What I Learned At Last Week's BLM Marches

It happened last Monday. It seems to me that a distinct and remarkable change in the zeitgeist took place, a positive pulse issuing forth from The Force. Like we were bathed in a sudden blast of socially-aware solar wind particles from the sun. As if a mammoth bubble of cognition finally eased up from the Collective Unconscious into our shared waking perception of reality. It felt really powerful. Maybe you felt it, too.

The touchstone event, of course, took place in Lafayette Park, Washington, DC. The catalyst occurred the week before in Minneapolis. But the fuse has been burning for a very, very long time. I'm reminded of President Obama's commencement speech at Howard University in 2016. In it (and in similar statements) he spoke about the "fierce urgency of incremental change" and how it leads to sudden and overwhelming change.

We are experiencing that earthquake of sudden, significant change. The mainstreaming of Black Lives Matter is no overnight sensation. BLM has been slogging onwards since Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman in 2013. Movements similar and sympathetic to BLM have toiled for decades. It's work and work and drudge and drudge and drip and drip and then something big happens. The indestructible dam bursts from a fatal series of cracks and fissures, unseen from the surface.

It happened this way when the Gay Marriage Legalization moment finally clicked with straight people. After years of dehumanizing intimidation, suffering, protests, and court actions, proponents of Gay Marriage cleared the breach. And when it did, most Americans said "Good." Oh sure, there are still bigoted knuckle-draggers and bible-thumpers who can't stand it. But they are in the distinct minority.

From that 2015 Supreme Court moment onwards, same-sex marriage suddenly achieved a normalcy in American society that belies the enormous and prolonged opposition leading up to it.

And now, thanks in large part to the ubiquity of Smartphones, a critical mass has been achieved for mainstream America to support the tenets of BLM. Horrible and plentiful instances of police brutality and police murders are flowing through society's lifestream. These videos and pictures are now a part of our accepted Collective Consciousness. They are driving this moment in our history.

Speaking of pictures and videos, I'm pleased to present my take on participating in three BLM marches last week!

Mrs. Daily Kibitz and I live in a small-ish town in the exurbs of Washington, DC.  It is a prosperous place and notable for its demographic diversity. Like most, we've been "staying at home" during the pandemic whenever possible. But as you may know, we have a history of political activism. Watching the events leading up to last Monday's Banana Republic horror-show has been frustrating. In healthier times, we'd have been at Lafayette Park. Getting gassed and being assaulted.

So it was a great relief to be able to participate in a mid-week local demonstration supporting Black Lives Matter. Folks were gathering at the local grocery store parking lot. And so off we went (it's a ten minute walk from the house).

When we arrived, there were about 20 people there, which is about 15 more than I expected. But more and more people walked up. Within minutes, there were a few hundred!! And then off we went on a march through some neighborhoods! Nearly everyone was wearing a mask. (Mrs. Daily Kibitz and I kept to the periphery in accordance with Social Distancing.) And all were highly spirited. "Say his name! George Floyd! Say her name! Breonna Taylor!" These and other chants echoed off of comfortable suburban homes along the way.

We paused at a local clearing to take a knee for 8 minutes and 47 seconds. So very quiet and so conscious of each second.

It was agonizing. Then, we stood and continued our procession (watch this brief fun video clip):

And then we all marched down the hill and up the street

We are so proud of our town.

By then, of course, the national protests had grown and were almost entirely peaceful. There was talk of a large protest in DC on Saturday, so Mrs. DK and I grabbed our face masks and headed out! We joined one of the several marches that were happening that day. We socially distanced ourselves into the line near the Vietnam Memorial. The march went past the State Department into George Washington University, and then along H street all the way over to "Black Lives Matter Plaza," the newly anointed street leading up to Lafayette Park.

Along the way, we paused a couple of times to quietly reflect:

And like the Small Town march, this one (though crowded) was "family-friendly." This fantastic photo by Mrs. DK captured a little girl providing her generation's support to the marching columns:

"By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong." Well, tens of thousands were already in Black Lives Matter Plaza when we arrived there. (Note the church where President Supreme Ruler hoisted his bible prop.) It was sweltering. And far too many people for us to feel safe, health-wise, so we split.

But as we walked back to our car, we encountered other marches, with thousands more, all heading towards Black Lives Matter Plaza. Even though the White House, Lafayette Park, the Ellipse and surrounding government buildings had been fenced off, the entire White House district was surrounded with peaceful protestors. Where were the looters? Where was the violence? Where was the dreaded Antifa? In a bunker somewhere? And I must say, the police presence was minimal. Could that be a reason why things were so relaxed and tranquil?

getty images

The next day, Sunday, we participated in another local march. It began at our high school and wound up at a major intersection, which we "liberated."

Please click below for a fun and very brief street-side view of our march. Keep an eye out for Mrs. DK and me!!

High Speed March Down Frederick Road

After a long march, we arrived at our destination: the intersection of 355 and 27, the crossroads for this area. The police had done a good job of clearing traffic along the way, and controlled the vehicle flow here in a safe and measured manner. It was wild to sit on the pavement in the middle of this highly-traveled spot. 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

Conspicuous in their absence at all these events were any MAGA heads. There were no counter-protesters. None. Perhaps they had been fearful of being attacked by the vicious Antifa that composes the vast majority of these crowds. Honestly, it's such a farce...

