Priorities

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

Colleges are telling students not to return from Spring Break. Schools are closing.  Employers are letting people work from home.  Everybody is taking the virus seriously.

Except local government.  The courts are open.  They’re going to stay open, all of them, until the State Court Administrator tells them to shut down.

Look, for people who get arrested and need an arraignment to get out on bail, fine, I get it.  You need a judge on duty.  Same for Orders for Protection, emergency guardianship, etc.  But the hearing doesn’t have to take place in person in the courthouse, it could be Skype.

For nearly everybody else – conciliation court, family court, probate, real estate, contract disputes – the hearing is postponed indefinitely.

Why not get out ahead of it now?  Why wait?

I blame Trump.  I suspect Democrats are afraid that if they close down the court system, Trump will pounce on it as an excuse to impose martial law and there will never be another election again.  No, seriously, I really do think they’re that paranoid. After all, that’s what they would do, if the shoe were on the other foot.

Joe Doakes

Berg’s 7th Law.

Nobody’s laughing now.

69 thoughts on “Priorities

  1. You can bet that Emery is hunkered down in his mom’s basement, with his supply of bottled water, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and Cheetos.

  2. Employers are letting people work from home. Except local government.

    OMG!

    This is the end of everything.

    No more four hour meetings. No more people wandering into your cube to rant about their personal issues. No more diversity training, teambuilding or classes to spend the education budget before the end of the fiscal year.

    Just heads down work.

    Please, please, please, do not EVER let the taxpayers know about the skyrocketing productivity.

  3. No, Greg, we’re the ones NOT working from home. County government is open as usual. Bring your deed and mortgage and cough all over everyone, we’re here to serve. Well, we will be — as soon as we get out of the meeting to discuss how we’re not closing, we’re staying open.

    Um … how about a basket where people dump stuff and we spray it with Lysol before we touch it? Nope, that’s “insensitive.” Walk right up to the counter.

    Here’s the comedy: any employee who feels unsafe coming to work can voluntarily “self-quarantine” to stay at home. But not work from home. If you’re home, you’re not working, you’re using leave (if you have any) or taking leave without pay (if you don’t).

    Okay, so help me understand. Sure, we’re “open for business,” but if I don’t feel safe coming HERE to work, and I’m not allowed to stay THERE and work, then who’s doing the work?

    Yeah, that’s on the agenda for next meeting . . . .

  4. This combination of events (pandemic and stock market crash) is not something you can tweet your way out of. It actually requires well thought out policy action.

  5. “…Trump will pounce on it as an excuse to impose martial law and there will never be another election again. ”

    This came up in a discussion about the use of metadata in China to help determine who had interacted with others. The article referenced that it couldn’t be done here in the US since the government won’t do that (pesky Constitution). But, the president could declare Martial Law (ML) and make it happen.

    The discussion then veered to what could happen in a ML scenario. The person I was speaking with was worried about Trump doing something else with that power. I responded “I’m scared of anyone having that type of power”. And, I am. But, I’d rather see DJT doing it than Bernie. THAT’S the end of elections. While he’s got ML going, might as well grab all the guns. Nationalize a few key businesses. Implement travel restrictions requiring government approval to cross state lines…

    The potential for problems is high. But, at least I’ll be able to take my deed and mortgage in!

  6. ” It actually requires well thought out policy action.”
    so not you then Emery?

  7. This is all bullshit, friends. Do not get sucked in.

    Does anyone remember the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic in 2009? Probably not, because there was no benefit to the degenerates to hype it in the media or online. But let’s look at what happened, just in the US.

    60.8 million cases people were infected between ’09 and ’10. About 300,000 were hospitalized and 12,469 died.

    Last year, 3000 people died from seasonal flu. There have been about 13 deaths from ChinkyFlu so far. But CNN is running wall to wall pandemic panic.

    I laugh at people who bring it up. I tell them I’m happy smart people are getting $50 for a 12oz bottle of Purell from idiots. They’re insulted at first, but when I explain the facts as I have here, they get it right away. This is Muh Russhins!; Muh Impeachment!; Muh pandemic! and Muh Stockz!.

    But hey, don’t take my word for it; just keep your eye on our resident degenerate.

  8. Taiwan’s response was early and proactive. They’ve had 45 cases and 1 death. Compare that to its neighbors or the US or EU. They took lessons from SARS. Apparently the only ones to do so.

    Maybe they aren’t distracted so much by bean counters and a re-election campaign.

  9. Lots of pissing and moaning, but I have yet to see a single recommendation from “our resident degenerate” as to what needs to be done about the “Kung flu” and/or the stock market. I’m sure it’s an oversight on my part.

