When it comes to state-level Covid restrictions – bans, shutdowns, snitch lines and the rest – the big media and the pundit class (pardon, more and more, the redundancy) act a lot like strict but blinkered Fundamentalists confronting two-for-ones at happy hour; the impenitent deserve any horrors that befall them, in this life or the next.

All through the summer, Big Media was fairly drooling at the notion that, while Covid was ravaging New York and Boston and Minneapolis, “it’s gonna hit the red states MUCH harder”, with a perceptible thrill in their voice.

Which is all I have to explain the way Big Media has covered the surge in Covid in the Dakotas. I’ve called the phenomenon “#BlueFragility” – the notion that no matter what goes wrong in a Blue city or state – crime, corruption, costs, Covid, bureaucratic legerdemain – it’s going to be worse in the Red areas, and it’s probably their fault besides!

The level of joy that came out a few weeks ago when North Dakota’s case load surged (after a cold, wet October – the same weather that’s gonna cause a surge everywhere else, before too long) had a pronounced “Scarlet Letter” vibe to it.

And it’s not just pseudomoral schadenfreud. It’s bastardizing both science and journalism (to the extent that benighted craft can still be bastardized). Remember the Sturgis rally? When snarky bobbleheads with tin “reporter” badges uncritically regurgitated garbage “science” tying every single case in the upper midwest to the Sturgis rally? That made the headlines. The clarification – it was more like 80 cases in Minnesota – got Section C page 16.

Oh yeah – being big media, pretty much everything they’ve written about the situation is wrong. To pick just one bit of misreporting – the story from a few weeks back that Gov. Burgum was asking infected but asymptomatic staff to keep working:.

“Anger in North Dakota After Governor Asks Covid-Positive Health Workers To Keep Working.” That does sound pretty dire – the state is so swamped that the sick are treating the sick.

Except this is a phenomenon in agricultural states generally because they rely on small rural Critical Access Hospitals, often with few beds and limited or nonexistent intensive care capabilities. “COVID-19 patients and other critically ill patients who need to be cared for in an intensive care unit are typically transferred to larger regional hospitals, which can be hundreds of miles from the small critical hospitals,” notes USA Today when it’s not berating the Dakotas. This adds extra pressure to city hospitals and can potentially increase case severity and death. In fact, the CDC spells out guidance for areas in such situations that allows such working situations precisely because unlike what we normally think of as a disease case, that is, an exhibition of a certain cluster of symptoms, many Covid-19 “cases” are asymptomatic and non-spreading. It’s just one of the many idiosyncrasies of how this disease is treated compared to others. 

While I chalk this up to a frenzy of secular-revivalist fervor, the author, Michael Fumento, adds another wrinkle to the diagnosis:

Say you’re a writer in New York or Los Angeles living in something approaching a coronavirus police state and fearing for your job and pining for a pint and you learn North Dakota ranked second in least economic distress from the pandemic while South Dakota also did quite well. Further, a U.S. Census Bureau poll found that the two states least suffering from anxiety and depression right now are, yup, the Dakotas. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s freedom!

I do urge you to read the whole thing.

By the way – unlike pretty much any mainstream media figure, I’ve spent time in the Dakotas since the pandemic started. A *lot* of time. Four times since March. While there was no state mask mandate, people *on their own* were wearing them, no less than in the Twin Cities.

And in a better contrast still? Listening to Governor Burgum addressing the state is a wonderful contrast to Governor Klink; he treats his audience like someone he has to respect as adults, puts the actual science out there, and doesn’t play stupid stunts like hiding his math, a welcome comparison to the gym teacher with his knobs and levers and vanishing models.

Moving as I did from NoDak to the big city 35 years ago, I’ve had an adult lifetime of dealing with “blue” stereotypes of the rural west. I’d say “I’m gonna enjoy watching them choke on them”, but it’s probably too soon.

“Science”, Minnesota Style

Governor Klink reminds us “we are all in it together“.

