbreak at a meat-packing plant. The media wing of the Democrat Party didn't include this in their smear:

First of all, the Sioux Falls facility is massive. It has 3,700 employees, of whom fewer than 10% have tested positive for COVID-19. The Sioux Falls facility is one of the main pork producers in the U.S., turning out around 18 million servings of bacon, pork chops, etc., per day. You may wonder, why were so many diagnostic tests performed on employees at that plant? The answer is that Smithfield implemented an aggressive program, in partnership with two major hospital systems, whereby anyone who entered or left the facility was questioned and had his or her temperature taken. Anyone who reported having a cough, etc., or who showed an elevated temperature was tested for COVID-19.

Moreover, the Post article conveyed the impression that the Smithfield plant might become a ghost facility, closed forever due to South Dakota's failure to elect a Democratic governor. In fact, the plant will reopen in a matter of days.

It sounds like South Dakotans (and South Dakota corporations) want to do the right thing. Will miracles never cease? How can that be? The gospel according to Democrats is that corporations are evil and greedy. Apparently, I shouldn't take stock in the Democrats' gospel. Then there's this:

Smithfield has instituted a series of stringent and detailed processes and protocols that follow the strict guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to effectively manage COVID-19 cases in its operations. These include mandatory 14-day COVID-19 related quarantines with pay as an uncompromising effort to protect its dedicated employees. The company has also relaxed attendance policies to eliminate any punitive effect for missing work due to COVID-19 diagnosis or quarantine. In addition, Smithfield is taking many measures to minimize its team members' risks of contracting COVID-19. These include adding extra hand sanitizing stations, boosting personal protective equipment, continuing to stress the importance of personal hygiene, enhancing cleaning and disinfection, expanding employee health benefits, implementing thermal scanning, increasing social distancing, installing plexiglass and other physical barriers and restricting all nonessential visitors.

Smithfield took the proper steps to limit the spread, going so far as to relax attendance policies and paying people while they're quarantined. Smithfield can do that because South Dakota's taxes are lower .

Gov. Walz and the DFL, hear this. It's time to open Minnesota's economy immediately. First, Gov. Walz and the DFL hid behind the U of M model as an excuse. Thanks to Powerlineblog's great work, the DFL can't do that anymore. It's more than possible to operate efficiently and safely in a COVID environment. The DFL needs to either prepare to open the economy up or face a voter backlash this November. If anyone at DFL headquarters thinks that this is playing well with voters, they're kidding themselves.

Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 11:07 AM

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What's with all of the Democrats' one-size-fits-all lockdowns?

Megan Fox's article on Gretchen Whitmer's one-size-fits-all shutdown highlights a trend in Democrat-led states. In the article, Fox writes "The people of Michigan are done being told they can't go check on their parents or buy "non-essential" goods like tomato seeds on the order of that woman, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who thinks she has magical powers to dictate to free people what they can or can't buy. Thousands of cars descended on Lansing Wednesday to bring the clear message that Michigan is still a free state, and its citizens have not suddenly lost their constitutional rights because of a viral pandemic."

Let's be clear about this. Gov. Whitmer isn't the only Democrat governor who thinks of themselves as an autocrat. Here in Minnesota, DFL Gov. Tim Walz thinks that he's got the authority to shut the state down with nothing more than an executive order. This smacks me of President Obama's arrogance when he spoke of his pen and his phone:
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That's what liberal hubris sounds like. May it never be heard from again. This is what an anti-progressive political backlash looks like:
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This can't be said enough:

The biggest complaint most people in America have with the overreaching tyrannical edicts infecting our nation (besides the obvious abuse of civil rights) is the lack of understanding that we are all adults and are perfectly capable of social distancing and taking precautions on our own without police "help" in the form of fines and tickets or arrests. The governors of blue states are gleeful with their newfound power to direct everyone's lives down to the most minuscule decisions, such as whether or not you are allowed to plant a garden this spring.

That's such a no-brainer that it shouldn't have to be said. Democrat governors treat people like they can't think for themselves. People who live in the private sector understand the concept of accountability. People who work in the public sector don't grasp that because there's rarely punishment for making mistakes.

There are plenty of Republicans who would make great executives because they've actually run things and because they've been held accountable. There aren't many Democrats who would make great executives because lots, like Joe Biden, have spent their entire adult lives dodging accountability while serving in government. President Trump understands what it's like to get the big decisions right and to get things done fast. Sleepy Joe Biden moves at a tortoise's pace, then gets things wrong. Holding himself to the government's standard, I don't doubt that he thinks that he's a success.

Democrats shouldn't be locking Michigan and Minnesota down with their Democrat governors unilaterally deciding what to do. Both states could open up their states using a data-driven plan. Gov. Walz needs to ditch the model that's misled Minnesotans for months.

Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2020 8:56 PM

Comment 1 by Patrick at 16-Apr-20 09:59 AM
Tucker Carlson on his 4/15/2020 show interviewing the New Jersey governor: "by what authority do you have to nullify the Bill of Rights in the Constitution?" The answer

that's above my pay grade". WOW.



That's a question we need to ask all governors.



By the way the New Jersey Governor dodged the question!

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 16-Apr-20 12:14 PM
I saw part of that interview. Gov. Murphy looked as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.

Paycheck Protection Program pennyless, Pelosi, Schumer are absent

Apparently, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer want to be blamed for the economic hardship Americans are experiencing. It's apparent because the Paycheck Protection Program has used all of its $350,000,000,000. President Trump knew that the money was going fast. That's why he's given Steve Mnuchin the responsibility to negotiate another appropriation of $250,000,000,000 with Nancy Pelosi. The problem is that she's nowhere to be found .

