The COVID-2019 Thread

[harrybarracuda]

We believe that estimate is deeply flawed.

....Because Rupert Murdoch is our boss and we say what he tells us to.

Honestly, you are a gullible fucker.



P.S. Have a look at how much cash Murdoch is leaking because of this before you go believing the nonsense he's pumping out via Fox, his newspapers, etc. etc.

[bowie]

Rupert Murdoch

certainly, I can see murdoch strolling down the hallowed halls of stanford seeking out the docs to further his agenda?

Yup, shit, and me fresh out of tin foil

[harrybarracuda]

certainly, I can see murdoch strolling down the hallowed halls of stanford seeking out the docs to further his agenda?

Yup, shit, and me fresh out of tin foil

You have a more vivid imagination than me. I'm pretty certain he would leave the stooge he put in charge to get one of the lackeys on it, as he does with Fox News.

Like they go out and find the odd climate science denying scientist.

You're a bit dim aren't you.

[bowie]

Oh Harry - write much fiction - other than what you post here?

If you really do believe that the big boys would even bother - well, enough said. By the way, inquiring minds want to know, just who shot Kennedy and where the hell is Elvis these days?

[OhOh]

Experts'? By whose reckoning?

Surly the word, "Another" should have alerted you. All their credentials are on display for you to decide, if they warrant the "Expert" label.

"Dr John Lee is an English consultant histopathologist at Rotherham General Hospital and formerly clinical professor of pathology at Hull York Medical School."

Dr. John Oxford is an English virologist and Professor at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a leading expert on influenza, including bird flu and the 1918 Spanish Influenza, and HIV/AIDS."

Your task is to read their statements and decide; Educated statement or "Over The Hills And Far Away", with the fairies?



Make your own decision.

I have never suggested I have an expert's knowledge on viruses.

It's another one of HoHo's whackjob websites.

Another pathetic post 'arry, "Highly Probably" it's one of your best. Where do you dig it up from, kindergarten?

Try commenting on the substance of the experts statements, if you are able to.

Well, can’t really argue with the credentials these folk present.

It certainly appears to have two comforting words in it's site title, "Citizens' " and "Association". For some that's all that matters.

I'll await 'arrys opinion prior to posting mine. He is the authority on fake site titles after all.

[bowie]

No OhOh, I was referring to Drs., Bendavid and Bhattacharya, professors of medicine at Sanford. Scientists by trade who are providing opinions on the basis of statistical data extrapolated. They provided statistical support of their opinion concerning the matter.

To take exception to their statement you must discredit the statistical data they presented.


Of course, this is the Door where deniers extraordinaire provide a resounding "liar, liar pants on fire" retort in support of the conspiracy theory du jour.

[Warwick]

The problem is that once you have committed to a lockdown how do you safely come out of it.

No, the real problem is that after committing to a policy that destroys businesses and jobs, how do you tell people that it was all a mistake, but that they will be paying for it over the next ten years and maybe longer.

[bowie]

^ Nail on the Head - you can never go back...

[HuangLao]

2019/2018/2017 influenza "season" numbers vs. current COVID-19 "pandemic"

Simple research might show that it's all out of whack, leaving many perplexed.

[Warwick]

'd rather listen to the THOUSANDS of experts who disagree with those 8,

I would rather listen to those few who are prepared to put their reputations on the line in saying something is wrong, than the countless others who simply go along with the crowd and repeat what somebody else has said.

[HuangLao]

I would rather listen to those few who are prepared to put their reputations on the line in saying something is wrong, than the countless others who simply go along with the crowd and repeat what somebody else has said.

Unfortunately, most opt for the latter.
Quite reflective of the deepest of dumbed down conditioning, even among the most reasonable.

[jabir]

Only 36 reported cases in Malaysia and just 27 in Thailand today.

I no longer pay much attention to what the experts say, from masks to incubation period, forms of transmission, life expectancy of unattached virus, and certainly not methodologically skewed numbers that are little more than guesswork based on whatever each authority wishes to share. Now the 'experts' grudgingly agree there is little evidence for them to have touted false hope that the virus will die off in heat and humidity, so come the European summer as far as the virus is concerned it's business as usual.

Doesn't hurt to say you don't know, even if you are paid to know.

China is a goner, much of Africa has virtually zero effective public health services, and this catchy little headline should give us a clue to what's happening in Iran: We Can't Even Count Anymore. If only part of this is accurate any numbers coming out of Iran should be treated with scorn, with mass graves being dug to accommodate far more than the 5k they've fessed up to, while imams and other religious leaders at various stages from mild infection to death never stopped pimping the line that there;s nothing t ofear because Allah will protect some faithful and herd the rest into Jannah. WHO missions from Feb and ongoing to Iran and other 3W resorts have achieved little more than spend millions on a stream of 5* vacations for, as one official put it, they came, they dined, they wined, they praised and then they left.