I thought about that as I was driving through Eagan after the show on Saturday. I drove past a Eagan Outlet mall – a clump of national big box outlet stores.

He was the parking lot:

Seems an off a lot of people are, indeed, “in it together”, doesn’t it?

Then, I turned around and took a look at Jensen’s supper club – a locally run, one of a kind small family run business that is an Eagan institution, as well as being perennially besieged by the ever expanding vagaries of Minnesota’s regulatory state and tax regime.

Here it was:

A sign on the door hopefully suggests “curbside pick up available“.

Normally at 3o’clock on a Saturday afternoon during the weekend after Thanksgiving – one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year under normal circumstances, and clearly a day seeing quite a bit of traffic at the state sanctioned “essential“ businesses across the street – there would be more than a few cars in the parking lot, with people grabbing dinner and or a cocktail or three after a day of dealing with the madding crowd.

Science.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emailed a week or so back:

Saint Paul, Minnesota
November 20, 2020
For Immediate Release

Dictator-for-Life Walz today announced a new Executive Order intended to save Minnesotans from the deadliest virus ever known, Covid-19.

“It is well documented that Black people are more susceptible than Whites,” he said. “It stands to reason the more people who have the virus, the more people they can spread it to. We must prevent the spread of the virus which could overwhelm medical facilities and leave thousands of people to die untreated. Therefore, effective immediately, all Black people are required to present themselves to local authorities for removal to permanent and isolated Relocation Authority camps where they will be confined for the duration of the emergency.”

In response to Republican claims that such an order would somehow violate the “Constitution,” a spokesman for Attorney General Ellison stated, “Since the Governor’s order is authorized by statute and has not been overturned by the Legislature, it is presumptively valid. There is ample legal precedent for this measure provided in the Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States. The notion that the Governor lacks the authority to suspend people’s so-called “Constitutional rights” during the time of state-wide emergency is absurd on its face.”

Local Black Lives Matter and NAACP officials called a press conference to protest the order but were summarily arrested and have not been heard from since. It is believed they are the first Blacks to be sent to the Relocation Camps, although that rumor cannot be confirmed.

In Saint Paul, Joe Doakes, reporting.

It only seems preposterous if you haven’t been following Governor Fredo and Mayor Squiggy in New York.

Or, y’know, history in general.

Governor Walz was a National Guard noncommissioned officer.

As such, it’s not unreasonable to believe he knows one of the key principles of leadership – never ask those you’re leading to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.

I thought about that when I read this…

…the latest in an eight month series of such platitudes.

Is it plausible that someone presumably promoted by the Army for demonstrating some leadership skill actually believes that someone with a government income and benefits chanting platitudes like “we’re all in this together” to people who are losing, have lost or will lose everything is sound leadership?

Is he unaware?

Or given the Twin Cities’ obsequious media, does he just know it doesn’t matter?

Downtown Minneapolis boosters are split over the news that Dollar General is putting a store on the ever-more-desolate Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

On the one hand, you’ve got the one that chortle at all the “People of Walmart”-style stories they associate with Dollar General – a chain usually associated with towns too small or neighborhoods too poor for a Walmart.

On the other hand you’ve got the “aren’t we better than this?” mob.

Rick Nelson at the Strib kinda straddles the line:

Yes, “tacky” and “depressing” are two words to describe the appearance of a dollar store on what is widely viewed as Minneapolis’ Main Street, a thoroughfare that recently underwent a $50 million makeover. “Distressing” could be another, since the appearance of this type of merchant might be an indication that downtown’s dwindling retail scene is taking yet another step in the wrong direction.

The store’s new home in the Andrus (the historic building formerly known as Renaissance Square) at S. 5th Street and Nicollet Mall won’t be sullied with a glaring yellow-and-black Dollar General logo. Instead, there will be a hip “DGX” marquee, reflecting Dollar General’s curated version of its discount store.

So what does it all mean, for a street that the city of Minneapolis just spent tens of millions of dollars refurbing (and BLM and “Anti”-Fa spent a couple of nights hacking away at)?

