April 23-27, 2020
Apr 23 02:00 Where's Gov. Walz's surge? Apr 23 08:49 Lina Hidalgo, Public Enemy No. 1? Apr 24 09:08 The Vikings nail First Round Apr 26 03:47 COVID-19's Minnesota surge Apr 26 12:11 The price of confinement Apr 26 17:39 Is reforming the WHO possible? If it isn't, we should kill it outright Apr 27 09:31 Nancy Pelosi endorses Joe Biden
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Where's Gov. Walz's surge?
We've been hearing for a month from the DFL and Gov. Walz about the upcoming surge as though it's a fait accompli. 2 weeks ago, the Mayo Clinic announced that they were cutting salaries of their upper management staff because they were running at 35% of their capacity . Gov. Walz's COVID-19 briefings are rarely informative because he goes over the same territory repeatedly. The media rarely ask him what level of capacity we're at in our hospitals. Are we close to not having enough ventilators or PPEs?
That's why I did a little digging into those things. Minnesota's COVID-19 Response and Preparation Capacity website shows that 932 ICU beds are currently in use out of 1,222 beds currently available. The website indicates that an additional 831 beds can be available within 24 hrs. and another 585 beds could be available within another 72 hrs. That means that we're approximately 35% of ICU capacity.
Further, the website has additional information. For a lengthy period of time, there was a rush on ventilators. According to the aforementioned website, 554 ventilators are in use. There are 1,401 in inventory plus 1,417 that can be surged. Another 888 ventilators are on backorder, bringing the total ventilators that can be surged to 3,706. That's approximately 14.9% of Minnesota's ventilators.
Check out what Florida Gov. DeSantis did:
[Video no longer available]
They focused Florida's resources on assisted living and nursing homes. They instructed the people to observe the CDC's guidelines. They didn't take the Walz approach. They trusted their people. Their economy isn't in the crapper.
It's time that the Twin Cities media started acting like reporters instead of acting like the DFL's praetorian guards. The natives are getting restless. In fact, that's only going to get worse the longer that Gov. Walz doesn't listen to the people.
Posted Thursday, April 23, 2020 2:00 AM
Comment 1 by Gretchen Leisen at 23-Apr-20 01:55 PM
For about 3 weeks now, I have questioned why the political powers who are making decisions do not understand the problem is identifying the vulnerable and concentrating on making them more isolated from the general public, i.e. the covid-19 virus. This is a lot like what Florida did - keep the nursing home residents away from potential viral contacts. That means quarantining the residents,and all other citizens who are in the vulnerable groups due to age or illness. The other part of the plan is to allow otherwise healthy YOUNG people to circulate as usual, promote healthy habits such as [possibly] wearing masks and washing hands frequently. The public needs to know what all the symptoms are, get to a doctor ASAP, treat the patient with a 5-day regimen, if indicated, and then allow nature to cure the patient and develop immunity.
This is the only way to develop 'herd immunity'.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 24-Apr-20 09:09 AM
Actually, there is a "mini-surge" in Minnesota. I've been tracking 21 states daily starting April 1, and the past few days Minnesota is suddenly posting larger deaths, bucking the national and regional trends. Also curious is that non-lockdown Iowa (with only slightly less density) is doing better per capita than Minnesota and leveling off. Fellow-lockdown Wisconsin (slightly more density) is trending down, not up. The past 7 days: MN 106, IA 36, WI 60. Prior week totals: MN 44, IA 31, WI 86.
In the spirit of idle speculation we see that 70+% of MN deaths are in our nursing homes or equivalent. We remember the multiple scandals of lax inspections under the 8 years of benign neglect under Gov. Dayton, continuing with the current spate of Dept. of Human Services (DHS) problems Gov. Walz faces. Did some efforts to now "clean up" these sites in effect bring in the virus via inspectors and/or outside crews?
My own amateur modeling projected today, April 24th as the peak in Minnesota, approaching 500 total deaths by August 4th. It's hard to understand Walz's Scenario 3 / Scenaro 4 mumbo jumbo yesterday, but it still looks like he's sticking to his 22,000 projection.
Lina Hidalgo, Public Enemy No. 1?