"We Can't Even Count Anymore" – How Iran and the WHO Let Coronavirus Proliferate :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism

A global clusterfcuk, and the CPC could not have dreamed of a more disruptive outcome.

[HuangLao]

Wait it out.
It'll pass naturally in time, as many of them do.

[OhOh]

No OhOh, I was referring to Drs., Bendavid and Bhattacharya, professors of medicine at Sanford.

I know you were.

'arry seems to believe the other things though.

[jabir]

Just seen on Bloomberg that UK has bought 84 tonnes of medical equipment from Turkey; that should pan out well, esp if being naively British they paid up front.

[OhOh]

Disturbing Developments In UK Policing

"The other week journalist @MikeSegalov got hassled and shouted at by the police for filming an incident in a park. Here's the footage. Not a good look for the police – breaking social distancing rules by surrounding him and wrongly shouting at a journalist to go home."

https://twitter.com/simonchilds13/st...18305889013760

[harrybarracuda]

Oh Harry - write much fiction - other than what you post here?

If you really do believe that the big boys would even bother - well, enough said. By the way, inquiring minds want to know, just who shot Kennedy and where the hell is Elvis these days?

Are you a bit thick? Well obviously, yes.

If you are unaware that all of Murdoch's publications and media outlets are designed to promote - and profit from - a right wing agenda, then you're a complete fucking idiot to be honest.

[harrybarracuda]

Personally I'm all for letting the trumpanzees out, it will thin down the trumpanzee population, including the inbred rednecks that gave birth to them. This can only help elect a more progressive government that might actually plan for pandemics and even stop them at source (chinkies permitting).

Much like the last one did until baldy orange cunto dismantled the whole apparatus to please the fucking morons that want to go and breathe over each other now.

Let them die, it's certainly no loss to humanity.

[Warwick]

If you are unaware that all of Murdoch's publications and media outlets are designed to promote - and profit from - a right wing agenda, then you're a complete fucking idiot to be honest.

If you can't find fault with the message, attack the messenger.

[harrybarracuda]

If you can't find fault with the message, attack the messenger.

The message is if you want to go and find a scientist with a set of stats that match your agenda, it isn't very hard.

Shucks, you can even find scientists who are convinced that planes did not fly into the world trade centre.

Our resident whackjobs quote them all the time.

[harrybarracuda]

There is quite a global disparity in lockdown dates, and even the US is being affected in different stages.

Easier to click the link and view that to try and paste I think.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lockdown Tracker | Aura Vision

[harrybarracuda]

I hope they use zoom, should be some cracking honeymoon videos on Pornhub.

New Yorkers looking to tie the knot while the state is under lockdown now have the option of getting married via video conference. During his daily coronavirus briefing, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday he is issuing an executive order that will allow clerks to perform marriage services over video conferencing software.
Cuomo also stated couples in the state will now be able to obtain marriage licenses remotely.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-marriage-license-couples-can-now-obtain-licenses-remotely-get-married-via-video-conference-2020-04-19/

[harrybarracuda]

This has got to be the most inept and corrupt administration in American history.

Kudos to Shack Shack for giving it back, although another company applied for $10m through each of two subsidiaries and got $20m.

White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry

The federal government gave national hotel and restaurant chains millions of dollars in grants before the $349 billion program ran out of money Thursday, leaving thousands of traditional small businesses without funding and leading to a backlash that prompted one company to give the money back.

As Congress and the White House near a deal to add another $310 billion to the small business program, some are calling for additional oversight and rule changes to prevent bigger chains from accepting any more money.
Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the chain that boasts 150 locations and is valued at $250 million, reported receiving $20 million in funding from the small business portion of the bailout legislation called the Paycheck Protection Program. The Potbelly chain of sandwich shops, which has more than 400 locations and a value of $89 million, reported receiving $10 million last week.

Shake Shack Inc., the $1.6 billion New York City-based burger-and-fries chain, received $10 million. After complaints from small business advocates after the fund went dry, company founder Danny Meyer and Chief Executive Officer Randy Garutti announced Sunday evening that they would be returning the money.

They said they had no idea when the program was created it would run out of money so quickly and that they understood the uproar.

“Late last week, when it was announced that funding for the PPP had been exhausted, businesses across the country were understandably up in arms,” the two wrote in a letter posted online. “If this act were written for small businesses, how is it possible that so many independent restaurants whose employees needed just as much help were unable to receive funding?”

“We now know that the first phase of the PPP was underfunded, and many who need it most, haven’t gotten any assistance.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has tried to defend the program in recent days, wrote on Twitter that he was “glad to see” Shake Shack return the money.