Why, it’s almost as if when you treat a major city like an urban studies lab, make driving onerous and parking prohibitive, and treat public safety as a sign of misbegotten privilege even if someone hasn’t burned down your favorite destination (or closed it forever via a hamfisted lockdown), the people from the outlying parts of the city that downtown used to depend on for all that juicy revenue will take their money elsewhere?

This is the correct response to Covid: We’re going to treat it like any other respiratory virus.

It is simply not possible to stop a virus from spreading, or to prevent people from being exposed to it.  Instead, we must focus on protecting those most at-risk from the virus, and treating those sickened by it, as best we can. 

Everybody else – get back to work.

The existence of the virus is not a hoax; the panic response is a political hoax that deliberately sacrifices senior citizens’ lives to terrify voters into electing a man who promises to keep them safe.  It’s despicable.

Joe Doakes

Rahm Emanuel let slip the great Progressive commandment – “never waste a crisis”.

The pandemic was real. So was the Democrats’ adherence to Emanuel.

“Masking up reduces rates of infection!”

According to a Danish study? Not significantly:

The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use. The data were compatible with lesser degrees of self-protection.

“OK, but a complete lockdown-level quarantine will do the trick!”

According to a study of the most controllable experimental subjects of all – US Marine recruits at boot camp – not really:

The virus still spread, though 90% of those who tested positive were without symptoms [18 year olds in perfect, military-grade health? Go figure – Ed.]. Incredibly, 2% of the CHARM recruits still contracted the virus, even if all but one remained asymptomatic. “Our study showed that in a group of predominantly young male military recruits, approximately 2% became positive for SARS-CoV-2, as determined by qPCR assay, during a 2-week, strictly enforced quarantine.” 

Science is, of course, asking questions and testing theories as rigorously as you can. Two studies do not cause science to “settle”.

But the way the media is misreporting these studies, if they report them at all, is a little galling.

New Yorkers are leaving NYC in record numbers.

I’ve added emphasis in a few places:

City residents filed 295,103 change of address requests from March 1 through Oct. 31, according to data The Post obtained from the US Postal Service under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Since the data details only when 11 or more forwarding requests were made to a particular county outside NYC, the number of moves is actually higher. And a single address change could represent an entire household, which means far more than 300,000 New Yorkers fled the five boroughs.

Whatever the exact number, the exodus — which began when COVID-19 hit the city in early spring — is much greater than in prior years. From just March through July, there were 244,895 change of address requests to destinations outside of the city, more than double the 101,342 during the same period in 2019.

As long as they don’t bring their infantile New York politics with ’em…

The CDC has issued a new order allowing cruise ships to sail again. 

Without passengers.  They can take volunteers who will pretend to be passengers, so the cruise lines can try out their new antiseptic cleaning and social distancing measures to keep the ship safe from the deadliest virus ever known to mankind, which so far (rounded to the nearest whole number) has killed ZERO percent of Americans.

The volunteer cruise must simulate a real cruise, so there will be on-board entertainment venues, activities and meals. No prohibition on wrist bands to obtain unlimited alcoholic beverages while soaking in the hot tub . . . this sounds like my kind of gig.

Yes, yes, taking a risk, informed consent, waiver of rights . . . look, I could get killed crossing the street, alright?  I’m studied the Covid facts and numbers.  I’m willing to throw caution to the winds.  I’ll take my chances of dying of Covid on my free cruise. 

Where do I sign up?

Joe Doakes

I can’t imagine they’d have a lot of trouble finding volunteers in Minnesota…

Testing reveals the Covid virus is spreading rapidly throughout the state; therefore, we must lock down again to prevent a Surge of Covid cases resulting in a huge number of hospitalizations which will overwhelm the medical system, leaving patients to die untreated in hallways and parking lots.  So claims the Walz Administration.