With a single unconstitutional ruling, Lina Hidalgo might've become Public Enemy #1 in Houstonians' eyes. Hidalgo ruled that not wearing a mask in public in Harris County could earn them "180 days in jail or a $1,000 fine." The backlash was swift and harsh, starting with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and extending to the Houston Police Officers Union, aka HPOU.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tweeted that "These kind of confused government policies fuel public anger and rightfully so." Lt. Gov. Patrick noted "that Hidalgo's order : was announced on the same day as plans surfaced for closing a costly temporary hospital 'because it wasn't needed.'"
The HPOU was the harshest critic. President Joe Gamaldi of Houston Police Officers' Union Lodge 110 wrote in a statement "It is clear the so-called leader of Harris County lacks any critical thinking skills but let me assure the public, our officers do!"
Everyone should be wearing a mask in public, I wear 1 everyday. But making not wearing 1 punishable by law, and asking our officers to enforce it, will do irreparable damage to our relationship with the community. We are already stretched too thin without having to enforce this. pic.twitter.com/BwxEJgHvkq
- Joe Gamaldi (@JoeGamaldi) April 22, 2020
This jumped out at me:
But Judge Lina Hidalgo's action, which intended to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in the third most populous county in the U.S., drew immediate pushback - including from the state's lieutenant governor, who called the move 'the ultimate government overreach,' and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who wrote that " commonsense guidelines " should never lead to "unjust tyranny."
If this isn't part of Texas state statutes, then I don't see how this is taken seriously. Without a law passed by the legislature, judges can't just make up a crime. That requires enacting a law and getting the governor's signature. I'd be surprised if the Texas Attorney General doesn't smack this overreach down before it becomes 'law' on Monday.
Posted Thursday, April 23, 2020 8:49 AM
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The Vikings nail First Round
Saying that the Vikings nailed it Thursday night is, IMHO, understatement. With 2 picks, the expectation was that the Vikings would get 2 plug-and-play guys who would start on Day One. Not only did they meet those expectations, they exceeded them.
After trading WR Stefon Diggs this offseason, the need at WR was pretty obvious. With the pick they got in the Diggs trade, the Vikings just let things come to them. That worked perfectly when LSU Tigers WR Justin Jefferson dropped into their laps. The things that jump out at you about Jefferson are his quickness, his precise route-running and his contested ball rate. According to ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who was part of ABC's broadcast of the NFL Draft last night, "Reminds me of a kid that grew up playing a lot of backyard football with those brothers - being the youngest one, trying to prove himself. Natural ball skills. Everything you want to see from a guy. What I love is they get the ball to him early to kind of set the tone because of the energy that he can provide and the personality that he has. He's dominant in the slot because of that length, and the quickness to be able to separate, but like I said, you get the ball downfield."
Most of the mock drafts I saw had Jefferson going to the Iggles a pick before him. When they passed on Jefferson, Vikings GM Rick Spielman pounced. After the night finished, Spielman told reporters that they think Jefferson can play outside or in the slot, which was the underlying presumption. That might not be necessary if Spielman's coaches are right in their evaluations.
The Vikings other first round pick came later than expected because the SF 49ers decided they couldn't risk letting Brandon Aiyuk get away. The Vikings were the recipients of that decision, with the Vikings trading back from 25 to 31 while picking up additional picks in the fourth and fifth rounds. Specifically, the Vikings picked up the 117th and 156th overall picks from SF.
After dropping to the 31st pick, the Vikings still got excellent value when they picked TCU defensive back Jeff Gladney. The Vikings released Xavier Rhodes this offseason, then lost Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander through free agency. Saying that the secondary was a concern is understatement. Had the Vikings stayed at 25 and picked Gladney, Vikings fans likely would've approved.
Vikings.com shared this with their fans:
Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer shared an anecdote from Thursday's call with Gladney, a First-Team All-Big 12 selection with the Horned Frogs who is happy to stay in purple. "When we called him - [college scout] Pat [Roberts] gets him on the phone - and he said, 'I've been waiting for you guys to call.' That's part of what you like about him," Zimmer said. "He's a competitor and he wants to get out there and go."
The Vikings needed to get off to a fast start in this year's NFL Draft. Thanks to great player evaluations and some fortunate decisions by other teams, that's exactly what the Vikings got last night. They filled 2 needs but they still have other needs to fill. They still need help with the offensive line, defensive line, the secondary and probably another receiver. The good news is that they still have 12 picks left to fill those needs.