But in places like Whitefish, Montana there are plenty of MAGA supporters. Here is one of the greatest photos of the age. We have a hulking opponent to BLM, towering over a protester. He has been verbally abusive to this group, knocking their signs from their hands, bullying his way into their faces, yelling "F*** You!! F*** You!!" over and over. I'd show the video, but it's kinda nauseating.

But it's this photo here that gets it. He is abusing Samantha Francine. He has his fists balled up like he's ready to pound on her. She had been wearing sunglasses, but when he got up in her grill, she took them off. She recalled her late father's advice for such situations: "No matter what the threat, always look them in the eye so they have to acknowledge that you're human..."

photo by Grace Jensen

That's the bravery of a common hero. (Also, he was arrested for Disorderly Conduct minutes later. Yay!) It's moments like that, and this image below, that have turned the country's thinking around:

Meanwhile, where are our leaders? Our real leaders are on the street. Well, here is one hilarious take on what was happening this last weekend to one "leader" down in the Trumperbunker:

White House Bunker video

Finally, we have the great David Byrne performing Janelle Monae's powerful call to action, "Hell You Talmbout." Say Their Names! I'll never forget seeing her perform this at the first/best Women's March in DC, 2017. Absolutely riveting as she cooly gazed out over the crowd of over half-million, saying "... Hello, Future."

Draining The COVID Fever Swamp

Look out, below! The lockdowns are becoming looser, which may be good. But also, it may be bad. It's good for the short term economy and may save a number of on-the-brink businesses and jobs. It's bad because opening up densely populated areas too soon will very likely cause a resurgence of the virus. And then we go through everything all over again, with gusto! Yay.

(This reminds me of a COVID joke I saw -
"The spread of COVID-19 is dependent on two things:
1 - the density of the population, and
2 - the density of the population.")

Now I know what you're thinking: "Wait, Daily Kibitz, what gives? Your last edition claimed that this next one would deal with how COVID will shade every bloomin' aspect of our lives going forward! The economic portrait you drew was enough to search desperately for silver linings, so where are they?"

OK, I get it. But before getting into my promised visionary take on what the post-COVID world might look like, I kept thinking about the epistemological traits of the virus itself. As we learned in the previous Kibitz post, the post-COVID world might begin in a couple of months... or a couple of years. It depends on the still-mysterious virus and how societies react to it. And while there is cause for optimism (a Korean or Israeli vaccine? Reliable antibody tests?) it's good to temper it with an appropriate amount of cautious skepticism. Otherwise, we march into an unfamiliar black forest under a moonless night with only blind faith to orient us.

So let's take this opportunity to dig in a little to better understand what kind of pickle we are in.

Here is an interesting set of charts that follow the infection rates of countries world-wide, and states within the U.S. Click on it and then you can pass your cursor over any nation or state and see its history. The best charts are the ones at the bottom that adjust the infection rate per million population:

https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/

Yep, that's some great information! A number of plateaus, but not many dips. What the hell is Israel doing that's so effective? Big clue: Research at places like the Weizmann Institute of Science!! And this terrific article in Haaretz says it all regarding Israeli researchers' consistent focus and caution while balancing aggressive experimentation:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-what-we-did-right-israeli-doctors-explain-how-they-beat-coronavirus-1.8849374

Someday, stories like that will be a part of a great book and movie. (TL;DR - don't take hydroxychloroquine!!)

Prefer a spreadsheet for your analysis? Here ya go:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?%20%3Ca%20href=

Yes, according to this data, as of Friday, USA has over 97,000 confirmed COVID fatalities. If we were ghoulish enough to line up victims head to foot in a single line, it would stretch over 110 miles. We'll surely hit 100K by Monday, Memorial Day. And let's not think too much about the unconfirmed fatalities, which may account for the unusually high number of deaths in hard-hit states.

OK, here is a fine article produced by ProPublica. They interviewed the front line public health heads of nations succeeding with COVID and their economies. Their aggregated takeaway is wise:

https://www.propublica.org/article/coronavirus-advice-from-abroad-7-lessons-americas-governors-should-not-ignore-as-they-reopen-their-economies

"We all have to live with Coronavirus for at least a year and probably 2 - 3 years," says one expert. That's the reality. But to squash it down to non-threatening levels, these experts recommend state governors take these actions:

-- Build an army of contact tracers to identify and limit the virus carriers.
-- Be prepared to test constantly while striving to keep the new positive cases test rate under 5%.
-- Isolate people with suspected infections from their families.
-- Protect health workers (and keep them coming back to work, because it's "game over" otherwise).
-- Normal is not the goal. We'll need masks, temperature checks, social distancing, etc. for awhile.
-- Keep vigilant for a Second Wave of infections.
-- Clear and transparent communications about the disease and treatment is critical.

But what about Herd Immunity, I hear some of you say! Why can't we simply "open 'er up" and let the chips fall where they may? Aren't most COVID victims ancient or have pre-existing conditions? Aren't we all going to get COVID at some point anyway? Don't we need to consider the acceptable number of deaths versus the demise of our economy and lifestyle? And aren't church-goers shielded by the blood of Christ?

