Sweden's Dangerous Play

The 60,000+ dead in the US is a gross undercount; experts know it.  “Whatever number is reported on a given day is going to be a gross underestimate,” said Tim Riffe, a demographer at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany. “In a lot of places the pandemic has been going on for long enough that there has been sufficient time for late death registrations to come in, giving us a more accurate picture of what the mortality really was.” Recently an analysis of seven states fatality reports shows 9,000 excess deaths attributable to the virus not previously counted. With limited testing and tracing in the US, a more accurate count cannot be easily determined except by counting the number of excess deaths over non-pandemic totals for a similar time period. In US Person's opinion, informed by scientific thinking on the subject, a more accurate current death estimate is around 75-80,000, At this rate, the death count will be closing in on 200,000 by election day, six months away; it could go even higher if early relaxation of partial quarantines now underway in nearly half the states contributes to a devastating second wave like that experienced during the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918.

Of course the mentally-ill man in the VWH denies such a horrendous death toll in the world's most powerful nation is possible--he thinks the virus will just go, as if by magic.* There are only two ways to defeat the SARS CoV-2 virus: 1) by developing, testing, and widely administering effective vaccine[s], or 2) develop natural "herd immunity" by exposing the general public to the risk of infection. Natural immunity requires about 60-70% of a population contract the virus. This is the controversial route taken by Sweden, in an effort to save its economy from serious damage. Officials deny this is an explicit strategy, but it is so in effect; its own scientists have called for Sweden to comply with WHO recommendations on quarantine.

Sweden already has more dead that its Scandinavian "nanny" neighbors which have engaged in widespread lockdowns, and its rate is rising faster.  If the ratio of confirmed deaths to confirmed cases is used as a metric, Sweden’s rate is more than twice as high as Denmark’s and more than five times higher than Norway’s. On a per capita basis, Sweden's death rate exceeds the United States, which has the world's most SARS CoV-2 deaths. (149.61/million vs. 117.55/million) The world is watching Sweden's experiment in epidemiology, which is erratically emulated by the United States on ideological grounds.

The kiss off--profit or die!

*Epidemiology experts think that completely exterminating SARS CoV-2 is unlikely.  No vaccine is 100% effective against a pathogen. (it never goes to "zero")  No one knows how long immunity to the novel corona virus lasts.  It is likely to become similar to the various flu viruses, which infect humanity seasonally and for which vaccines are less than completely effective.  SARS CoV-2 differs from SARS, which killed 800 worldwide but was eliminated, in that people can be infectious with only mild symptoms or none at all, and novel virus is more easily transmitted with a wider community spread.  New Zealand is the only nation that appears to have exterminated SARS CoV-2, an exceptional achievement even though it is geographically isolated.  Recently Total Douche said, "There has been so much unnecessary death in this country. It could have been stopped and stopped short, but somebody a long time ago it seems decided not to do it that way, and the whole world is suffering because of it."  He so much lacks self-awareness that he did not realize that "somebody" was himself.  Estimates are that 60,000 more citizens died because of his negligent or deliberate inaction during the early stages of the pandemic.,

Boarder Barrier Will Kill Endangered Species

Total Douche, perhaps realizing he will be a one-term president after his pandemic fiasco, is rushing to build sections of his often promised "wall" to seal off the Mexican border.  On February 13th 31 new border projects were announced amounting to 177 miles of new barriers in areas previously thought to be too rugged or remote. Many of these projects will replace existing barriers, but some new barriers will cross endangered species' habitat such as the San Bernandino Wildlife Refuge and Arizona's Peloncillo Mountains, designated critical jaguar habitat. Only 15,000 jaguars are thought to still exist in North America. In the bootheel of New Mexico, pedestrian fences will replace vehicle barriers, which animals like the Mexican grey wolf can evade, closing off vital resources and mates they need to survive. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta NWF, the endangered Sonoran pronghorn antelope will face extinction say wildlife experts.  A recovery effort by both the United States and Mexico has succeeded if restoring the population to 1,000, but a barrier impenetrable to antelope bisecting the range will make it impossible for them to survive and reproduce.