Posted Friday, April 24, 2020 9:08 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 24-Apr-20 06:43 PM
It's hard to say the Vikings "nailed it" in the first round when they didn't get anyone yet again to help protect their overpaid, only decent when he's not rushed, QB.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 26-Apr-20 09:25 AM
You can't fill all the holes with 2 picks. Now that the draft is finished, it's safe to say they got someone to protect Cousins.
PS- Being a sourpuss all the time isn't a good look.
Comment 2 by eric z at 26-Apr-20 09:41 AM
With 15 drafted players, they got an undrafted free agent DL tackle, Gary Baker, from Oregon Ducks. For all we know he could be the steal of the non-draft (the mop up). If he's mean enough he can find a spot. What do we know about Pac-12 affairs and skills? Two time zones away.
Winfield now with Brady and Gronk.
COVID-19's Minnesota surge
This article highlights some things that require questioning. The biggest question is why the U of M/MDH model has a mountainous spike in ICU usage a month after a drop in ICU usage:
The U of M/MDH model isn't consistent with data that's already known. I wrote about ICU capacity in this post . In that post, I wrote that "Minnesota's COVID-19 Response and Preparation Capacity website shows that 932 ICU beds are currently in use out of 1,222 beds currently available. The website indicates that an additional 831 beds can be available within 24 hrs. and another 585 beds could be available within another 72 hrs." I noted then that's approximately 35% of Minnesota's capacity. This is from the article:
In all the Minnesota-built models, the vast majority of infections and deaths here occur in a second, much bigger peak in mid-July, after extreme social distancing measures have been relaxed. The curve we're currently seeing, they say, may not be the worst of what Minnesotans can expect from COVID-19.
What data indicates that the second peak is bigger than the initial peak? Does anyone think that NYC will have a second peak that's bigger than the peak they've already been through? What indication is there that New Orleans will have a second, deadlier peak? The U of M/MDH model predicts a double peak. The IHME doesn't:
The Washington model even projects a date, the week of May 31, that infections should be low enough that public health workforces "should be able to handle aggressive case finding and contact tracing," said Dr. Theo Vos, an epidemiologist on the Washington team.
The question that Gov. Walz hasn't been asked is whether the U of M/MDH has been adjusted to additional data recently. It's obviously been adjusted since it was initially introduced. It's impossible to picture 22,000 Minnesotans dying in the next 3 months. That's an average of 225 deaths per day for 3 months. I'd bet the proverbial ranch against that happening. Why? We're almost 2 months into this and Minnesota has had less than 250 deaths:
Now I'm supposed to buy the notion that Minnesota will average as many deaths per day as we've had in 50 days? I don't think so. A little common sense is required in addition to a smarter governor.
Posted Sunday, April 26, 2020 3:47 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 26-Apr-20 11:28 AM
What about the economy? Trump is in a straddle. Restart too early and get a death surge. Too late, and the economy remains hurt into November. What's the answer Gary?
As to the economy, all this funny money liquidity being woven from nothing surely says Medicare for All could be financed if there is the will to do so, with much left over for keeping Social Security well funded.
And that is apart from any wealth tax or taxing the rich fairly on income taxes. The liquidity belies the bleating that socially responsible programs cost too much. Tax breaks for the rich are what have PROVEN too costly, stock buybacks being the choice instead of boosting consumer confidence and spending. So what is the answer?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 26-Apr-20 05:53 PM
Eric, we're far too along to have another death spike. The first spike caught us unprepared. We're now producing the things that we need quickly. We weren't doing that in February.
As for sending trillions of $$$ to Blue Collar America, that's what we've done in an emergency. That isn't what we do for long-term policy. Further, M4A is terrible policy. If we didn't have the system we currently have, many more people would be dying because there wouldn't be an incentive to innovate.
Here's a hint: people don't innovate out of the kindness of their heart. They provide products that benefit society for a profit.
Comment 2 by Gretchen Leisen at 26-Apr-20 12:29 PM
The answer is to slowly open up the small businesses while at the same time instituting strong quarantines in nursing homes and other similar institutions which care for people who are deemed vulnerable to Covid-19 pneumonia, i.e. other serious health issues.