Yes, I hear all that, often. It's understandable that many people are becoming desperate as their rent becomes due and they see their debit card denied. This is the biggest mess since The Great Depression. But magical thinking won't help. Understanding the situation better will. So let's check out this engaging and excellent article on COVID and Herd Immunity:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/without-a-vaccine-herd-immunity-wont-save-us/

The writers present an illness they call "Fictionitis" and ask you to determine its parameters. Using the easy interactive choices, you can create the R0 (transmittable rate), the Mortality Rate, and the Immunity Duration. Try it, it's fun and educational!! All these choices are required in figuring a communicable disease's Herd Immunity threshold.

Currently, experts' best-guess estimate for achieving COVID Herd Immunity is when the virus goes through at least 70% of the population... maybe up to 90%. That means at least 230 million Americans need to get infected before achieving this threshold. Currently, we have 1,642,000 cases, or 0.5% of the population.

Even then, crossing the threshold doesn't mean the end of a disease like COVID. "It only slowly goes down, and on its way down, it infects another third of the population. If you drive a car and suddenly you switch it off, it doesn't stop instantly."

How long would COVID antibody immunity last? According to the article, no one really knows. Patients with similar coronaviruses like SARS and MERS have immune cells present in their bodies for years. But there are researchers who draw parallels to HIV, which creates huge loads of antibodies in patients but doesn't stop it.

"Our bodies could stop short of completely killing off the virus in the first place, allowing it to lie dormant and reemerge later like HIV. It could evolve enough that our old antibodies won't work anymore, whether we got them from natural exposure or vaccine. This is what seasonal flu does, and a part of why we need a new vaccine every year. Or the immune response we produce could just fade too quickly, making us susceptible to reinfection." We don't yet know if "COVID immune" people  could become re-infected, like we see with HIV immune cells.

In determining the fatality rate, accurate tests are essential, including serological tests that detect antibodies. The higher the case count, the lower the fatality rate. Now for comparison, seasonal flu has a 0.1 fatality rate. And from what the authors can conclude from New York City as of mid-May, COVID may have hit 21% of its residents. This places NYC's fatality rate at 1.1%, or 10 times deadlier than the seasonal flu.

If this fatality rate is accurate and plays out across the country, along with an unmitigated "open 'er up" Wild-West style of no restraints and all-in with crossing the Herd Immunity threshold, we can expect a floor of 2 1/2 million deaths. Recall we've only reached a number of 0.5% infected patients on our way to a projected 70%+ population threshold figure. And we cross the 100,000 deaths mark  sometime this weekend.

So whaddaya do? In the immediate end, the uncertainties of this virus remain the biggest obstacle we face. I think most people will continue to err on caution's side and observe CDC guidelines. But there will be abundant crowds of Magical Thinkers who believe that the virus will not affect them.

These folk need to listen to Owen Filer. He's 100 years old. He's been through a few world crises. He thinks this is the worst. But he's not scared. In fact, he laughs a lot. A sharper centenarian you'll never see. He's really great:

If we can live to be 100 years old and display the wit and poise of Owen Filer, we should be so lucky.

That's it for now! Next time, my visionary take on our future, for real...

What Will It Be Like When We Get There? (Part One)

Wowzers. Here we are, huddling apart in our socially distant fox holes, waiting for the "All Clear" signal to ring forth. You know, the moment when the Good Guys let everyone know it's safe to come on out because the enemy has been defeated. We did it! And life can go back to normal. The End.

With all of the extraordinary events that have transpired since the 2016 election campaign, I can safely say that our lives will not go back to "normal" because that fanciful state of being has been M.I.A. for some time. We've been living in a whirlwind since well before the pandemic hit. But now that the virus has got us in its insidious grip, we all look to better days ahead. What will our world be like when it's All Clear?

Our once-in-a-lifetime circumstances have created a societal tableau featuring the best and worst of what our country has to offer. Most folks are behaving quite responsibly during this national emergency by following CDC and state-mandated guidelines. It ain't easy, and many are really getting hit hard in the wallet. Others couldn't care less and some actively engage in provocative exhibitions that would probably kill them if they were black. Trying to enforce such simple rules as wearing face masks in stores is met with murder.

And while we wait for our deranged President Mean Girl to work through his daily "chaos of peeves, whims, hallucinations and all-around assholery" (thanks, Thomas Pynchon) let's consider how things may play out from a few different perspectives.

Because we are confronted with a crisis that has ignited multiple, larger crises (like how an atom bomb is used to detonate a hydrogen bomb), The Daily Kibitz will look at various ways that the virus may affect us all as we look for cover and stumble into the more-or-less immediate future. And on into the more distant one.

Everything will be based on this, from The Atlantic:

The Atlantic and the four timelines.

Yep, so much depends on a red vaccine wheelbarrow. Going forward, we will develop a treatment and/or a vaccine. Or, MAYBE acquire herd immunity at great mortal cost. Or, something worse: the virus mutates too quickly to properly develop a vaccine or acquire herd immunity and we maintain continuous lockdown. Or, it just goes away, "like a miracle."