Someone should tell the Star Tribune.  As of last week, they reported:

” . . . 614 Minnesota hospital beds were filled with COVID-19 patients, including 149 who needed intensive care . . . Minnesota hospitals still have intensive care capacity, though, with 1,028 of 1,467 immediately available ICU beds filled with patients who have COVID-19 or other unrelated medical problems.”

We have 400 ICU beds immediately available for all comers, not just Covid patients.  The “immediately” is important, because in his second press conference announcing the extension of the two-week Stay Home Order, Governor Walz admitted we had the ability to ramp up to 3,000 ICU rooms within 72 hours. 

Unless something has changed that the Walz administration won’t talk about, we are using 149 of 3,000 ICU beds for Covid patients DESPITE the virus spreading rapidly throughout the state. There is no evidence of a Surge and even if there were, the medical system has plenty of excess capacity to serve it.

There is no medical reason for the lock down. End it now.

Joe Doakes

Pretty sure it’s all about showing the peasants who’s boss.

Remember President Obama’s Cash for Clunkers program?  Trade in an old
car for a more fuel-efficient one, get up to $4,500 in federal rebate
money.  Your clunker was crushed.  The effect of the program was to
distort the used car market, driving up prices of starter vehicles for
the young and poor, making it harder for them to get to work.  The
distortion took months to settle out.

Remember the Obama administration pushing mortgages for minority
borrowers?  It was actually possible to get into a house with less
out-of-pocket investment than getting into an apartment; I saw lots of
examples in the land records.  The effect of that program was to distort
the lending market and when sub-prime mortgages crashed, it took a
decade for the foreclosures and bankruptcies to settle out.

Governor Walz issued his Stay Home order closing businesses and throwing
more than a million Minnesotans out of work (we know this because a
million people filed for unemployment, which is not available to youth,
part-time, casual, contract or small business owners; therefore, the
total who lost their incomes is much, much higher).  The mortgage
delinquency rate is the highest in 20 years but Congress put
foreclosures of federally insured mortgages are on hold and Governor
Walz imposed a moratorium on evictions. The effect is to distort the
housing market again.  There’s a flood of foreclosures and evictions
coming down the pike as soon as the pandemic restrictions are lifted. 
That flood will cause a slump in home values as lenders dump foreclosed
homes, which will drive home prices down, which will be reflected in
worse economic numbers for whomever is President at the time.  It may
take years to settle out, again.

None of this was unforeseen.  The foreseeable consequences of the lock
down were ignored in order to gin up support for mail in voting to make
the election easier to steal.  The cost of that decision is going up
every day.

Joe Doakes

This is what happens when there’s no real check on power.

There is no Third Wave of Covid cases.  There was no Second Wave.  This is still the First Wave. 

When Covid was detected, the Governor issued a Stay Home order to “flatten the curve” so that we wouldn’t overwhelm our limited number of ICU rooms with Covid patients.  That would have meant leaving people to die in hallways and parking lots, untreated, for lack of ICU space. Instead, the plan was to slow the spread of the virus which would delay some Covid hospitalizations.  Rather than a massive surge, we’d see a continuous caseload that was within our ICU capacity.  And it worked . . . no hospital ICU were overwhelmed.

The Stay Home order was never intended to permanently halt Covid deaths.  We knew all along people were going to die, we just didn’t want them to die for lack of treatment in a Surge.  Instead, we wanted them to die more slowly, with treatment if possible.  That’s working, too.

Covid kills old sick people in nursing homes, which created nursing home bed vacancies. But nursing home beds don’t stay vacant – there’s always a waiting list.  New residents move in, they catch the virus from the existing patients or the staff, they die of Covid.  It’s not a wave issue, it’s a location issue.  Nursing homes are slaughterhouses. 

And it’s not going to end.  As the virus kills today’s old sick people, other sick people are aging.  Tomorrow’s old sick people are going to die of Covid, too.  And the day after that, and the month after that, and the year after that.  Because that’s what old sick people do in the nursing home: they die, of influenza, emphysema, cancer, diabetes and yes, of Covid.