Therefore, the answer is to liberate healthy individuals and keep the vulnerable citizens safe. Building up a 'herd immunity' to the virus ought to be a goal.
The price of confinement
Gov. Walz, Gov. Cuomo and other Democrats have hinted that people that want to reopen the economy are just simply greedy. Why haven't reporters done any in-depth articles about how confinement costs families and individuals? Why haven't the media taken seriously the trampling of constitutional rights? (That's a rhetorical question. We know the answer.)
What we've figured out is that COVID-19 is deadly to those with serious underlying conditions and the elderly. We've figured out that healthy people that exercise proper restraint aren't in a ton of danger. Is there some risk? Without a question. Are there things that can mitigate the effects of COVID-19? Without question.
This article highlights the Democrats' thinking. Gov. Walz is a perfect example. Gov. Walz's top priorities are eliminating public health risks, eliminating more public health risks and eliminating all public health risks. That's impossible. Further, it isn't wise from a mental health standpoint.
If they dare protest, if they demand to work and run their own lives, they're condemned by mouthpieces of the left as a bunch of greedy fools Who Just Want People to Die.
The Democrats are committed to keeping you healthy even if it kills you or pushes you into bankruptcy. That's what President Trump means when he talks about the cure being worse than the disease. It's time to introduce Democrats to some principles that are foreign to them.
The first principle that's foreign to today's Democrats is the principle of balance. If there's anything that Democrats are famous for, it's the principle of not letting a crisis go to waste. While Pelosi fights for things that please her donor base, Blue Collar America fights to put food on the table:
[Video no longer available]
Democrats haven't figured out that lots of small businesses have to work hard even in the best of times. There's a reason why it's called "sweat equity." To them, anyone making a profit is rich and evil. The truth is that big corporations hurt small businesses through regulations. Corporations use regulations to keep 'the little guy' down.
Another concept that's foreign to Democrats is common sense. That's especially true of Gov. Walz. Thus far, he's imposed the same restrictions on Crow Wing County as he's imposed on Hennepin County. He's done that even though Crow Wing County is dotted with cabins and filled with hiking trails. Hennepin County is an urban jungle.
It's time for Gov. Walz and the DFL to understand that one-size-fits-all policy-making usually fails. That would require a little humility and a healthy dose of common sense. Both character traits are in short supply within the DFL, at least within the leadership level.
Posted Sunday, April 26, 2020 12:11 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 27-Apr-20 05:09 PM
States that want to open are greedy for wanting to get back to life and start filling their state treasuries with tax money so they don't have to rely on the federal government. So what is NY when Cuomo is asking for federal bailout money because he and other democratic governors run their states so poorly? Double talking hypocrites. He claims NY is a giver not a taker but that is only on paper and not reality. These are the same people who tell the federal government they will do as they please and refuse to help stop the flow and actually encourage illegal immigration. If I'm Trump, I put caveat's on any further money being distributed to states to bail them out. Maybe the federal government should take over part or all of that states as is the case with the airlines and the money they are getting.
Is reforming the WHO possible? If it isn't, we should kill it outright
Nancy Pelosi thinks that sidelining the World Health Organization isn't wise. In fact, she thinks that it's dangerous:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is criticizing President Trump's effort to withhold funding from the World Health Organization and other steps his administration is reportedly taking to sideline the global health agency. "It's stupid - it's more than stupid; it's dangerous," Pelosi told NPR.
What's stupid is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to a Chinese puppet. Then again, that's normal for Democrats. Then Pelosi went off the deep end:
"Worse than [the funding], if you can believe it, worse than that is that he and the secretary of state have been deleting any reference to the World Health Organization in any of our strategies on how we can deal with the pandemic. That may be more harmful than just the money," Pelosi said.
Pelosi apparently thinks that we should get pushed around by corrupt international actors acting on behalf of evil nations intent on replacing the United States as the world's superpower. That's who the W.H. O. is. Tom Cotton has been right about China since January, when Pelosi, Schiff and Nadler were trying to impeach President Trump. Here's what Sen. Cotton told Maria Bartiromo:
As early as the second week of December, it was clear that this virus was spreading from person to person. By late December, it was spreading to doctors in Wuhan hospitals. Some doctors were trying to blow the whistle on these facts, and the secret police arrived at their doorsteps in the middle of the night. So only after China fessed up to the WHO on December 31 did the world know what was happening. Yet, still they continued to deny that it was spreading from person to person into mid-January. That allowed millions of people to leave Wuhan.
And then, finally, China continued to pressure the WHO and other countries not to stop international travel from China . That meant that hundreds of thousands of persons left China after this virus was spread far outside of Wuhan, which allowed the virus to escape China's borders and get to the United States and get to Europe and get to essentially every country in the world.
Why hasn't Pelosi instructed the Oversight Committee to investigate W.H.O.? Is it that Democrats know how corrupt WHO is? Is it because Democrats are comfortable with the plethora of corrupt international organizations that they fund?
Democrats have spent millions of dollars investigating President Trump but they won't lift a finger to investigate what the linkage is between the W.H.O. and China? Democrats will investigate a US president that they disagree with but they won't investigate a nation that wants to run the US into the dirt? That's the definition of evil. That's the definition of anti-patriotism.
Jake Tapper got under Pelosi's skin in this interview:
[Video no longer available]
Pelosi isn't this great negotiator with nerves of steel. She's aging and, based on this video, she isn't aging that gracefully. The day that she signed the impeachment papers is the day that things started going downhill. Then there was this trip to Chinatown on February 24 where 'Dr. Pelosi', the world-famous epidemiologist, told everyone that travel is safe:
[Video no longer available]
Let's be clear about something. If President Trump cured cancer, Pelosi would criticize him for putting oncologists out of business. If President Trump fixed the unions' pension funds and started running surpluses for the next decade, Pelosi would criticize President Trump for not doing it fast enough.
The truth is that she's just a high profile political hack. Finally, she's as tone-deaf as Hillary.
President Trump should fix the WHO, if that's possible. If it isn't possible, then we should just undermine what's left of its credibility.
Posted Sunday, April 26, 2020 5:39 PM
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Nancy Pelosi endorses Joe Biden
The stars in the Democrats' universe are lining up for Joe Biden. Nancy Pelosi is the latest corrupt Democrat politician to endorse Creepy Joe Biden. It isn't that the #MeToo movement is dead that's most appalling. It's that the Democrats' politicians essentially tossed the corpse aside after using it in their attempt to vilify Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Every woman should be believed turned into he's been a champion for women's issues. Isn't that what they used to say about Ted Kennedy before he joined the rotting in hell club? Wasn't Mary Jo Kopechne available to offer a rebuttal? Democrats didn't hesitate in demolishing Justice Kavanaugh's family with outright lies. This time, Democrats won't hesitate in pretending that Tara Reade doesn't exist. Here's Pelosi's endorsement:
. @JoeBiden has fought for our health care, for our families & for our children's future.
To his work, Joe brings values & integrity. He is a voice of reason & resilience who will fight #ForThePeople. Today, I am proud to endorse him for President of the United States. -NP pic.twitter.com/Qdc9vTgWHP
- Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) April 27, 2020
Nancy Pelosi isn't a person. She's a soulless vampire. There is no spark of divinity left within Pelosi:
[Video no longer available]
It isn't surprising that Democrats would pretend that Tara Reade doesn't exist. This is routine for them:
Asked for comment, Pelosi's office referred Fox News to an April 17 interview with MSNBC in which she was asked if she's satisfied with Biden's denial. "Yes, I am. I am very much involved in this issue. I always want to give the opportunity that women deserve to be heard. I am satisfied with his answer, yes," she said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has not commented on the allegation against Biden, and neither have most of the women considered to be on Biden's shortlist for vice presidential picks or the Democratic National Committee.
Where's the witnesses? Won't anyone interrogate Biden? While impeaching and trying President Trump, allegations were all that Democrats required. In fact, that's all that they presented. Now that it's a Democrat who's accused, there isn't even an investigation. Democrats won't call witnesses. They won't look for witnesses.
Joe Biden is a disgusting human being who's had a propensity for creeping out women. He's utterly corrupt, too. When he suffers a humiliating defeat this November, I'll dance on his political grave.
Posted Monday, April 27, 2020 9:31 AM
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