Timeline #1: One to two months. Given this article appeared a month ago, this possibility is already obsolete. No treatment, no cure. Nope, not even injected/ingested bleach and UV lights.

Timeline #2: Three to four months. A treatment, not a cure, might be identified that can ease symptoms. But this timeline all depends on testing, which the U.S. is failing at, spectacularly.

Timeline #3: Four to twelve months. Maybe summer seasonality will slow it down and give us time to better understand and treat it. Or maybe it just doesn't slow, because of easing lockdowns and no seasonality (we'll know by late June).

Timeline #4: 12 to 18 months - or longer. No one expects a vaccine before spring of 2021, and it's more likely to be in the fall of 2021. In fact, there are some who suggest that if our lockdowns fail, rampant COVID could mean herd immunity; if it's possible, it begins to kick in by late autumn of 2021. It's a huge and costly "if".

Economic Outlook:

For the U.S. economy, according to the CNBC Fed Survey of economists, a "plurality" say we won't be fully restored until sometime in the 2nd quarter of 2022. The influential Mark Zandi says mid-decade. These projections are all dependent upon a vaccine and a couple more trillion dollars injected, like disinfectants, into the economy by the federal government.

Here's a piece by the Chair of Political Economy at the quite conservative American Enterprise Institute.  He takes a very dim view of opening society without a COVID-19 vaccine. "A Darwinian experiment to invite global herd immunity is unthinkable because it would entail untold millions of deaths." Sounds reasonable... and then he goes on:

https://www.nbr.org/publication/the-new-normal-thoughts-about-the-shape-of-things-to-come-in-the-post-pandemic-world/

He says that the Federal Reserve concludes the net worth of the bottom half of US citizens was lower in 2019 than it was in 1989... by one-third! Since then, of course, we have COVID-19 and that net worth has plummeted further down the abyss.

Without a vaccine, he sees "rolling lockdowns... a succession that presses economic performance severely in countries all around the world simultaneously." Our world economy structure will be chopped back. "It may be more difficult to convince a working majority that a globalized economy and other international entanglements actually work in their favor... we need an agenda/formula to generate prosperity for all."

He continues to see international lockdowns, blocks of travel and immigration, and a rise in Economic Nationalism along with diminished expectations of Globalization.  Glitchy, gummed-up  "international supply chains" will be regarded as less desirable, giving rise to domestically resourced chains, even though the costs of productions are higher and profits lower.

This scenario plays into the Steve Bannon and Steven Miller vision of the creative destruction of governance institutions in order to rebuild the nation into a whole new authoritarian order. Their shared long term goal: A shrinking labor force via aging demographics and a No Immigrants Allowed border block. Although they are intensely racist and stupid, this has been a goal of the Trump Administration.

The folks at The Bulwark are the sort that used to be the GOP before it became infected with the Racist Hyperpartisan Crazy virus. Here's their take on what lies ahead:

https://thebulwark.com/we-cannot-reopen-america/

No surprise, all future economic activity is dependent on the vaccine. And though some business sectors are unaffected and may even benefit from the pandemic, enough sectors will decline or collapse, sending severe recession/depression shock waves pulsing throughout the domestic and global economies.

Las Vegas is listed as an example for affected business sectors. When it reopens, w/o a vaccine or treatment, who is going to come? True believers and gambling addicts: just a trickle of the former reliable flow.  How about a local dinner and a movie? Any activity requiring physical interaction or close proximity to others is doomed. Such a "pandemic mindset" will continue with most consumers until a safe, reliable and cheap way is introduced to protect everyone.

"The list goes on and on: Dine-in restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, theme parks, concert venues, convention centers, shopping malls, museums, libraries, schools, colleges—every one of these businesses is headed into a nuclear winter that has nothing to do with stay-at home orders."

Their point is that many of these kinds of business may have been headed toward oblivion within a few years anyway... but COVID is the catalyst for instant economic change.

According to the Brookings Institution, broad economic transformation is already underway. Their take is a bit contrary to the American Enterprise Institute folk. In their view, national "Me First" responses in the international scene is self-evidently dead.  Replacing this Nationalism is an existential need to ensure multilateral responses for future cross-border crises like pandemics (and Climate Change) are effectively managed.

"Aggregate demand isn't falling everywhere. But all economic activity that involves physical interaction, both production and consumption, are imploding. Meanwhile, physically disjointed activities are exploding (like Amazon, or any other business with digital interaction). Instead of simply pouring trillions into maintaining business sectors that are suddenly obsolete, a fraction should be invested into this new economic infrastructure.

"It's like Fire Insurance. It's not money wasted all the years you pay in. It's a precaution, in case the house does go up in flames... like it is now."

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2020/03/27/awakening-in-the-post-pandemic-world/ 

Another conservative business voice, Forbes magazine, agrees that what once was will no longer be. Global supply chains will transform into domestic supply chains. U.S. companies won't trust their product flow from one foreign country... or anywhere outside the U.S. They will set up new, diversified and local sources for supply chain business.