  10. jdm, he’s a confirmed liar, and low IQ scumbag. And he’s dancing on my string rn.

  11. The incubation period for covid-19 is 5-10 days.
    Today is March 11, so at this point everyone who became infected on March 1st has the disease. The average time between the time an illness is recognized as covid-19 and mortality (for those who die) is 28 days.
    How many people so you see dropping dead in the street?
    One odd thing about covid-19 is that it is a disease that tends to infect adults rather than children. According WHO, children who are infected with covid-19 are more likely to get it from an adult then from a peer.

  12. Here’s the list of actions Taiwan took. Tell me which of these would survive a nation-wide injunction by a Liberal federal court judge.

    https://cdn.jamanetwork.com/ama/content_public/journal/jama/0/jvp200035supp1_prod.pdf?Expires=2147483647&Signature=bIZCLS7ZLWTJd~U~H40JgiEGdFb3ggVUJpBvJ7KdANK7HgK1zaj4uWHvqweGym1nWfO~nXt9Y5i1vX79pF7zjjqfzmJAy3udTdpVVZQe07xnQIPcBMXLwZ5XjgTO8yKFXVIpxsXhrmOu8sGSpKiEmQ86ZCKfOTar7fMAGmUCtjiYVFwf31K3REWAA-r3hZyoZpqz3QKpVgpsRpF9fV9thQCq0~yvbvRKTH4PcoB~CZgmXH7rpVb6bILXQn5zBCphf6pyLAa4zIebUEKfCdCYdSdi9LeIEUsesqsYpNWgHJcr4K1LC0hFlst0RHQz-vZ7I-OvrX~5jel6zjjtuDQzjQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA

    Single out arriving Asians for extra scrutiny. Complete ban on tourists from Asia. Kick out Asian tourists already here. Ban cruise ships from docking. Ban anybody who visited an Asian country in the past month.

    Seriously? This is the model you want President Trump to enact, the model all the Democrats would support, the model everybody in the media would applaud?

  13. Interesting comment, Swiftee (the one about H1N1). Thanks.

    If I wasn’t such a forgetful old fart, I would’ve phrased my comment as Schlichter did: If you want to annoy lib Twitter, ask them precisely what action Trump should take that he has not taken. Obviously, this is not limited to Twitter.

    And, in point of fact, it is not limited to degenerates either. A post at American Conservative by Rod Dreher (the so-called crunchy conservative) is filled with linked accusations from sources ranging from Megan McArdle (what a disappointment she’s become) to National Review (oh, sorry, an even bigger disappointment) as to Trump’s failings. And not one concrete recommendation as to what could’ve been done differently.

    Effers.

  14. ^^ Despite the drops of recent days, most stock markets are still hugely overpriced. By the end of Obama’s term the Dow was at 16000 — Trump called it correctly as a big fat ugly bubble”. Its now even bigger fatter and uglier.

  15. Well, if that is what you believe, go short, Emery. Put your money where your mouth is. Do you have any money left after going short since November 10, 2016?

  16. Someone exposing his limits wrote:
    “Last year, 3000 people died from seasonal flu. There have been about 13 deaths from ChinkyFlu so far.”

    “I mean, people always say, well, the flu, you know, the flu does this, the flu does that. The flu has a mortality of 0.1%. This [Covid-19] is ten times that. That’s the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game,” ~ Dr. Fauci immunologist

  17. The article in VOX has a link to 145 actions that Taiwan took, the thoughful, proactive actions Trump should have taken. Here’s a sample – tell me which of these would have survived a nation-wide injunction from a Liberal federal court judge.

    Single out arriving Asians for extra scrutiny. Complete ban on tourists from Asia. Kick out Asian tourists already here. Ban cruise ships from docking. Ban anybody who visited an Asian country in the past month.

    Seriously? This is the model you want President Trump to enact, the model all the Democrats would support, the model everybody in the media would applaud? Who are you kidding?

  18. “Were the US testing it’s citizens on the same scale as other countries, the true figure might be as high as 20,000, say epidemiologists — and rising exponentially.” ~ WSJ

    This, to me, is the defining characteristic of Trump’s Presidency. It’s all about the current news cycle. You can see that in the way he will throw anyone under the bus, make up any statistic on the spot and avoids giving interviews.

    Think about that number. At a 2% mortality rate, 20,000 is 400 people dead.

    400 people dead.

    Those people don’t count though. They are for a future new cycle. In the current one Trump wants the numbers to look low.

    The one good thing about this epidemic is that these numbers don’t lie.

    Even if Donald Trump does.

  19. The Vox article makes a big point that the government ought to hold twice-daily press conferences to educate the citizens. Well, yes, that would be great, IF the news could be counted on to report fairly and accurately. In other words, if the government controlled the media.

    I can believe Liberals would jump at that, if they were in charge. But would they allow President Trump to do it, even in the interests of national security?

  20. If there are 400 people dead of the virus, somebody would know about it. Hospital workers. Morgue workers. Funeral home workers. Spouses.

    If those numbers are correct, where are all the bodies hidden away?

    Just how vast is this Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to Hide the Truth?

  21. Woolly: Yesterday was buy on the rumor, today is sell on the news. This is some incredible volatility. That’s what you get in times of uncertainty.

    Every time stocks fall a little, there’s always a possibility they fall a lot. This is why a little market fear can turn into a lot of market fear very quickly.

    The background problem is the oil industry’s junk bonds, they borrowed a great deal of money thinking that they would expand. If the oil industry defaults on its junk bonds the banking/credit industry will slump and we will be in the 2008 problem all over again.

  22. “The Vox article makes a big point that the government ought to hold twice-daily press conferences ..”

    Of course they want that. If the whole point is to promote panic what better way than to have government agencies doing Vox’s work for them.

    CNN repeating unimpressive statistics and dimwit leftist twats infecting comment threads obviously isn’t doing the job, and this Bullshit isn’t gonna sell itself. Unless the bodies start stacking up (400 dead, LMAO), and they ain’t gonna, Drumpf is gonna dance right through tgis with even better poll numbers.

    BTW, Joe, nice snag on our degenerate dimwit. I recognized it for a bit of plagiarizing right away, but you nailed it.

  23. “At a 2% mortality rate, 20,000 is 400 people dead. 400 people dead. Those people don’t count though.”

    400 dead is a slow day for Planned Infanticide….

    “Not only do those people not count, they’re not even human.”

    ~ Dr Mengele

  24. Trump is the man who brought you: “windmills cause cancer”.

    The WH is infected with Moronavirus.

    But ya — democrats and CNN.

  25. Emery, your musings about the markets and world events, are truly hilarious.

  26. “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” ~ Donald Trump 2/15/20

    Total number of confirmed US Coranvirus cases at each Tuesday:
    Jan. 14 — 0
    Jan. 21 — 1
    Jan. 28 — 5
    Feb. 4 — 11
    Feb. 11 — 14
    Feb. 18 — 25
    Feb. 25 — 59
    Mar. 3 — 125
    Mar. 10 — 1,004

    U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass 1,000: Full Map
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

  27. 400 dead? We’ve lost 20,000 to the flu this season so far, per the CDC. That’s out of 34,000,000 flu exposures, and 350,000 flu cases serious enough to warrant hospitalization.

    It would be 400 tragedies, to be sure. There were also 550 murders in Chicago in 2018.

  28. I buy Swiftee’s take on this. From my retired MD viewpoint, here’s my contribution. Dr Fauci is a smart doctor, but here’s how doctors are professionally socialized from the beginning: do not get caught making a wrong diagnosis that’s going to cost someone’s life. So they overcall everything. You faint in a restaurant (happened to me.) Because you’re male and 50 you get admitted to the CCU overnight to rule out a heart attack, even though other risk factors are non-existent. I ruled out, kept running marathons. So Fauci is going to take the most conservative route possible, even if tanks the stock market, gives Demagogue Party endless opportunity to hamstring and second guess Trump, who does himself no favors by tweeting up a storm. Likely outcome will be a second flu season in terms of fatalities. Probably fewer. Not season 11 of the Walking Dead. My bet is that there are enough mild, undiagnosed cased of covid-19 that in the final analysis the fatality rate will be far less than what’s being bandied about now. Would it help to restrict travel, cancel meetings, school, etc? Sure. But it’s a trade off. Economically we suffer the cost of doing so. I realize it’s political suicide for a politician to say that. They all want to do something, and they will. They’ll give it to us good and hard.

  29. “Would it help to restrict travel, cancel meetings, school, etc? Sure. But it’s a trade off.”

    Exactly, doc. And the degenerates have painted everyone else into a corner…almost. Everyone *has* to prove how much they care or they’ll get mugged whether more people get sick or not.

    That’s why I give Drumpf high marks here; he’s all in, calling the degenerates bluff to keep the wheels of finance turning. Say what you want about him; the dude has brass balls, and although I’m not a balls aficionado, I can appreciate a dude who waves an impressive set around convincingly.

    Correct me if I’m wrong doc, but flu virus’ follow a seasonal pattern, don’t they?

    Everyone except you Tundra dwellers up North are sliding into Spring (it’s 75 here rn); I expect ChinkyPox will settle down on it’s own, and they’ll find a vaccine before it shows up for round 2.

  30. Don’t call it “chinky pox,” Swiftee. That’s bigoted.
    The proper term is “kung flu.”

  31. Swiftee Influenza does follow a seasonal pattern. Covid? Nobody knows, since it’s a novel virus. If it’s like other corona viruses, probably not. From an evolutionary standpoint, a very lethal virus won’t stick around because it needs a living host in which to reproduce. It doesn’t leave spores like anthrax or tetanus bacteria. Nobody can explain why it jumped species in this fashion. That doesn’t justify the expectation that it’s going to run rampant over humanity but rumors and speculation won’t take a holiday.

  32. Golfdoc wrote: “Fauci is going to take the most conservative route possible, even if tanks the stock market, gives Demagogue Party endless opportunity to hamstring and second guess Trump, who does himself no favors by tweeting up a storm.”

    Let me fix that for you: “Anthony Fauci tells the truth, Trump lies” Shorter and right to the point.

    Dr Fauci has been the head of the NIAID for more than 30 years and is an internationally recognized expert on public health and a number of infectious diseases. He is one of the finest and most trusted public servants the country has ever had in the area of public health and, as he himself noted, he has served six administrations and is not going to pull his punches for this one. Trump’s mishandling of this growing disaster is likely to cost him reelection (which it should) but I think even he understands what a grave mistake it would be to treat Fauci like just another political operative he can fire on a whim. The fact that Trump keeps doing the opposite of what Fauci advises will be one of the things that makes it clear to a great majority of voters in the country that Trump has moved from being just a political menace to being an actual health menace. November can’t come soon enough.

  33. Well, Emery, please make sure that you pay back any tax breaks that you get from Trump’s actions. Just make your check out to the reduction of the national debt After all, it would be against your hatred against him and you certainly don’t want to be a hypocrite, again, do you?

  34. The president is on television addressing the nation regarding Covid-19.

    I have never seen a President look more nervous, more unsure of what he was saying, than tonight.

    “S&P futures are down 4.3% after hours” ~ WSJ

    I have a feeling we’re going to remember tonight for a long, long time.

  35. Poor emetic, successful Republican administration after a failed democrat administration. What’s a basement dwelling troll to do?

  36. “I have a feeling we’re going to remember tonight for a long, long time.”
    Unless the DJIA is back to 29,000 in six months. Then it’ll be “Obama’s economy” again, and you will forget that you ever said that Covid-19 exposed the faulty economic policies of Trump as well as Trump’s incompetence.
    You have no integrity, Emery. Accept it. Embrace it. This is what you are.

  37. *EMERGENCY ALERT* The Russian miniseries The Dawns here are Quiet, about a brigade of young Russian woman defending their homeland from the Wehrmacht, is back on Amazon Prime. The topless scenes where the girls are bathing are bathing in the waterfall & hanging out in the sauna are done with restraint and with the utmost taste.

  38. 3 years in, its no secret that Trump is an absolute moron with no idea what he’s doing, why should this be any different?

    The reality. South Korea has carried out about 4,000 tests per million people between January 3rd and March 11th, while the US has conducted just 26 tests per million people. Italy had carried out about 1,000 tests per million as of March 10th compared with 400 per million in the UK up to the same date.

    The Trump administration seems to take the view that if you don’t test people, then you can claim there is no problem and its all a foreign/Democrat plot. Unfortunately, this means the virus spreads much more in the US and the final reckoning will be much worse.

    Making the UK an exception to the travel ban shows that this action was a transparent political ploy. Trump’s travel restrictions have an interesting side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located and it ignores the reality that Covid-19 is already inside our borders.

  39. “I have never seen a President look more nervous, more unsure of what he was saying, than tonight.”

    Really, D_K? You sure? Not even when Clinton looked directly into the camera, waved his crooked finger and with malice of forethought, lied to the entire country? Come to think about it, you may be right; Bubba didn’t even flinch.

    Guess when it comes to immorality and lack of scruples Drumpf isn’t even a contender when compared to leftist degenerates.

  40. Politico: “President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located.”

    Low IQ Emery: “President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located.”

    This is how we know he’s is not being paid to spread propaganda. No one, not even a leftist degenerate, would pay someone as profoundly stupid as Low IQ Emery.

  41. “Low IQ Emery: “President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have an [interesting] side effect:…”

    Fixed it. Low IQ Emery figured changing that one word would completely cover his tracks.

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