Open Thread

Mark Noonan25 Comments

My odd work scheduled has me off today and tomorrow; we’ll see if I really have to go in on Thursday. Probably will: even a massive shutdown will still leave a few vital things we must support. But, it’ll be as it is.

I think Democrats and the MSM are getting rather tin eared here: this is a time of national crisis, not a time of Orange Man Bad. We’re busy wondering about our jobs and getting supplies and if we’ll get sick and we want to know if we’ll have our jobs and our supplies and if we’ll get sick…that is pretty much all anyone wants to hear about right now…not DNC hit jobs. We’ll see how it plays out, but I suspect this will be a backfire of epic proportions on the Democrats.

We’re pretty well stocked here, as it turns out: did hit the grocery store yesterday and while they were mostly out of meat, I did hit upon the turkey breast…so, we’ll soon have Thanksgiving in March. We had already secured our corned beef for today, of course! What was dumb was they put out a pallet of water and some people grabbed multiple cases. Come on, people: just take one. Leave something for the next guy. When they happened to put out potatoes as I was passing by, I just grabbed a couple pounds and left the rest.

Hope you guys are all doing well!

How You Taking the Zombie Apocalypse?

Mark Noonan4 Comments

MGM and Wynn shut down in Vegas – as it turns out, I work with a lady who has family working at MGM and the rumor was that only 8% of the rooms were booked for next week…so, closing down would make sense.

I’m guessing that after all is said and done, we’ll pretty much be on a national lockdown in a few days, even if it isn’t official. People are scared – heck, even I get a little flutter in the tummy; but I’m mostly worried about people doing stupid things resulting in injury and death.

As for the Coronavirus, itself: still no real clarity on it. Likely because the MSM isn’t being helpful here. If we could really nail down the mortality rate and the most at-risk populations, that would be tremendously helpful…but without such data, fears are able to run free. And running free, they are.

I think that Trump is doing all that can be done but, as we Conservatives know, there’s only so much the government can do. Liberals are going bonkers over it – and I mean seriously nuts: I’ve seen comments where they say that Trump is deliberately letting the disease spread so he can be dictator. I guess that is what comes from TDS…and it is being fueled by malignant actors out there. Seen more than one social media post where someone, who seems on the up and up, is spreading the most alarming news…only to be proven false when checked out. Meanwhile, though, tens of thousands of people repeat the falsehoods on social media and very few, I bet, ever check to see if the story was true, or not. This is the new normal: social media can be a tremendously useful and fun thing, but it is also ready-made for exploitation by con artists…and some of the con artists have networks news gigs.

Keep safe; get yourself two-three weeks worth of supplies laid in and pray for a swift end to this disease.

The Ballad of God-Makers

Mark Noonan1 Comment

Could get a little dull what with no sports and the stores all out of toilet paper, so we’ll have to entertain ourselves. Here’s a good, Lenten poem

By G. K. Chesterton

A bird flew out at the break of day
From the nest where it had curled,
And ere the eve the bird had set
Fear on the kings of the world.

The first tree it lit upon
Was green with leaves unshed;
The second tree it lit upon
Was red with apples red;

The third tree it lit upon
Was barren and was brown,
Save for a dead man nailed thereon
On a hill above a town.

That night the kings of the earth were gay
And filled the cup and can;
Last night the kings of the earth were chill
For dread of a naked man.

‘If he speak two more words,’ they said,
‘The slave is more than the free;
If he speak three more words,’ they said,
‘The stars are under the sea.’

Said the King of the East to the King of the West,
I wot his frown was set,
‘Lo, let us slay him and make him as dung,
It is well that the world forget.’

Said the King of the West to the King of the East,
I wot his smile was dread,
‘Nay, let us slay him and make him a god,
It is well that our god be dead.’

They set the young man on a hill,
They nailed him to a rod;
And there in darkness and in blood
They made themselves a god.

And the mightiest word was left unsaid,
And the world had never a mark,
And the strongest man of the sons of men
Went dumb into the dark.

Then hymns and harps of praise they brought,
Incense and gold and myrrh,
And they thronged above the seraphim,
The poor dead carpenter.

‘Thou art the prince of all,’ they sang,
‘Ocean and earth and air.’
Then the bird flew on to the cruel cross,
And hid in the dead man’s hair.

‘Thou art the son of the world.’ they cried, `
‘Speak if our prayers be heard.’
And the brown bird stirred in the dead man’s hair
And it seemed that the dead man stirred.

Then a shriek went up like the world’s last cry
From all nations under heaven,
And a master fell before a slave
And begged to be forgiven.

They cowered, for dread in his wakened eyes
The ancient wrath to see;
And a bird flew out of the dead Christ’s hair,
And lit on a lemon tree.

Heck of a Year This Week Has Been, Huh?