In-store shopping and commercial real estate will flatline while everything adapts to the on-line experience - and stays adapted. Access and ability to work and learn online is now more vital than ever. "Home Bias" will increase dramatically. "We perceive higher risk the further away the threat is from us... we have a favorable bias/perception of lower risk for what is closer to home. Investors are likely to revert to more investing closer to home, where proper due diligence can be conducted."

Such loss of trust will take years to regain. Moreover, any business that depends on strangers will suffer (think VRBO, AirBnB, tourism, heck the list is endless). Insurance will take Center Stage in all businesses. Risk management is emerging as a core business activity going forward while businesses actively develop contingency plans and insurance services for their own protection.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzytaherian/2020/04/07/the-new-world-how-the-world-will-be-different-after-covid-19/#65942d555d15

Naomi Klein is the queen of hard-left economic thinkers. Her book "Shock Doctrine" was enormously influential. Now she's writing about "Corona Capitalism" and how the Shock Doctrine can be used for the good. "According to Milton Friedman, in a disaster, the government should avoid intervening in the harmony of the free market, which is supposed to function like a perfect scientific system... it should smash any regulatory supervision that shackles private business."

This "disaster capitalism" has been likened by conservatives to a gardener cutting back overgrown plants to the ground to encourage new economic growth (hello, Chauncey Gardiner). The Shock Doctrine was a reaction to what Friedman saw during the Great Depression: FDR using a disaster for good by creating myriad government agencies and programs to help citizens and kick-start a moribund economy.  Today, she sees an opportunity to create a Corona Capitalism that ensures a more fair and diversified economy and one that prepares us for the coming Climate Change:

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-capitalism/

Hoo Boy. OK, that will have to do for this post. The next one will be more generalized, taking a broader scan on the horizon for how our everyday lives will be affected, outside of the diminished economy...  And as you wait, consider having a tall glass of that special adult beverage, Dunning Kruger Kentucky Bourbon. Dunning Kruger... for folks who think they know a lot more than they really do! You know who they are...

It's Kinda Crazy How We Got Here

No, it's not a Zombie Apocalypse! It's not even a run at the local Wal-Mart for toilet paper. It's just a bunch of Branch Covidians from Trumpistan, protesting shelter-in-place restrictions because they want to live their unexamined lives without... emergency restrictions. This fantastic photo was snapped from within the State of Ohio Statehouse on Thursday. More Trumper protests popped up at other state capitals. The common thread was to Open Up America Again and let the COVID death dice roll as they may.

While watching the Fox News coverage of these protests, President Dunning-Kruger felt compelled to tweet his support, in a way that could suggest promoting violence. He's advocated "2nd Amendment solutions" in the past, so who knows if he's serious. But we should agree it's not a good look for a President to be seen as possibly advocating Civil War-like insurrectionist actions:

Yeah. Liberate The White House!

The Crazy Virus has been rampant throughout Trumpistan since well before 2016, but seems to be raging to new heights this week. Here are a couple of recent examples of this pathology:

Dr. Oz, the House Doctor for Fox News, raised eyebrows when he suggested that one step towards reopening society could be opening schools early. Calling it an "appetizing opportunity",  Oz reflected that in doing so, 2 - 3% of the population could die (that's 6.5 to 9.8 MILLION people), but it would be worth it to get the economy going. As Joe Stalin once said, the death of one man is a tragedy... the death of one million is a statistic.

Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin appeared to suggest that the Federal government's $1200 per taxpayer payout should get people through 10 weeks of shelter-in-place.

The roster for the much-hyped Council To Re-Open America was announced. Earlier, the Administration had been touting it as the place where the best of the best would be recruited, from all avenues of business and health care. They'd be the greatest minds. As T said, "The names that are, I think, the best and the smartest, the brightest, and they're going to give us some ideas." 

Instead, the Council is a re-hash of his cabinet and staff:

These folk would have problems opening a child-proof lid, and they have oversight for Two Trillion Dollars. "A birther, two Trump family members whose strongest skill is failing upwards; the producer of "Lego Batman"; a guy who said the virus was "contained"; a guy who wants to turn America into an autocracy; and a guy who said coronavirus would be good for American jobs. No economists, no public health experts. A dream team!" says Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell.

As Tom Nichols noted, imagine the right-wingers' combustion if Hillary had put Chelsea and her husband on the council.. there would be fires across the prairie, the unbridled outrage would be immense.

They've since added such giants of industry as Vince McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, following a really bad week for him that included bankruptcy for his XFL Football League. On the other hand, Florida Governor De Santis deemed WWE as an "essential" business, so the show will go on. This on the same day that Florida received an $18 million dollar boost from a McMahon-controlled Trump PAC.  Only the best!! If he weren't fictitious, surely this character would fill out the Council's  line-up:

OK, let's step away from the madness and take a good look at how we really got into this woeful status. The folks at Just Security compiled the absolute BEST synopsis of how our government completely screwed the pooch. It is presented in a highly-readable format featuring a complete and itemized description of events. Refreshingly, there is no "editorial opinion" attached to any of it. Just the facts. They speak for themselves. And they are plenty.