In all, more than 70 publicly traded companies have reported getting money from the program, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), chairman of the committee overseeing small business, addressed the criticism Monday morning on CNN, saying that hotels and restaurants were some of the first and hardest hit companies in the country and that many of their locations were owned by true small businesses or individuals.

But he said that there have been "some people approved, some companies, that I believe should not have been, even under the intent of the law, and that comes down to the certification process and how they were certified into the system.”

A number of the companies receiving money are clients of J.P. Morgan Chase, adding fuel to criticism that Wall Street banks had aided their clients in securing large amounts. The bank put out a statement Sunday saying that it is “proud to have secured more funding for small businesses than anyone else in the industry” and that 80 percent of its PPP loans have been for businesses with less than $5 million in revenue.

J.P. Morgan explained that larger companies may have been served more quickly because its commercial banking unit, which serves larger clients, was able to complete "most of the applications it received” while many more applications poured in from traditional small businesses.

The PPP program was intended to benefit workers at businesses and non-profit employers with fewer than 500 employees that are unable to obtain credit elsewhere, according to the Small Business Act, which formed the basis for the program.

But after intensive lobbying by the restaurant and hotel industries during the weeks leading to the passage of the Cares Act, Congress allowed separate subsidiaries and locations to apply as businesses, even if they were part of a national or international chain.

Thus multiple Ruth’s Chris could apply under separate entities even though its parent company employed some 5,740 people at the end of last year, according to public filings. Other industries and advocates lobbied against affiliation rules as well, including the private equity industry.

Hotels, with three-quarters of their rooms empty and nearly 4 million people out of work, have been taking advantage of the program. Philadelphia’s Hersha Hospitality Trust, and Condor Hospitality Trust, a Maryland-based owner of 15 hotels in eight states, reported last week they had applied for their properties.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin has called the PPP program a success, saying in a statement Friday that the program provided funds to more than 1.6 million small businesses in all 50 states.

“The vast majority of these loans — 74 percent of them — were for under $150,000, demonstrating the accessibility of this program to even the smallest of small businesses," Mnuchin said. He told CNN Sunday that another $300 billion “should be sufficient to reach almost everybody.”

Executives at some chains have defended the rule the way it is written, saying the size of the parent company matters little since most of the money is required to go to workers, as a minimum of three-quarters of each loan is required to go to payroll in order for the government to forgive the debt.

“Employees don’t care if we’re big or we’re a small business. They just want their job back,” said Jon E. Bortz, founder and chief executive of Bethesda-based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and board chair of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the industry’s top lobbying group. AHLA has also argued that hotel owners should not have to spend three-quarters of stimulus funds on payroll.

Ruth’s Chris, a steakhouse chain based in New Orleans, sought the stimulus money so that the company “is well positioned to emerge from this situation a strong and viable entity,” it said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

As the program ran out of money however, leaving thousands of small businesses without money to pay their workers, criticism mounted about some of funds going to national brands.

The initial PPP program "was flawed from top to bottom,” said Florida small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth. “The program has done very little to help genuine small businesses and instead has benefited large companies who have used subsidiary entities to benefit disproportionately and unfairly.”

They created a petition asking that the program be limited to companies with fewer than 250 employees and half of it should be reserved for those with 50 employees or less.

Some critics point out that executives at larger chains often enjoy multi-million dollar annual compensation packages. Other chains, such as Marriott and Hilton, have been criticized for inflating the values of their shares in recent years with share buybacks and dividend payments that left less cash on hand to pay workers once the pandemic hit.

In their letter, the Shake Shack executives said they were trying to do the best they could for their employees under the rules created by the government, but they acknowledged that other businesses could use the money more than they could.

“Our people would benefit from a $10 million PPP loan but we’re fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not. Until every restaurant that needs it has had the same opportunity to receive assistance, we’re returning ours,” they wrote.

Transparency of the small business spending has also become a paramount issue, as the legislation does not require the Small Business Administration to disclose the recipients, even thought the agency typically discloses the name, address and executives of loan recipients.

Leading Congressional Democrats are pressing the Trump administration to provide more data on how the funds are being distributed.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), alongside senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), wrote to Mnuchin and Small Business Administration Administrator Jovita Carranza Friday asking that funds be replenished.

Trump said at his daily coronavirus briefing Sunday that he hoped to reach an agreement for additional funding sometime Monday.

“I think we are getting close to a deal,” he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-gop-face-heat-after-hotel-and-restaurant-chains-helped-run-small-business-program-dry/ar-BB12VyyI?li=BBnb7Kz

[tomcat]

...notice in a *cough* minority liquor store, the Bronx:

[Chittychangchang]