Mark Noonan7 Comments

Here in Vegas, the Coronavirus is positively hammering the casinos – MGM and Wynn have already announced various closures and lay offs. It’ll probably get worse over the next two weeks. It is all temporary, but sucks for those affected – and I hope President Trump jumps in to help out the workers who are going to be hurt here. As locals, we don’t go to the Strip, of course, but we did head out to a locals casino tonight – I was curious about how it would be going. I did win $100, so that’s good. The place was thin crowd for a Saturday night – but, still quite a few people there. I asked one of the workers there how its going: no word about layoffs at the moment but the buffet isn’t getting a lot of business these days so their feeling is that it might shut down for a while.

In my particular work world – a slight slowdown from normal; maybe a 10% dropoff. Contingency plans are ready for us to work from home. Hope it doesn’t come to that – but the panic is pretty deep now, and no one wants to be the guy who kept things rolling and a bunch come down sick.

Our economy is fundamentally strong but this is going to be a hit, no doubt about it. But probably not as much as feared: the panic buying is stuffing retailer and supplier pockets with money…and in my particular line of work, I can assure you that “non-critical” retail stuff is still going on a brisk pace. We’ll come roaring back once this is over…and as we now have real incentive to decouple from China, the long term benefits to our country will be good.

President Trump, in my view, did just fine in his first statement – others thought otherwise, and that’s, I guess, why he did the second one…which went over much better. You could tell because the MSMers were taking pot-shots at trivia rather than hitting the President on substance. President Trump has really stood the test of time, hasn’t he? The guy gets it at the most fundamental level: that it is we, the regular folks, who do all the work and who need to be cared for, first. I’ve never actually been more confident of his re-election.

Ultimately, this is the price of both globalism and the welfare State – the tearing down of borders and the placing people in a position where they depend on government is what got this disease really cracking through the world. People have to use more sense – but I think a lot were waiting for government to take care of it…meanwhile the “come one, come all” attitude about travel around the world made sure that once the virus caught hold, there was zero chance it was going to stop. Strict border controls at all times: that is the way it has to be. And, yes,we should check foreign arrivals for disease…there is technology which can swiftly reveal if someone coming in should be more closely checked.

I hope you all are safe – and have all the toilet paper you need!

Trump to Talk

Mark Noonan38 Comments

9 pm, Eastern, and all about Coronavirus, I gather.

We have a confirmed case here in Vegas of a lady who attended a conference…so, we’ve likely got a good dose of it here in town. OTOH, we locals rarely go to the Strip, so maybe it’ll just stay there.

The Official Word of the Super Smart Experts is that Trump is doomed in November…some of them are even asserting a landslide win for Biden. The key seems to be the belief that suburban moderates are going to flock to Biden out of disgust for Trump. Yes, that is exactly what they said about Hillary in 2020…but this time, they assure us, it’ll be true because everyone loves Biden. Which is what they also said about Hillary…

My view: Biden has a 1% chance of winning – only if 10,000 die from Coronavirus or unemployment is skyrocketing over the Summer does Biden get a real chance at it…and, even then, he’s Biden: a senile, old bully who lies all the time and can’t remember where he is. Nothing will make Trump’s defeat certain – he might lose, but only if the Democrats put up a first-rate campaign talking about issues the American people care about.

Hint: the American people don’t care about the Green New Deal; fracking bans; banning AR-15’s; having Drag Queen Story Time; health care for illegals; fighting Russia; kowtowing to China; re-imposing the Paris Climate Deal; re-imposing the Iran Deal…

Bernie is staying in, at least for now – he should: Biden could implode next week.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Coronavirus?

Mark Noonan21 Comments

Not me. Several reasons.

1. It’s a flu. I know, I know – people say it isn’t like other flu viruses…but, it’s a flu. We don’t even really know how deadly it is – 0.5% to 2%…which means, no one has a clue. It seems slightly more deadly than regular flu, but the deaths seem to be heavily concentrated in people with underlying health problems. The bottom line is that if you’re healthy, you’ll probably get through it after a miserable couple weeks. Any one of us is highly unlikely to die.

2. We have much better sanitary conditions and health care than China – or, it would seem, Italy or Iran. We’re not as densely packed into cities; our pollution levels are much lower; the free market provides vast amounts of medical services at short notice.

3. The MSM is lying. A lot. They are hyping this up as the End of Days in order to harm Trump. Have you heard that the disease has already peaked and started to recede in China? Of course not – that wouldn’t fit the Narrative. Whatever they’re telling you is designed to scare you.

4. President Trump is a great President – he’s doing a good job; I’m confident he’ll be up to meeting whatever this throws at him.

It must be kept in mind that everything you’re going to see from now until Election Day in the MSM is designed to harm Trump and/or help the Democrats. Trust nothing of what they say. Look around. Seek alternate sources. Use your own common sense.

In the other bad news: stock market flop. Partially Coronavirus, partially oil price war – not sure if the Saudis are trying to blow up our oil industry or kill Iran…could be a little of both. But the underlying economy is strong and the Saudis can’t long sustain low oil prices…equilibrium will eventually prevail…but we might get a shot at really cheap gas over the Summer, and that will help the economy as much as the oil disruption harms.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan36 Comments

We went on our first trip to Sedona, AZ; It is far more beautiful than advertised. Just absolutely stunning. Now, to be sure, its got a huge amount of dirty liberal hippie about it…you’ll never run out of essential oils while you’re there…but well worth anyone’s time to go.