The action begins on Friday the 13th of January, 2017: The joint Obama-Trump transition teams run an exercise for pandemic preparedness. Check out the manifest of Trump attendees! Only eight remain of the original 30!! Today, all the 'adults' are gone!! Read it and weep:

https://www.justsecurity.org/69650/timeline-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-u-s-response/

JFC. Truly, this piece is one for the ages, one that will inform future historians. Just one relentless fact after another, unvarnished. OK, now that you've become up to speed in this Tragedy of Errors, let's have a laugh (please, any excuse for a laugh!) while watching this fun clip featuring a bit from "Life of Brian" but with new subtitles that capture today's craziness:

Concise and funny Python reworded video that describes the Administration's mistakes

Yes, the awkward and bumbling responses to the relentless march of COVID-19 can be funny, in a dark way. But ya gotta laugh, right? Not as funny as Python, but highly illuminating is this article from NBC News that outlines how the Pence Task Force has operated, securing the interests of private industry before the common good. Why, it's enough to not re-elect this administration or the Senators who backed it!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-coronavirus-task-force-amassed-power-it-boosted-industry-n1180786

Oh, if only we had Mystery Science Theatre 3000 to razz the daily Presidential Press Briefings!! They certainly qualify as being in the circle of stupid and ridiculous performances that MST3K enjoy deconstructing.

It is through these daily unfiltered "briefings" that the President has mounted his comeback strategy. Impressively, through them he has managed thus far to provide enough BS fodder to his Death Cult that he hasn't sunk below 40% approval. It is enough to keep him in the game. Can he keep it up? It depends on the death count and the economy, I suppose. That's why he wants to open up restrictions so the economy can respond in time for his re-election. The rest is collateral damage.

For more on how the bungling is being reframed, check out this short piece from The Atlantic's McKay Coppins. He shows how T & Co. are pointing the blame figure at everyone but themselves, as usual:

Trump's Coronavirus Message Is Revisionist History

So-called normal people won't buy any of it. But what's normal anymore? Is there such a thing? When looking at the people screaming from locked doors, or listening to the President and his media sycophants, it's easy to make a judgment: They are Nutso! But that 40% public approval rate doesn't reduce and sometimes bounces up. That's nutso.

On the other hand, as someone pointed out yesterday, America has always had a Problematic Third. More or less one-third of the country didn't want to leave England and the monarchy. One-third or so supported slavery. One-third-plus did not want women to vote. One-third didn't support Civil Rights.
One-third are against assault-weapons bans. The list goes on and on. Roughly One-Third of the country always stands in the way of progress. It's the way of fear, ignorance and partisanship, developed through generations of a shared mindset that permits toxic thinking.

We will get through this. We won't be the same on the other end, but it will end. Not being the same is not necessarily a bad thing! Change is coming. Right now, the GOP is using this crisis to push for their agenda, like ending abortion, restricting voter rights, and deep-sixing regulatory agencies that protect us, like the EPA. It's being done while you read this.

It will be supremely important to vote in November. And the best way to do that will be to vote by mail. The voter suppression campaign that the GOP uses is already in full swing. Every state needs to guarantee every voter receive a ballot by mail. In this way, there won't be repeats of what happened in Milwaukee last week or Georgia and North Carolina last year. Text/call/write your Member of Congress and State Legislators to ensure this happens.


Finally, we end with some pertinent fun. The Great Randy Newman has penned a love song/anthem for our times, entitled "Stay Away". Written and performed while under quarantine, it does capture the zeitgeist of today. Newman links his youtube post to the Ellis Marsalis Foundation. (Ellis, patriarch of the amazing Marsalis Family, was a victim of COVID-19. I had the great pleasure of knowing him. What a loss...)

Not exactly like "Boom goes London, Boom Par-ee, More room for you, And more room for me!" But it will do: "Venus in sweatpants... Stay away from me, Baby keep your distance please, Stay away from me, Words of love in times like these..."

Stay safe, sane and sanitized!

Things To Do While Under Quarantine!

And here we all are, living in our quarantined lives as if we are ramping up toward a Post-Historic Cave People Society. This is just the beginning of what could be a lengthy period of voluntary and even involuntary self-seclusion. Some epic and profound shifts in our societies and Collective Consciousness are underway.

In the meantime, we could all benefit from some diversions or variety of stimuli while being confined. Towards this end, allow me to present The Daily Kibitz List Of Socially Distancing Entertainments!

Let's start with our Daily Kibitz Film Critic's Top Ten List of Favorite Movie Comedies. We can all use the laughs. These are all available on various online and cable platforms:

Duck Soup
Dr. Strangelove
Groundhog Day
Animal House
Airplane!
The Naked Gun
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Young Frankenstein
Bringing Up Baby
The Big Lebowski

Yes! That's quite a collection of yuks and should keep you in stitches for some time. Maybe you want to intersperse these Hall of Fame Humor Films with something else to watch. Well, here is the next Daily Kibitz suggestion: our Top Ten List of Favorite Binge TV Shows. These all have been previewed by our Daily Kibitz media critic and get the big thumbs up! And they are all available on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu:

Breaking Bad   Simply the best dramatic series ever made.
Parks and Recreation   Simply the best comedy series ever made.
Orphan Black   Simply the best acting performance ever; Tatiana Maslany rules.
Justified  Highly entertaining crime series located in eastern Kentucky.
Better Call Saul  Different cadence of story-telling, but the uber-high Breaking Bad quality remains.
Treme  The story starts three months after Katrina in New Orleans. Completely immersive.
Mad Men  Even if you loathe Don Draper, he represents America's values from 1960 to 1970.
The People vs. O.J. Simpson  Getting through this explains so much about our fractured society.
Friday Night Lights  Based on the movie, based on the book. "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!"
The Prisoner  From 1967 BBC, if George Orwell had taken psychedelics. It's more relevant today.