Nothing President Trump could have done would have prevented the virus from acting according to its nature. It’s here to stay, just like other illnesses that kill old sick people.  Get used to it.

Joe Doakes

Lose that extra weight (if I did it, anyone can). Get your blood sugar and blood pressure under control (it ain’t easy, but your life may depend on it). Wear a mask and don’t be lingering around older people and people you know are vulnerable.

Start trying to rebuild the economy the Democrats have utterly f****d.

That’s the way forward.

We hope.

Governor Walz, I have some questions.

In your press conference announcing the Stay Home order, you said the
Covid virus would kill 75,000 Minnesotans if we did nothing but only
50,000 if we implemented the strictest lock-down.  We needed to do that
to ‘flatten the curve’ so ICU rooms wouldn’t be overwhelmed.  Two weeks
later, you announced we had ramped up ICU rooms from 235 to 3,000 but we
still needed ventilators, which were on back-order.

Since then, we’ve been in continuous lock-down and now have the mask
mandate but ICU rooms are not overwhelmed with Covid cases; indeed,
hospitals are closing their doors for lack of patients.

Your administration gives daily briefings on the spread of Covid cases
and daily reported deaths as if these were bad things.  But weren’t they
part of the plan all along?  We locked down to Slow the spread, not to
Eliminate the spread.  We knew people would die, we just wanted them to
die more slowly.  Your plan is working perfectly.  Why aren’t you happy?

Which brings up the next point: when do you anticipate the lock-down
will end?  Right now, closings and quarantines seem to be based on case
rates, not ICU rates.  I understand that in theory, more cases could
lead to more ICU admissions which could overwhelm the system; but so
far, the statistics show that’s not happening.  We have plenty of excess
ICU bed capacity.

If all goes according to plan, eventually, everybody in the state will
have Covid but most of them will neither display symptoms nor require
hospitalization.  Is that what you’re waiting for?  If so, shouldn’t we
speed up the process by lifting all restrictions now?

Joe Doakes

It’s neither about science nor logic.

But Joe knows this.

Last week, Dictator-for-Life Walz assured us rising numbers of Covid cases was due to 18-35 year olds not following appropriate mask and social distance procedures. He issued Executive Order 20-96 which limited gatherings to 10 people for two weeks, then 50 people for two more weeks, then 25 people thereafter. That Order was based on SCIENCE.

This week, he changed it to zero. No gatherings for four weeks. This Order also was based on SCIENCE.

What changed about the SCIENCE? The Governor says:

“I recently issued Executive Order 20-96, which placed limits on the social gatherings and establishments that posed the most serious concern according to MDH data. In the week since, MDH has confirmed over 30 additional outbreaks connected to the gatherings, bars, and restaurants that were encompassed by Executive Order 20-96. Unfortunately, these numbers, our statewide cases, hospitalization rates, and our levels of community spread demonstrate that a temporary dial back on in-person social activity and restrictions on certain businesses are necessary.”

Okay, so we’ve identified the problem and it’s 18-35 year olds going to social gatherings in bars and restaurants. But then what does this mean:

“Minnesota’s rate of “community spread”—meaning those cases that MDH cannot link to another case or a source of exposure—is particularly concerning. At least one third of all new COVID-19 infections in Minnesota have no known source.”

and also:

“Minnesota is currently averaging over 100 cases per 100,000 residents each day. These numbers tell a troubling story. The virus is everywhere, meaning that every interaction we have with people outside of our households poses a risk of transmission. When we cannot effectively trace infections due to community spread, we cannot keep COVID-19 out of our businesses, our schools, or the congregate care facilities that house our most vulnerable residents.”

So . . . last week, we knew enough to leave everything open with some limits. Today we don’t know anything so we must lock down everything even though the virus is everywhere and nothing we’ve tried to stop it, has done anything.

The evidence does not support the conclusion.