Coronavirus has come to Las Vegas and I’m sure everyone is going to go ape about it. Except me: its a flu. The MSM – on orders from the DNC, I’m sure of it – has decided to keep hyping this as the next Black Death…all in service of harming Trump. I don’t think it’ll work – mostly because millions of us won’t die.

Jeff Sessions was forced into a GOP runoff in the Alabama Senate primary – we’ll see how he does; Trump tweeted out that this is because Sessions recused himself and allowed the witch hunt to start. That is probably correct. Sessions, policy-wise, is a solid guy – but he did allow the Establishment/Deep State to go after Trump on what he must have known was a ridiculous charge. Hopefully, he’s one of the last GOPers who will work from the assumption that the Democrats are remotely interested in truth and justice.

Warren called it quits: and though she is ideologically closest to Bernie, she’ll endorse Biden, I bet…because more than anything else, she’s nakedly ambitious and everyone knows that Bernie is done for: the Democrat Establishment has engineered the race to come out with Biden on top, regardless.

As for Biden – he is the empty suit. Always has been; a mere carnival barker…but now, even more so: he’s senile and the real competition on the Democrat side, now, is going to be over who pulls the strings. This will be crucial if the Democrats managed to drag his carcass over the finish line in November…because Biden won’t even know what he’s doing most of the time. As for Biden’s chances – I really don’t see how he keeps up with Trump, let alone beats him. You can already see it: by September, Trump will be doing 4 rallies a week as he criss-crosses the country…meanwhile, Biden will be kept under wraps as much as possible and only allowed out to do carefully scripted appearances in front of absolutely friendly audiences…with the MSM ordered to cut away if Biden goes off on a tangent and cover it up if they can’t pull the plug fast enough. 2016 proved that literally anything is possible in politics, so Biden can win…but I’m expecting Trump to rather roll over him.

Chuck Schumer, being Chuck Schumer, essentially threatened to punish the Supreme Court if they rule the wrong way. This caused all sorts of fussy people to go well, I never! all over social media. I was less concerned about it: the Democrats have always been like this. And I mean from the moment the party was founded…Democrats never accept that their will shouldn’t prevail. If they lose an election, then the election system is wrong; if they lose a court case, then the court system is wrong. Democrats only kept up a pretense about respecting the Courts because from FDR until just recently, it merely rubber stamped whatever the Democrats wanted. Now that they can’t win in the courts, the courts are bad.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan48 Comments

The Coronavirus is coming. I’m not sweating it. Its a flu with a slightly higher mortality rate than regular flu. We in the United States have the money and resources to deal with it. We’ll be fine.

Rule of Thumb in thinking about non-Western nations: they are a collection of mafias with UN seats. Don’t think for a moment that non-West nations (outside of a few places like Japan and South Korea) have any concern for their own people or even the slightest hint of decency.

Warren, fading fast in the Democrat primary, is going full anti-Bernie…she’s trying to recapture the Left lane of the Democrat primary, knowing that Biden and Mayor Pete have the Centrist lane. I don’t think it will work – and it won’t work because even Progressives – though they won’t admit it – know she’s a mere liar. The MSM keeps talking her up like she’s something, but the bottom line is that she did, without a doubt, lie about Native American ancestry to gain advantage. She can’t get around that – she’s permanently damaged goods. But, God bless her, she’s going to keep trying…likely because she doesn’t know anything else to do.

Speaking of Democrat primaries – it does look like there’s a real chance of a brokered convention. As for me, I’m still expecting Bernie to do well enough on Super Tuesday that the party starts to fall in line behind him. Remember, policy-wise, there’s no real difference between any of them. The Bernie Bros will shriek if you try to tell them this – sure their man Bernie is pure as the wind-driven snow – but you and I on the right know better: a liberal is a Progressive is a Communist. Only difference is how fast any of them are willing to push it at a given time. So, if Bernie rolls to some big wins, Democrats will just swallow it and move on…even if they know they’ll lose in November because of it. After all, it keeps the Bernie Bros on side and there’s always a chance that even Bernie pulls off the miracle win. Meanwhile, if Bernie flames out, the Democrats will have a solid argument against appearing too radical in 2024.

Bernie is of Jewish ancestry – but I don’t really count him as a Jew. Nor should anyone. After all, back in the days of the USSR when anti-Jewish persecution was common, Bernie sided with the USSR against the Jews. This is just how it is for any Leftist – whatever their nationality, religious background or ethnicity, being Progressive trumps all.

New York City’s crime rate is rising – this in response to the City of New York deciding that being a criminal isn’t a bad thing. I’m serious about this: remember, Progressives. Always understand them – and to Progressives, crime isn’t the result of criminals, but the result of our racist, sexist, homophobic, Capitalist society. To a Progressive, it is wrong to punish the street criminal…the real criminal is the middle class guy getting robbed. You see, if that middle class guy was in the least bit a decent person, he’d be overthrowing the system. As he’s upholding the system, he deserves to get robbed.