Is that a song in your heart I hear? Music surely helps during times like these. So here is our Daily Kibitz Music Critic's Top Ten Quarantine Songs. They're all songs about conditions that, though differing, still have the same impact as what we're experiencing today:

"Waiting For The End Of The World"  Elvis Costello
"Life In The Food Chain"  Tonio K.
"Bad Moon Rising"  Creedence Clearwater Revival
"London Calling"  The Clash
"Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"  The Ramones
"Ball Of Confusion"  The Temptations
"Ship Of Fools"  World Party
"1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)  Jimi Hendrix
"Everything Must Go"  Steely Dan
"Red"  King Crimson

Yes, that is a great list! In fact, I've compiled it into a Spotify Playlist and you can listen to it all right here. Just give it a click:

TOP TEN QUARANTINE SONGS SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

Alright, moving on, we consulted with our Daily Kibitz Social Media Critic for the low-down on which Twitter accounts should be followed. The recommendations are a blend of goofy and brilliant, highly informative and utterly sophomoric sites. It's a good Top Ten Twitter Accounts To Follow while sheltering from the storm:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast  Snarky supremo and hugely humanist. Funny, fair and spot on.
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson  Author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies" is hilarious.
https://twitter.com/GiantCat9  Giant cats with military hardware. Sublimely silly.
https://twitter.cm/TomTomorrow  Cartoon humorist and his friends with wicked takes on the world.
https://twitter.com/AngrierWHStaff  The ongoing perspective from a former White House staffer!!
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy  The editor of Media Matters. She's super smart and is great fun.
https://twitter.com/Popehat  The twitterverse Legal Eagle and his funny lawyer friends.
https://twitter.com/PaulNoth  One of the best New Yorker cartoonists.
https://twitter.com/JoeDator  Another of the best New Yorker cartoonists.
https://mobile.twitter.com/chunkled  Chock full of nifty relevant memes and gifs!

Oh, those will keep you busy! But what if you have sworn to never venture into the evil, wicked Land of Twitter? Well, OK. Our Daily Kibitz Social Media Critic has also drawn up a Top Ten Websites To Make You Laugh. And here they are:

https://www.theonion.com  The fabled Onion. Still the best, even though the world is now weirder.
https://www.wonkette.com  Another great one, where contributors and commenters don't hold back.
http://www.picturesofwalls.com/gallery.asp  Some world-class examples of trenchant graffiti.
https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com  Think your family is weird?
http://www.oldjewstellingjokes.com/jokes/  This site will keep you going for days, all for the better.
https://theoatmeal.com  Cartoon instructional site with a definite edge to its humor.
https://www.funnyordie.com  A little too Pop Culture for me but what the hell, maybe you'll like it.
https://9gag.com  Quite an aggregation of videos, memes, gifs and comments about, well, lots.
https://thenib.com  A collection of the top "alternative" cartoon artists and their ongoing work.
http://www.artbanksy.com  Banksy! His life, his loves, his recipes, his plan for world peace.

All of these are fine, but what if you don't give a dang about Internet content? Aside from reading this fine blog, you'd prefer to be retro and read a book? Fantastic! Let's let our Daily Kibitz Literary Critic weigh in on the Top Ten Books To Read During A Pandemic. Some of these titles are available to read online. Some are probably lurking on a dusty bookshelf in your home. All are still in print.

"One Hundred Years Of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Puts "magic realism" to amazing use.
"The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe. All he ever wanted was everything.
"The Tempest" by William Shakespeare. About a family trying to be socially distant.
"The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. Players change but the story's the same.
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller. The idiocy exemplified here tragically remains with us in 2020.
"Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut. Easy to see why Kurt V. and Joseph H. were best friends.
"Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville. Why do we follow leaders who chase The White Whale?
"A Confederacy Of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. The funniest novel ever written.
"William Blake: Selected Poems" The genius. No poet will be greater. Remarkable artistic ambition.
"The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. We are all on that raft.

And that will have to do! Now to help a little bit more, here are The Human Beinz singing their 1968 hit, "Nobody But Me" with attendant dance moves. Click, enjoy and let's get through this together!!

Is Conservatism Dead, Or Does It Just Smell Funny?

When watching stalwart Republicans sprain their necks by looking the other way while a President attacks institutions, laws, mores, precedents, protocol, and principles, I've wondered: What is Conservatism today and who are real Conservatives?

Conservatism has several branches, but its hallmark has been the preservation of social and political institutions. This includes maintaining the Family Values mantle, Rule of Law, Order and Tradition. Change is not welcome.

But Life is all about evolution, which I keep in mind when recalling how my conservative Rock-Ribbed Republican Dad went from being a George Wallace backer and Nixon voter to eventually filling out his ballot for Barack Obama. Twice.