I’m starting to get the impression Kevin Roche at Healthy Skeptic is right. The Dictator-for-Life is not a bold leader protecting us from certain disaster; he is an Incompetent Blowhard.

Joe Doakes

He’s a gym teacher, using the tools of his trade – yelling and putting people in corners.

Dear Governor Wallz.

Follow the science!

Joe Doakes

Joe is mistaking “science” – means of focused questioning, observation and analysis – with “science”, a set of memes and commandments designed to exhort compliance.

Common mistake.

Governor Walz’ team of experts confidently predicted a Surge of Covid cases so large it would overwhelm hospitals. Patients would die on gurneys in hallways and parking lots, untreated. Bodies would lie in streets, uncollected. Everyone was at risk, from 6-month-old infants to 91-year-old seniors. 75,000 people would die, unless we ‘flattened the curve.’

To prevent that, the Governor declared a Peacetime Emergency and issued a Stay Home order which effectively suspended the United States Constitution, an act never before attempted in this country. Religious worship was banned. Political assemblies were banned. Jury trials were banned. Non-essential travel was banned. And non-emergency medical treatments were also banned, to keep hospital beds open for the Surge of Covid cases.

There was no Surge. Hospitals had on-going expenses for heat and lights, payroll, benefits and insurance amounting to nearly $1 million A DAY for the state’s largest medical providers, but no patients to pay those expenses. Medical providers are still scrambling to catch up.
Fairview Health is closing two hospitals in St. Paul – Bethesda (two blocks North of the Capital) and St. Josephs (downtown). The move will save the company money but it will cost the community hundreds of hospital beds and the entire psychiatric care unit. The company also is closing 14 primary care clinics in Minnesota and two in Wisconsin, a total of 900 jobs in all, hoping to slash expenses fast enough to keep the company alive.

Ramsey County is helping out. It’s leasing Bethesda Hospital for $1.2 million to use as a homeless shelter, December through May. Room, board, staffing and security for 100 homeless people will run about $66 per person per day, which is a pretty good rate (slightly cheaper than staying at the Motel 6 on I-94 and White Bear Avenue). The Board of Commissioners didn’t mention where that money was coming from.

To date, rounded to the nearest whole number, Covid has killed Zero percent of Minnesotans. The long-term costs of the Stay Home order have yet to be totaled up.

Joe Doakes

It’s a crisis not to waste. They’re doing a fine job of it – or so the polls tell us.

The problem with democracy today is that just about half the voters are incredulous herd cattle who believe whatever they’re told, and one party makes damn sure they take advantage of it.

Biden says millions have died of covid.

OK, so he’s a guy with some early onset dementia.

What’s Kamala Harris’s excuse?

Poker players look for the other guys’ “tell,” a facial tic or mannerism that indicates the bid is a bluff. When they see the tell, they know he’s faking.

The security precautions to get into the doctor’s office include standing in line 6 feet apart wearing a mask and answering a bunch of questions. But they’re self-reported answers, unverified. No, I haven’t been out of the country, I don’t have a fever, I haven’t been in contact with anybody who has the deadliest virus known to man. What if I’m lying?

It reminds me of the pre 9-11 security precaution. The airlines used to ask did you pack your own bag? Did anyone ask you to carry anything on board? Has your bag been out of your control? No. But what if I’m lying?

Self-reported security. That’s the tell. It’s all fake. And they know it. So do you. So why do we put up with it?

Joe Doakes

Because you need the damn appointment or the load of groceries, and you just wanna get home and get back to work without a pack of murder hornets…er, Karens descending on you.

Standing on principle is time consuming and emotionally wrenching. Having no boundless supply of either, I pick my battles. I suspect we all do.

Fernandez writes about the urge to escape confinement, and how it’s universal. Even throws in a Shawshank Redemption quote. He labels it “rebellion,” a word that implies the authorities are right and the rebels are wrong.

Close, but no cigar. His analysis doesn’t distinguish the need to escape UNJUST confinement, which was what occurred in that film, and has occurred with all the lock-downs.

“Cases” are skyrocketing despite lock-downs and mask orders, but “deaths” are not, and particularly not among children, teens, young adults and working people. That means universal house arrest is not necessary, never was. We’re being punished for no good reason. That’s unjust confinement.

The urge to escape unjust confinement is not only natural, it’s right and moral and just. It’s not an act of rebellion against lawful authority. The people trying to continue the unjust confinement are in the wrong, not those of us trying to escape it.

Joe Doakes

I’ve got a mother in memory care. I’ll be protecting her (and/or going along with her facility’s plans for taking care of her), whatever it takes.

I’m also going to get a ^%$#@ social life back.

Both can be done.

The question remains: with 85% of downtown workers not working downtown, and at least 10,000 of them never coming back, how much is this article about skyway businesses sodtpedaling the reality?

Steve Cramer, the president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, says only 15% of the typical workforce population works downtown right now.

Several businesses in the Skyway are closed at least temporarily due to COVID-19. Cramer couldn’t specify how many.

“We probably will see a few less of those establishments when things kind of bounce back, but when things bounce back, that will create new opportunities for growth so we’re looking for that hopeful day as well,” Cramer said.

In theory, yes – if Governor clink ever “allows“ things to go back to normal, it’s hypothetically true that all those empty skyway store fronts will provide a world of opportunity for the next round of merchants.

Provided, of course, that people come back – that working from home doesn’t gut the commercial real estate market – and that the public safety situation downtown doesn’t keep businesses away

The pandemic is beginning its eighth month – and the lockdown is well into seven months of devastation America’s economy, mental health and well-being.

And you’re starting to see Big Left hopping up in down with glee – the case numbers are starting to move upward in “Red” America, justifying their almost onanistic, millenialistic desire to see the infidels pay for their impudence.

But how’s it really going out there?

I took the stats from Worldometers as of October 13th, and broke them down across a few different statistical groupings:

The Redneck Bloodbath just isn’t happening.

New York law enforcement looking for Jews trying to sneak in a little forbidden prayer:

There are times I think secession is too mild-mannered. It might be time to expel some states from the US, and offer their citizens asylum.

This is not the Babylon Bee.

“Alternate reality”.

New York still has a per capita death toll triple the national average. New York City’s economy – off Wall Street, anyway – is in the tank. It’s school system is saved from being a shambles only by having been a shambles before the epidemic. Fredo Cuomo and Ratzo DiBlasio spent the last six months playing out petty intra-party political squabbles as New Yorkers died in box lots.

Progressives do, indeed, exist in an “alternate reality”.

Who’s got two thumbs, and is the only person in the world who can’t call Donald Trump’s Twitter feed “an ill-advised mass of ready/fire/aim malaprops?”

Why, that’d be Representative Ryan Winkler, if he were pointing two thumbs at himself:

50-90% of Covid patients are asymptomatic. For many others – myself included – it felt like the chest cold I get nearly every spring; if it weren’t for a strange rash on my hand, I wouldn’t have even gotten an antibody test, much less a serology test.

So – now Ryan Winkler is Covid-shaming. Seems he knows as much about epidemiology as he does black history.

This is today’s DFL.

A majority of Americans are not only worried about violence after the election – they’re doing something about it:

When asked about just what sort of violence they expected to see, those polled responded with “riots,” “looting,” “burning” as some of their predictions. “Trashing of cities” was another response.

The YouGov poll was completed between October 1 – 2, 2020 and used 1,503 respondents.

It followed another poll released October 1 that found 61 percent of Americans agree with the concern the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War.

Additionally, 52 percent of consumers have also stockpiled food or essential goods in anticipation of social unrest tied to a resurgence of coronavirus in the coming months and/ or the election.

Unmentioned – they’re also gunning up numbers that crush all previous records.

This could be good news for conservatism in the long run; genuinely self-reliant people tend not to vote “progressive”.

Provided the GOP doesn’t screw it up…

…oh.

Smoke ’em if you got ’em.