Politicians, experts and bankers had been warning the program would run out by the end of this week or sooner without additional appropriated funding. But Congress has been locked in a stalemate over a possible $250 billion extension, with congressional Democrats pushing for additional funding for hospitals and state and local governments. Lawmakers have been on recess themselves as part of an effort to avoid further spread of the virus through large groups.

We were told that hospitals would be overwhelmed, that they'd run out of the supplies that they'd need to fight COVID-19. USNS Mercy was sent to Los Angeles Harbor while the USNS Comfort was sent to NY Harbor. The Javits Center was turned into a 2,900-bed hospital. Each of these facilities have been vastly underutilized.

That isn't saying that hospitals aren't hurting. I wrote this post to highlight this:

Mayo Clinic has unveiled a plan to cut $1.6 billion in pay, withdraw nearly $1 billion from its financial reserves and save another $700 million through a hiring freeze to counteract a $3 billion loss inflicted by the coronavirus. A large portion of this loss was the result of Governor Tim Walz's ban on non-essential procedures that has cost Mayo up to 75% of its business in some areas .

I'm not saying that we should return to business-as-usual. That would be foolish. Those aren't the only 2 options, though, are they? Why aren't governors working to put plans in place that would incorporate the CDC's recommendations into workplaces?

Last night, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy issued this statement:

This did not have to happen. Republicans have been sounding the alarm for more than a week. Last Thursday, Senate Republicans tried to pass a narrow and clean bill that would have simply put more money into this critical program without changing any of the underlying policies that passed the Senate and the House unanimously. Democrats blocked it. Even as the program is saving millions of American jobs, Speaker Pelosi has said she sees "no data as to why we need" to keep funding it .
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It has been stunning to watch our Democratic colleagues treat emergency funding for Americans' paychecks like a Republican priority which they need to be goaded into supporting. Funding a bipartisan program should not be a partisan issue. The notion that crucial help for working people is not appealing enough to Democrats without other additions sends a strange message about their priorities.

The cost of continued Democratic obstruction will be pink slips and shuttered businesses. We hope Democrats see reason soon and finally heed Republicans' repeated calls for a funding bill that can quickly earn unanimous consent from all 100 senators and become law.

Thanks to Schumer's and Pelosi's temper tantrum, small businesses will get hurt, perhaps to the point of shutting down forever. Those bankruptcies will be solely on Sen. Schumer's and Pelosi's and the Democrats' hands. Democrats are the idiots that fought against sending these people a lifeline. Democrats are the people who thought that this crisis shouldn't go to waste. Democrats are the politicians that thumbed their noses at blue collar workers. That's whose getting hurt the most by small businesses shutting down. The big corporations that Democrats constantly rail against have other ways of getting help. There was a time when Democrats cared about blue collar workers. That time is gone. Democrats just proved with their inaction where their allegiances are.

Posted Thursday, April 16, 2020 12:31 PM

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Intro to Draz's Constitution 101

DFL Gov. Tim Walz has acted like he's an autocrat that isn't accountable to the people. Steve Drazkowski wants Gov. Walz to experience a little accountability. The DFL leadership is fighting to protect Gov. Walz because, well, Gov. Walz is a Democrat. Therefore, he must be protected at all costs. (At this point, the lion's share of the Twin Cities media is obligated to either nod in agreement or genuflect and kiss Gov. Walz's ring.)

Rep. Drazkowski isn't nodding in agreement, genuflecting or kissing Gov. Walz's ring. In fact, he's attempting to restore constitutional sanity to the DFL majority in the Minnesota House. Obviously, Draz (that's his nickname) has his hands full. Getting the DFL to listen to the Constitution is virtually impossible. Just ask Tucker Carlson about that:
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Rep. Drazkowski is a warrior for the Constitution. He's also a warrior of the principle of checks and balances. Here's how he fought the fight for the people's voice to be heard:

These orders do not make sense. People are allowed to go to a union meeting, but not a church service. They can get an abortion but not a kidney transplant. They can buy booze and medicinal marijuana, but they can't camp in a state forest. If we don't terminate the governor's emergency powers, we will be ceding the authority of the Legislature , and the voice of the people, to one person. It is the Legislature's role, as the voice of the people, to set state policy, not one chief executive.

Gov. Walz's decisions have already devastated Minnesota's economy. Thanks for acting unilaterally, Gov. Walz. Thanks for killing livelihoods and life dreams. I'm sure Minnesotans are satisfied.

If you look at our neighboring states, you will find that the states that have not instituted stay at home orders against their people have a death rate per million people due to COVID-19 equal to or lower than Minnesota's. North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa, states very much like ours that directly border Minnesota. They have decided to protect their people and their economy. We can do the same.

If you listen to Gov. Walz's briefings, you won't hear him talk often about the economy. Jan Malcolm, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, is present at all of the briefings. I don't see the commissioner of DEED there often, though. That indicates Gov. Walz's priorities.

There's supposed to be a balancing act between public health and economic vitality. Gov. Walz has unilaterally, but with the DFL's steadfast assistance, focused just on Minnesota's health.

Based on this article , I'm betting that this coalition will fail:

Similar to the groups of governors on the East and West Coasts, the seven states (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Kentucky) will be looking at four main factors: sustained control of new infections and hospitalization, an enhanced ability to test and trace, a sufficient health care capacity to handle any surges, and best practices for social distancing in the workplace.

If these governors haven't noticed, these are already part of President Trump's blueprint of guidelines. They're starting from a position of extreme caution. With the exception of Indiana and Ohio, these states are governed by pointy-headed liberals. Whitmer, Walz, Evers and Beshear aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. Pritzker isn't a heavyweight, either.

Posted Thursday, April 16, 2020 9:36 PM

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