Over the years, he had always expressed reflexive support for the GOP. He was a Realtor and owned his own business. He felt quite comfortable with the Pro-Business Individualism that the party touted. He was a Fiscal and Social Conservative, Free Market/Low Tax & Interest Rate, Do-It-Yourself kind of guy. He loathed any government program that, in his mind, gave anyone "something for nothing."

But some things rankled him. Although he liked Reagan, he didn't like Iran-Contra. He was repulsed by the hard-line "anything goes" politicking represented by Lee Atwater/Paul Manafort/Roger Stone.
He didn't care for Bill Clinton, but felt that the GOP had gone way out of bounds to get him. "I'll never vote for another Republican!" he said after that Senate trial. Of course, he did so the very next Presidential election.

His perception really changed during George W's tenure. Dad hated waste and incompetency, and there was plenty of it - a tipping point occurred. The GOP was no longer a Small Government, Fiscally Conservative party. Its claim on Family Values/High Morality didn't hold water anymore. And Dad was no longer the social conservative he'd been. He was uncomfortable with the nonsense and hateful rhetoric spewing out from the top to the bottom of his party. He was shook by the Iraq debacle and the economy's collapse.

So he voted for Obama, something I couldn't have conceived back in 1968. He railed at the GOP for their obstructionism and reactive animus toward Obama. And in 2012, he proudly voted for Obama again. A person can evolve for the better!

And a political party can evolve for the worse. Through most of his life, Dad was aligned with the GOP -- until he no longer could. His party, representing his conservative views, changed even more than he had. Before Trump ever lumbered onto the scene, conservatives within the Republican Party had been turning themselves inside out to justify their membership. Even someone like Ronald Reagan would have difficulty getting nominated today. Consider:

Fiscal Conservatism? Welp - the GOP has become the champ for spending deficits, leading to record National Debt; moreover, its economic policies produced the second worst economic crisis in our nation's history. All Free Market and Laissez-Faire economic conservatism vanished with America First protectionism, wide-scale tariffs and massive subsidies ("socialism") to groups adversely affected by them. And the crazily escalating fissure between the wealthy and everyone else is not a conservative endpoint.

Religious Conservatism? It's going great, if you're a far-right white Evangelical or an ardent anti-abortion advocate. But the GOP has so firmly lashed itself to Trump that it must accept his enormous moral transgressions. Hence the narrative that he's The Chosen One, like David or Saul, an imperfect vessel who is used by God to enact His Will on Earth. The resultant hypocrisy is repugnant and makes any claim to the high moral ground a sham.

Social Conservatism has been about Family Values and Law & Order and keeping the lid on various social issues. Like No to Abortion, and limiting Women's Rights. Or No to Same Sex Marriage and LBGT Rights. Or No to No Public School Prayer and No to Sex Education.  Or No to Gun Control Legislation. Or Criminal Justice Reform. Or Immigration Reform. Yet over the years, these and related issues have gained wide support with the American public. Republicans seem to be for Law & Order, as long as it's their kind of law.

Political Conservatism is listing badly. It's been a long time since Russell Kirk's "The Conservative Mind" sparked the imagination of folks like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Some things remain the same - support for a super strong military, rollbacks of regulations, and the pursuit of lower taxes. What has changed is kinda profound.

As a minority-rule entity, the GOP fully embraces ruthless Control above Responsible Governance. It is against protecting Voting Rights; it is for Voter Suppression and Gerrymandering. It supports refusing refugees and asylum seekers; it's for separating such families and putting children in cages. It supports Climate Change denial. It's for allowing a President to enjoy Emolument revenue from his personal government-derived business. It's for politicizing independent agencies like the Department of Justice, the EPA, DHS, on and on. It's for hiring incompetent true believers in place of those with expertise and experience. It's for the rule by Executive Order, after campaigning against it. It's for allowing our international alliances to founder. It's... oh fer cry-yi, it's all such a national disgrace.

In short, the GOP displays the characteristics of a party comfortable with subverting the Rule of Law, Order, Tradition and Decency so it can cover for the President, and so protect itself.

"It (the GOP) is a dark mirror of the authoritarian regimes we once fought," say former Republican strategists Reed Galen, John Weaver and Rick Wilson in a powerful piece titled "A Party Of Idolators". Like many others who've fled the party, they see Trump and the GOP as anti-conservative; instead, a National Conservatism or a White Nationalist Conservatism has emerged. The destruction of establishment institutions and resultant societal shock was always the plan of people like Steve Bannon and Steven Miller. As the dust settled, these great people would construct a whole new society bearing their extreme and autocratic views as the new normal rule.

Principled Conservatives believe in gradual change and the preservation of institutions and traditions. Therefore, they've been kicked out, or have self-exiled, from the GOP. The party has rapidly transformed into something more familiar to despots like Kim Jong-un or Vladimir Putin. Dissent will not be allowed. Only fulsome praise for Dear Leader will be heard. Yes, it seems that Conservatism in its traditional sense is flatlining. And the rest of the GOP smells funny, too.

Let's close with this appropriate quote from Hannah Arendt, the thinking person's George Orwell: