Becomes….serious..

One cannot be too prepared. 

So at what point , not having committed any crime, can the Federal or State government confine me to my home or other facility because I have CoronaVirus or other disease? How about curtailing my freedom to move about the country or to meet with others? 

I mean, my freedom to travel or freedom to associate is a constitutionally guaranteed right.

But yet, the Common Good is often best served by quarantining people with a communicable disease.

“Emergency Powers” are all well and good, but the issue is that I don’t trust government officials**, nor are their “Experts” often well enough educated to give actual good “expert” advice. Often the responses are at best made for convenience (of the government) and at worst chosen out of malice or prejudice.

I’m not sure where the line is, or where it should be.

Thoughts?

**  History has shown that government officials are often incompetent, be they law enforcement or otherwise, and often their decisions are shaded by ambition or politics….

And, while I am not an epidemiologist, I did sleep with one once (she was sweet, and …well, that’s not the point of this post) Any way, I digress…

Her’s the thing. The US has now had at least one death from Coronavirus, and has (admitted) at this time, something like 14 known cases.,,,,at least some where we don’t know how they were infected.

Ok, so lets look at this. At least ONE person was infecting people not less than 10 or more days ago…..Likely more like 20-25 days.
The Virus is already here. It HAS BEEN here for at least 14 days,. Someone unknown is (or WAS) spreading said virus for at least 14 days…probably more.

The time for quarantining people entering is too late. The time for keeping people out of the US who were risky (or had risk factors) is long gone.

As of now there are cases in Europe, most of the East, and (apparently) Australia and the MidEast. I don’t know about South America. Unless you stop all air travel, if it isn’t yet in a large city it will be soon.

The Genie is out of the bottle, the cat is out of the bag, the Smoke has left the Lucas Wiring. No putting it back.

Is this a crisis? Yep. Would it be prudent to do a bit of preparation if you haven’t? Yes. Should we panic and run around with our hair on fire? No (unless that makes you feel better, then feel free, just do it in your own home and not in the streets). City folks are at a higher risk than Rural folks (more people more close interactions, more people per square foot, etc, but the risk even in smaller communities  is NOT zero.

What you do need to realize is that the CDC’s effort to keep you safe is-and-was ineffective, poorly thought out, and pretty much useless.

Just remember that Flu kills more people each year than this Coronavirus is likely to.

And also: So far, my experimentation with C2H5OH has been effective….I haven’t gotten the flu nor the Coronavirus. You might want to go to your local liquor vendor and stock up, just in case…..

Then the Confederates

Now they want to rewrite history to get rid of Columbus day. 

When will they sanitize history enough to make everyone happy?

I like the fact that the Italian American’s are upset…..”It’s a slap in the face”…

How much more rewriting of and outright erasures of history will we allow?

So Nancy Pelosi claims that Donald’s response to the Coronavirus effort is “Underfunded”.

I agree.
We need to close the border and quarantine people entering this country from anywhere for a period of….say 25 days (at a minimum).

We need more money for border security.
We need some folks in the CDC who have a clue, who realize that simply scanning the foreheads of people getting of a plane with an infrared thermometer is not a preventative response.

And I would ask this of Ms Pelosi:
Which social programs are you gonna cut to get the funding for these programs?
Welfare? SNAP? What?

I’m open to funding the response better if she will figure out who pays for it. She and her ilk spend every dine we give as taxes, and then some.
So what is she gonna cut??

There is a persistent rumor that 2 ounces of Ethyl Alcohol  (C2H5OH) applied every 4 hours internally will prevent the Coronavirus from infecting a human body (with 89% effectiveness).

While this has not (yet) been proved, I, so far, have not gotten the Coronavirus.

Further experimentation will continue, of course.

The FDA could not be reached for comment. 

I bet that the folks in Northern Italy wish they did have them.

Store shelves are reported as empty in northern Italy as entire towns are blockaded in response to a sudden spike in Coronavirus cases. 


While most people diagnosed with the virus experience mild symptoms (apparently, if you are white european, it doesn’t affect you as readily) the quarantines of entire towns has led to store shelves being emptied as people panic buy stock up for the long haul. 

Lots of people in Italy don’t have large refrigerators (or =, apparently, any at all) and don’t stock much food in their small apartments/homes. (most americans have no idea how small they are)

Can you handle a two or three week quarantine? How about masks if you family is quarantined with a bunch of potential sick people?

I think, conservatively, that I can feed, clothe and support 8 people in my home for about 2 1/2 weeks without having to break into my emergency supplies….even if I should lose electrical power.  If I have electricity to keep the fridge and freezer going, then that becomes closer to 25 weeks (we are gonna get tired of beef though), or a shorter time for more people. If I go to the emergency supplies, that becomes 6 months for 10 people, but the diet gets really boring (beans and rice)

How about medicines? Can you deal with a forced quarantine?

How about you? might could happen here after all.
Think it couldn’t? Who in Northern Italy thought that they would have a corona virus outbreak there?

I can’t find it online, but there was an interview on ABC where some woman was most worried about her dogs needing specialized food to survive and she only had a weeks worth.

While I don’t (yet) believe that things will get to the Pandemic stage, if you don’t have 2 or three weeks of supplies for the people you need to take care of, then you might start “panic buying” early…beat the rush.

So I am in line at the local Home Depot..

I hate the store, only because upper management has decided to save money by installing a bunch of Self Checkout kiosks and not staffing the manned checkout registers….

If I could have found the fastener that I needed elsewhere, I would have gone there. But I couldn’t, so there I was at Home Depot, in line with like 8 other folks in front of me, waiting for the lone girl at the only staffed checkout line (out of 8)….

And I sneezed.  Folks looked at me but then ignored me.
So I said to the guy behind me (who was standing closer than I like anyway) “Ever since I got back from China I’ve been sneezing like a bitch”.

And just like that!, there was no one in front of me at the checkout line. I was, actually, alone for a space of at least 25 feet.

Odd. 

If anything good can come out of this disease, there is this:

Folks are realizing that so many of their products that they use daily are produced in China, or made FROM or WITH products produced in China.

And may manufacturers are realizing that without China, they have nothing to produce….and they are realizing that their business depends of China to remain open and viable as a manufacturer.

I thing that this, along with Trumps push to “Make America Great” and return business and manufacturing to the US, will do a lot to bring manufacturing back the the US…*and other countries will move to bring their supply chains back home, or at least diversify them)*

“Paddle Shifters” (those little levers behind th steering wheel that will allow you to shift your automatic transmission on your street car like they do in race cars) are a somewhat useless addition on street cars when the steering ratio such that it is greater than 3/4 of a turn lock to lock.

If your steering ratio is such that you have to move your hands on the wheel, then the “Paddle Shifters” are a joke and are simply added so Millenials can feel like they are bad-assed drivers, much like the steering wheel your parents put on the front of your car seat when you were 3 years old.