map credit: BBC News

Before the Antichrist was installed in office by a rigged election system, there were 654 miles of barrier, 354 miles composed of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers.  It is a porous border for both wildlife and illegal immigrants, so it did not pose much of a threat to species survival.  That will change as he imposes his will to build a "tall, powerful, beautiful" barrier on the borderlands.  So far about $9.8 billion in funding has been channeled to his pet project. The money for the barrier has come from previous funding approved by Congress as well as extra cash he has been able to access since he declared a state of emergency. By 2020, Customs and Boarder Patrol expects to have completed 450 miles of a border barrier system, which includes steel-bollard barriers, all-weather roads, lighting, surveillance cameras and other technology.

graphic credit: High Country News

Conservationists and tribes have been fighting these projects without much success.  The building of this ineffective barrier will certainly be touted as an election year triumph of the will by Total Douche.  Obviously the building of even portions of a "wall" is a high level priority for the regime.  Construction has proceed without regard to environmental impacts, under waivers contained in the 2005 Real ID Act to relevant environmental protection laws. The little known "Roosevelt Reservation" established by a 1907 presidential proclamation is a sixty foot strip of federal land running along the border (except Texas), which makes it easier to trump private property rights that may affect barrier construction. Funding has been diverted from the Pentagon's budget under obscure appropriation provisions for military construction projects and counter-narcotics program. In the face of this bureaucratic steamroller, wildlife advocates are left scrambling to obtain base line data on border species before they are blocked from their usual migration and foraging routes.

The Tohono O'Odham nation, whose territory stretches into Mexico, expressed concern that construction may damage cultural and archeological sites.  A burial site lies in the path of the proposed wall.  Tribe representatives say their suggestions for alternatives were ignored by Congress.  A spokesperson from the Center for Biological Diversity told journalists that one of the organization's first demands after Total Douche is out of office is a comprehensive study of how the "wall" has adversely affected wildlife, water, and the land, "to identify which areas we should rip the walls out first.”  

COTW: Some Curves Flatter than Others

More: The US now has more COVID-19 cases than five of the largest European outbreaks combined. Even as states begin to relax the quarantine conditions, the country is stuck in a high plateau of new cases. In the last week the US has reported 24,000 to 41,000 new cases and between 1200 and 2600 deaths due to the disease. The virus appears to be spreading to rural states after slamming large urban centers like New York, which is typical behavior for an airborne pathogen following human networks.  Reported figures are undoubtedly undercounts of actual exposure and death. States still lag considerably behind the necessary testing capacity to safely resume normal activity according to several health institutions and experts.

This chart from Bloomberg.com compares the performance of developed countries in combating the virus spread. The US lags behind European nations and has been outperformed by Asian nations, including China, the epicenter of the outbreak.  A two month delay--after the outbreak was first reported to the world and the regime mired in delusional denial--was responsible for a skyrocketing death rate in the US.  So much for, "having it totally under control".  If Total Douche wants to put his name on something related to the pandemic, it should be a written apology to 'Mericans for making them expendable.  Glass of bleach anyone?

Endangered Nation

credit: Matt Wuerker, Politico 
Wackydoodle sez: it just did!

More: Don't let the relatively low death rate per capita figure fool you. The US has double the per capita deaths of Germany, Denmark and Portugal. Belgium's highest death per capita figure is due to regulatory rigor, not a broken health care system. At the pandemic peak in the country, 43% of this nation's intensive care beds were unoccupied. Belgium counts probable cases and deaths in nursing homes. If the US were to do that, its per capita figure would be closer to Belgium's.  Who needs testing when it would only reveal the true extent of the pandemic disaster in this country?  Certainly not Total Douche!

Latest: The storm of ridicule for his dangerously ignorant suggestions [below] finally was too much even for Narcissus bombastis. He cut his propaganda show, Brief the Nation, short and did not take questions from reporters, which he exploits as a free opportunity to promote himself, and engage in confrontational rhetoric. "NASTY!" Do you want to help your nation in this time of plague? Then turn the channel on the Chosen One, if he does not quit first.

So if you are a die hard Trump believer and are infected with COVID-19, you should follow your supreme leader's suggestion, zombie-like, and inject yourself with alcohol or bleach, to clean out your lungs.  If Total Douche says do it, then it must be true and the nay-saying nabobs are just punk commie America- haters. No doctor in their right mind will flush you, so you have take your life into your own hands, which should not be a problem for a rugged individualist like yourself. Report your results, if you are still alive after the treatment.

The fact that this floundering apprentice of a president stands in front of a sign that says in large capital letters "The White House" for the world to see, while he spews his mendacious nonsense, is one of the saddest spectacles in this nation's history, and there have been a few.  Totale Trumpillini is so desperate to feed his mental illness that he will say just about anything to get camera coverage*. US COVID-19 Deaths (est.): 50,000+

credit M. Wuerker. Politico
BC Idonwanna sez: No worry, last of breed!

*This relevant quote from Hanah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism: The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.  The fascist beast, in the guise of the evangelical extreme right, has returned in our times. The UK's Guardian reports that one of these crazies wrote to Total Douche this week about the miracles of industrial bleach against COVID-19. Mark Grenon, the head of a fringe group known as "Genesis II", which poses as a religious organization, wrote Total Douche that chloride dioxide, an industrial cleaning solvent, "can rid the body of COVID-19." Since the start of the pandemic, Genesis II has been marketing MMS (Mineral Miracle Solution, its name for bleach) as a cure for corona virus. It advises users, including children, to mix three to six drops of bleach in water and drink it.  This dangerously irresponsible quackery has been repeated by Alan Keyes, a former political advisor to Ronald Regan, on a web based TV program.

2 New York Cats Test Positive

Two pet cats living in New York state have tested positive for SARS Cov-2 (novel corona virus).  The cats were brought to private veterinarians because they were suffering from a respiratory infection.  The cats were tested positive for COVID-19.  These results were confirmed by a national veterinarian lab. This is the first confirmed case of pet infection in the United States.

The CDC emphasizes that pet guardians should be not fear being infected by their animals, but should take precautions if the guardians are infected or are showing symptoms.  Chinese researchers determined that cats are susceptible to infection in the laboratory, but showed only mild symptoms. The researchers think dogs are less affected by the disease. The COVID-19 is believed to have originated in so-called 'wet markets' in Wuhan that trade in wildlife.  As of yet there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted to humans by dogs or cats.  Pathology researchers at Cambridge University say the SARS Cov-2 virus is very similar to corona viruses found in bats.

The big cats at the Bronx zoo who have COVID-19 are doing well according to zoo officials.  They are eating normally and their coughing is greatly reduced.  The cats were probably infected by an asymptomatic staff person.

In other pandemic news, Dr. William Bright (how appropriate) told reporters he was abruptly dismissed from his post at the Department of Health and Human Services where he headed the agency's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority after advocating for rigorous testing of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug touted by the right-wing circus as a "miracle cure" for COVID-19.  Dr. Bright, who earned his PhD at Emory University, said in his statement that he was pressured to direct funds towards hydroxychloroquine, which he labeled “potentially dangerous drug[s] promoted by those with political connections”  He added, “While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public.”

'Totale' Trumpillini has political allies with interests in pharmaceutical companies that distribute a brand name version of the drug.  Bright was not fired, but kicked up stairs to a desk at the National Institutes of Health.  King Trumpillini told reporters when asked of Bright's removal, “I never heard of him, You just mentioned the name, I never heard of him. When did this happen? I never heard of him".*  Bright has retained attorneys specializing in government whistle blower cases who said they intend to ask for an investigation of the dismissal they characterize as unlawful retaliation.

Total Douche's promoted the sixty-five year-old antimicrobial medicine as a "game changer" during propaganda appearances. His sales pitch was repeated by the Fox News echo chamber, notably by fan-girl Laura Ingraham.  The drugs efficacy and safety is disputed by government health officials including Dr. Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert. Nevertheless Dr. Voodoo advised citizens to "Take it."  Since his initial dangerously erroneous bombast, experimental use of the drug has produced no verifiable, positive results and serious side effects in those patients treated with it, including patients at a Veterans Affairs medical facility.  Hydroxychloroquine is approved to treat autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus as well as malaria, but has known serious side effects, such as blurred vision, seizures, and heart arrhythmia.  After more public warnings about the untested use of the drug, Fox News talking heads ceased talking about hydroxychloroquine, but not trade advisor Peter Navarro, who relentlessly bangs his drum for the drug within the regime.  Meanwhile comprehensive, controlled testing of hydroychloroquine for use on COVID-19 patients continues, which is something Dr. Bright wanted at the start.

*When asked again about Bight, The Chosen One (CO) had this bizarre exchange with the NBC reporter: 
CO: Why do you say he has great gifts? Do you know him? Have you reviewed him? Have you studied him?
Reporter: He worked his entire career developing vaccines
CO: That doesn’t mean he has gifts. I know a lot of people who play baseball who can’t hit 150. 
Silly reporter, she should have known only Total Douche has great baseball knowledge and gifts.

New Survey Shows Indochinese Tigers Breeding In Thailand

A new survey conducted by biologists in Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest shows tigers are breeding there.  This is good news as the Indochinese subspecies (P.t. corbetti) in on the brink, and comes after a decade of protection efforts by the DPKY Tiger Recovery Project. The estimated size of the population is 14-33 individuals.  Study results are encouraging that Thailand may be able to meet its goal of increasing the number of tigers 50% by 2026.  This population is globally important since tigers have vanished from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

A recent genomics study confirmed the existence of six distinct subspecies of tiger. (Panthera tigris) Three other subspecies described in the 30's are thought to be extinct.  Fossil evidence indicates that the tiger emerged 2 million years ago in Asia.  The modern tiger subspecies separated from a common ancestor about 110,000 years ago likely in southern China and Southeast Asia.  Sumatran tigers, which live only on the island of Sumatra and are characterized by a smaller body size, diverged first.  Researchers emphasize that saving tigers from extinction also involves preserving their genetic diversity that has evolved over the millennia.  Some of the current populations outside of India and Russia may be too small to prevent them from succumbing to increasing extinction pressures.

mother and cub in DPKY, credit Freeland Foundation

India has the most tigers still wild, while the United States has the world's largest captive tiger population.  Today, there are about 3,900 wild tigers remaining from a century ago when there were an estimated 100,000. Failure to contain the illegal trade in wildlife will result in the tiger's extinction in the wild. Remote monitoring of a population seems to be the most effective way of protecting tigers from human predation.  The study in DPKY used computer simulations to investigate how different camera trap placements and study duration affected population estimates.   Tigers' preferred mature, dense forest habitat and few numbers make human tracking of this superb natural hunter difficult, if not impossible.

The End Is Here: Oil Prices Go Negative

It has to be the end because the unthinkable has happened: the price for WTI oil went negative!  An industry accustom to extracting riches from nations is now facing a glut of oil, and the capitalist regime with its hands in the peoples' pocket has promised to bail out the oil companies.  On Monday WTI oil futures crashed to a historic $-40.32. Monday's price busted the previous low of $10 a barrel set in 1986, ending a decade long oil boom.  There is no excess storage capacity for landlocked crude like WTI, so sellers were paying buyers to take excess oil off their hands. The regime is allowing companies to lease storage capacity from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but private production is adding 2 million barrels a day to private storage.  Even the government's buy of 75 million barrels to top off the Reserve will provide little immediate relief.  Brent crude, the international price standard, has not gone negative because excess production can be stored in tankers.

Oil market analysts think the historic price drop is primarily a function of market oversupply caused by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, both countries that rely heavily on oil production to finance their national budgets. The drop in demand due to pandemic lock downs only exacerbates the negative market conditions. Future prices for June contracts are still positive. OPEC has agreed to a production cut that will not take effect until May 1at.

Ten Years After

The Macondo oil well gushed crude into the Gulf for 87 days before it was finally sealed. It still leaks oil today, but at a much lower rate. The spill destroyed hundreds of thousands of aquatic birds and miles of coastline habitat. But ten years after the Deepwater Horizon spill there are signs of Nature's recovery, one of those signs, the brown pelican (Pelecanus accidentalis), became a tragic icon of the damage the disaster did to the Gulf Coast.

courtesy: USCG

Queen Bess Island was hard hit by the oil spill. Only five of its 36 acres were suitable for nesting.  The island supported 15-20% of Louisiana's brown pelican nesting activity prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, so it was important that spill recovery efforts focus on the state's fourth largest pelican colony. Recovery efforts started long before the oil spill in 1968 because the colony was suffering from pesticide poisoning (DDT) after historic persecution by man.  By the time the state made the bird its official symbol in 1966, there were no brown pelicans living in the Louisiana, and Florida was down to just 7,690 nests.  Recovery of the island and its bird residence that include eight other aquatic species such as Roseate Spoonbills a Tri-colored Herons and Great Egrets, is funded by the $8.8 billion settlement reached in the BP litigation for environmental damages. The spill killed an estimated 10% of the Gulf's brown pelican population.

Today, thanks to intensive recovery efforts, Queen Bess is a state wildlife refuge open to breeding this year.  Hundreds of pelicans have returned to breed in peace on an enlarged island dedicated to wildlife. It is the first island in the Audubon Society's Gulf plan to be fully implemented; perhaps more success stories can be reported as Louisiana works to fulfill its $50 billion coastal master plan to restore its rapidly eroding coastline. Once a tragic symbol, the pelican is now an emblem of hope that man can learn to live in harmony with his environment. 

COTW: Too Risky to Test

The U.S. still has no national testing strategy four months into the pandemic. State governors have repeatedly warned the Antichrist that they do not have the capacity to test on the scale needed to minimize a renewed wave of infections, and need federal assistance. Total Douche repeatedly lies that the US has the best testing in the world in order to absolve himself of responsibility for a renewed outbreak if states return to pre-pandemic operations too soon. Virologists have recommended at least 500,000 COVID-19 tests a day in the US, but testing here topped out at around 220,000 tests a day and the rate of testing has sunk to about 145,000 tests a day. The US now has 3 times the number of infections than any other nation on Earth.  USA, USA, USA!!!  In New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, twelve people have died of COVID-19.  (2.4 per million versus 39 per million for US) That country banned Chinese travelers in early February, quarantined in March, and is conducting comprehensive testing and contact tracing.

What about Total Douche's claim that the United States was caught off guard by the virus because the WHO failed to warn US earlier? NOT! The WaPo writes, "More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel corona virus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials..."  More of the same deceitful blame shifting the Antichrist has engaged in from day one of his benighted regime.

 Don 'Totale' Trumpillini

Dark Avatar: One More

US thought about taking down the Hitler poses, because after all is said about Total Douche, his is not genocidal as far as US knows.  But he does personally insult journalists' integrity, lie continually, and disrespect our form of republican government.  His outrageous behavior invites comparison.  So, US decided to let the post stand, and for good measure add one more pair of pictures.  Enjoy!

A Dark Avatar

US Person is not a closet Hitler admirer, but one cannot fairly deny he was an oratorical spellbinder.  Part of his shtick was dramatic hand gestures.  He practiced them in front of a mirror, and asked photographer Heinrich Hoffman to photograph him in action in 1925.  Total Douche is no orator; he speaks in phrases, relies on a few over used adjectives, and sometimes makes up words.  But do you see any modern day similarities here?

Here is my favorite Hitler pose--so wildly grandiose--as if he is commanding the heavens.  Can you find a matching gesture by the Antichrist in Office?

Perhaps this one?

'Toontime: Covfefe

credit: Dave Whamond
 Wackydoodle sez: Covfefe!

Even Senate fan-boy Lindsey Graham says the US has not done enough testing to release possibly infectious millions back into wage slavery.  Although he enabled Total Douche by refusing to assess him with any responsibility, his remarks about testing are a long way from Douche's claim, "the best [testing] of any country in the world."  Here is another inconvenient fact in this chart:

Total Douche does not want comprehensive testing because the results would contradict his propaganda line that it is time for him as absolute monarch to 'open up the country'.  Experts admit that the COVID-19 infection figures are underestimates.  When New York started reporting probable cases, its statistics jumped significantly. A moribund economy is the worst thing that could happen to Bizarro Trumpillini's re-election prospects.  So, he just improvises*, posts inflammatory tweets, or blames international organizations or competitors for his failure in office.  He is worse than disruptive Dennis because he is so malicious.  RECORD ONE DAY DEATHS IN US: 4,591. ESCALATE!

*Total Douche's latest fantasy: SARS CoV-2 began in a Chinese bio lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (this lab was the first to identify SARS CoV-2 in January 2020). Here is what zoologist Dr. Peter Daszak said in an interview on Democracy Now!: "...we don’t really know for sure, but we can trace back the origins by looking at the genetic signal within the virus itself. So we sequence out the gene from the virus, the genome, and then we compare it to others. And when we do that, we see that the viruses in people, the closest relative of those are from bats. This is not unusual. Bats happen to carry a lot of different viral species. There are many different bats around the world that carry their own viruses. We make contact with them. Often we don’t see them. They fly at night, for instance. And we pick up their viruses. SARS coronavirus, the original virus, emerged from bats. Ebola virus is a bat-origin virus. Rabies and many other....We’ve been studying the origin of emerging diseases. About 75% of every new emerging disease — think about Ebola, H1N1 flu, H5N1 flu, you know, these pandemic viruses that emerge— originate in wildlife. Every species of wildlife carries viruses that are a natural part of its biology, a bit like we have the common cold and herpes, cold sores.....And we estimate there are 1.7 million unknown viruses in wildlife, so there’s a lot of diversity out there that could emerge in the future. And really, we need to be looking at that, instead of pointing fingers for political gain at scientists who are working to benefit public health."  

A study in The Lancet by four epidemiologists from Hong Kong show that the lock down of Wuhan in late January prevented the spread of infection outside Hubei Province; the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Wenzhou, they write, saw a collapse in numbers of infections within two weeks of the partial lock down. Bizarro's capitalist=inspired reluctance to advocate partial quarantines in the US may result in 60,000 more "covfefe" deaths according to some calculations. China's government put public health paramount over economic considerations from the beginning of its response to the pandemic.  That, dear reader is the difference between a socialist and capitalist society.  

The new normal: after half a century of economic growth, China's economy will contract by 6% as a result of the pandemic. People are sleeping in cardboard boxes in empty Las Vegas casino parking lots. According to the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is expected to shrink by 3% during 2020 in a stunning coronavirus-driven collapse of activity that will mark the steepest downturn since the Great Depression

Pandemics and the Destruction of Nature

President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil is one of those "mini-Trump" nationalists who deny the seriousness of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. He has likened the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus as, “no worse than a mild flu.” Global statistics collected since the outbreak of the disease put a lie to that mis- characterization. His own health minister has advised Brazilians to self-quarantine. The picture shows Bolsonaro engaged in anti-social behavior when he visited a Brasilia neighborhood on April 10th. Brazil has recorded about 2,000 deaths and 35,000 cases of COVID-19.

Brazil may be at the nexus of the next pandemic to strike the globe.  Recent wild fires have devastated large swaths of Amazonia.  Researchers have studied the connection between changes in land use such as deforestation and novel disease outbreaks.  A recent study says that diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Zika Virus have been linked to landscape changes.  SARS CoV-2 may be the latest virus to be transmitted from animals to humans, called zoonoses.

A group of international experts on zoonotic diseases met in Columbia to discuss the effect of the Amazon devastation by fire.  They warned, “The Amazon region of Brazil, endemic for many communicable or zoonotic diseases can, after a wildfire, trigger a selection for survival, and with it change the habitat and behaviors of some animal species. These can be reservoirs of zoonotic bacteria, viruses, and parasites.”  Huge fires in Indonesia in 1988 caused the emergence of the Nipah virus, which had a morbidity rate between 40 and 70%.  Bats fled their forest homes seeking food in orchards.  Domesticated pigs ate the fruit bats nibbled becoming infected.  The swine transmitted the disease to local humans who began to die from brain hemorrhages.  Malaria mosquitoes do well in forested areas recently cleared. In 2008 a 10% rise in Amazon deforestation rate was correlated to a 3.3% increase in malaria transmission according to Stanford University researchers.

Despite the mounting scientific evidence of a connection between disease outbreaks and loss of biodiversity{30.03.20}, President Bolosarno is calling for full economic steam ahead.  A 2019 provisional measure awaiting legislative approval rewards land grabbers who illegally felled forest on public lands in Amazonia before December 2018 — rectifying their illegal occupation by  purchase of the land at greatly reduced prices, thus increasing the amount of deforestation that will occur.  Large squatters can increase their holdings by using straw transactions (so called laranjas) to evade federal enforcement of size restrictions. Under the measure, squatters can also seize land occupied by indigenous who do not have deeds to their land.

All of this increase disruption of the biosphere in the name of profit will lead to future pandemics as Nature fights to defend herself from the onslaught of human greed. Infection experts were not surprised by the pandemic; they were expecting one for decades.  An insurance executive at the World Economic Forum warned that the last thirty years of over 12,000 disease outbreaks has been a series of near misses ignored by policy makers responsible for controlling such threats to global public health. These people should note that around 50% of modern drugs have been developed from natural products that are threatened by biodiversity loss.

Cupidity in a Time of Plague

It just gets worse.  The incredible blathering idiot at the VWH now wants to take credit for the disaster relief checks by forcing the Treasury to put his signature facsimile on the paper checks yet to be issued!  Of course that 'yuge' piece of narcissistic venality will take more time to accomplish.  Never mind that it was congressional Democrats who forced Moscow Mitch to give a few scraps to ordinary people while shoveling out heaps of money in corporate welfare.

Total Douche only does two things well as far as US Person can determine: deflect blame, and take credit for other people's efforts.  Thus, the Chinese and their accomplices, the WHO, are at fault for misleading the world about the corona virus. NOT!  It was Total Douche who ignored the several warnings from his own regime about a imminent pandemic.  Not enough testing to safely allow a return to work?  Experts who warn about the danger of doing this are secretively attempting to "undermine democracy". About 25% of those persons infected are asymptomatic. Here is another inescapable fact: the worst president in US history is mentally unstable and should be ignored at all costs, otherwise our democracy will be endangered by his irrational media act.

Wackydoodle sez: What, me worry?

USPS For Sale

With Total Douche living in the VWH at taxpayer expense, everything is political--from saving lives in a pandemic to funding the Post Office.   The venerable Post Office is short $75 billion and will have to shut down if it does not receiving a financing lifeline that Total Douche refused to offer. The service is going broke because it was forced by Congress to fully fund generous retirement benefits it owes to employees, and a dramatic downturn in demand volume for its two money-making services, first-class mail, and marketing (junk) mail. In its most recent quarterly statement, USPS reported a 2.3 percent increase in revenue from parcel delivery and increased revenue per package. The service director told Congress that the pandemic effect will cost $22 million more in net operating loss over the next 18 months.

Why doesn't Total Douche want to fund USPS?  There are two reasons, both political.  Conservatives have been trying to privatize the post office for years as part of their 'government cannot do anything business could do at a profit attitude', and perhaps more importantly, the post office will be responsible for delivering mail-in ballots cast in the next presidential election. Total Douche has already admitted that increased access to the ballot box by disenfranchised (mostly poor minority) voters would result in Repugnants "never being elected again".  The service has gone without federal funding since 2006, relying on generated revenue.  The perverse Trumpists had little problem providing $500 billion in relief to wealthy corporations without meaningful oversight of how the money will be spent, but would only allow a $10 billion loan to USPS.

Besides the self-serving objections to increased voter participation by mail, the USPS is an important part of the public health response to the current crisis. Many rural 'Mericans rely on the postal service to deliver their medications, food, and other necessities of life.  Making them pay more for this vital service is adding salt to their financial wounds*.  Tell Congress to ignore Total Douche and support the USPS in this crisis.

*The regime's predatory instincts were laid bare, again, by the Treasury Department's willingness to allow debt collectors to seize the $1200 relief checks being issued to citizens with direct deposit authorization. The Fiscal Service Bureau told bankers during a pod cast “there’s nothing in the [CARES] law that precludes” financial institutions from seizing a person’s payment and using it to pay off the individual’s private debts. The median gross weekly wage in Trumpistan is only $933.  Think about how you are going to stretch $1200 for ten weeks when you live paycheck to paycheck and sit in a miles long line for food.  Remember: Total Douche is making 'Merica great again; meanwhile, let them eat tweets!  Professor Noam Chomsky calls Total Douche, the "most successful con-man in American history, ever."  And that folks, is saying something!

COTW: What Science Knows About COVID-19

More: As predicted by US Person {07.04.20} Dr Fauci, who has appeared as the voice of reason on "Total" Douche's latest realty-TV program, Brief the Nation, is facing the axe for speaking truth to power. Total Douche spent the Easter weekend asking his deluded followers what to do about the Fauci, who he, "made a star".  His performance on the nation's stage would be laughable, if it was not killing people. (read the 'Red Dawn' email thread between leading health experts)  Dr. Fauci had the temerity to differ with his boss in public over the regime's reluctant, chaotic and disingenuous COVID-19 response.  It is notable that other western countries are getting their COVID-19 updates from medical experts, not a narcissistic politician feeding his narcissistic craving for attention,validation and re-election.

This excellent graphic from VisualCapitalist.com explains what science knows about how the novel SERS CoV-2 virus infects the lungs:

Respiratory difficulties are caused by the virus attacking the aveoli where oxygen exchange takes place in the lungs. If the infection worsens and the body's immune system becomes overwhelmed, aveoli fill with fluid and collapse. The body may go into septic shock, experience multi-organ failure and then death. It is interesting, even astonishing that a particle--it does not have a nucleus, only a bundle of RNA--smaller than a bacteria can wreak havoc with a person's body.  Because it is so small, it can be transmitted by water droplets--sneezing, coughing or just talking--over 13 feet!

Potter's Field: mass grave on Hart Island, New York

Congratulations, 'Merica you are #1!

'Toontime: 24/7 ME

credit: Dave Whamond

For a sociopathic narcissist such as the one occupying the Very White House, nothing is better than a pandemic crisis for increased media exposure--a built in nationwide platform to repeat your latest grievances, quack remedies*, conspiracy theories, psycho-drama, and nauseous self-aggrandizement.  At least MSNBC had the sense to cut away from his non-stop maunder to debunk the wonders of zinc against COVID-19! At this point in the regime the CMM is simply enabling the dysfunctional governance of a disordered chief executive.  Current US death rate from SARS-CoV-2: 3.6% (John Hopkins)

I alone can fix this....

* From the shur'nuff department comes this NYT report: "Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drug maker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine....The professional organization that published a positive French study cited by Mr. Trump’s allies changed its mind in recent days. The International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy said, “The article does not meet the society’s expected standard.” Some hospitals in Sweden stopped providing hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus after reports of adverse side effects, according to Swedish news media Dr. Voodoo's latest pitch: Zinc. The mineral was last touted as a cure for the common cold.  NOT!

What is, comes to US from Salon: the top corporate manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine, Novartis, spent about a year funneling $100,000 per month into “a reputed slush fund for Trump” managed by his personal lawyer Michael Cohen. That arrangement delivered $1 million worth of slush.  Another fan-boy of Trumpillini and co-f0under of Amneal Pharmaceuticals plays golf with the current occupant.  Bottom line: It's all about graft, all the time!  The supposed business empire he built that so impressed dollar addled 'Merican voters trained like Pavlovian dogs to salivate at the appearance of money was mostly over-hyped shlock that crumbled into bankruptcy in 1992. Almost everything he touched from the Plaza Hotel to Trump University lost money. Only the fact that the banks (Citibank at the front of the line) were into him for so much money--$3 billion of which $900 million was personally guaranteed--did he survive to prey on the public coffers. The banks could have easily called Trump’s loans and left him penniless, and therefore not a legit presidential contender, “but we all agreed that he’d be better alive than dead,” explained Alan Pomerantz, then head of the real estate department at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the law firm that represented Citibank. The only 'fake news' nowadays is Donald Trump.

COTW: Employment Is Victim of Corona Virus

Still think chaining your health care to a job is a good idea?  Take a look at this chart first:

The initial unemployment claim figure is over 16 million.  The St Louis Federal Reserve projects that 47 million more people may become unemployed by the end of June, with unemployment reaching 32%.  That is Great Depression level unemployment. Employer provided health care is also becoming a work benefit of the past. The reason is straight forward: it costs too much. Workers are left to fend for themselves in a market built on private insurance oligopolies--a system neither fair or efficient. Because the federal government has become the operating arm of the corporate state, it chooses to helicopter dump trillion$ into unaccountable corporate coffers rather than build a more equitable social safety net  This is no way to run a railroad, 'Merica.  Are you reading, Joe Gramps?  A single payer option should have been part of the Affordable Care Act, but your administration caved to the insurance lobby.  Better late than never; it will pave the way to a true socialized, universal health care system.

the beginning of the myth?

Praising Ceasar

Bernie probably sounded the death knell of his quest for the Room Without Corners when he bravely pronounced mild praise for the social accomplishments of the Castro regime.  Those are undeniable, {20.02.08} as are the human rights abuses committed by the Cuban revolution.  Cuban doctors and Cuba's socialized health care system are respected around the world.  Not only do they regularly assist developing nations with health care, but they engage in ground breaking research.  Here is one more example.

In September 2011 a Chinese news agency (notably not a western source because after all nothing good can come out of communist Cuba) reported that Cuban doctors had developed a vaccine for inoperable lung cancer, CIMAvax-EGF. This was the result of twenty-five years of research by Havana’s Center for Molecular Immunology. Castro had expressed interest in the Institute's earlier research into Interferon with a visit to the Institute [picture, left] Interferon turned out to be a dead end, but research went on.  The vaccine is now in use in Latin America and the Balkans. It does not prevent lung cancer.  It does control the spread of tumors to other parts of the body in late stage non-small cell lung carcinoma.  The vaccine is given to patients who have lung cancer for which other treatments are not effective.  Initial trials show that patients under 60 benefit most in terms of survival. Side effects are relatively mild. 

Like any vaccine, more widespread testing is needed to determine if it is safe and effective.  Trials are supposed to take place in the US, Japan and the European Union.  The FDA authorized a phase II clinical trial to take place in Buffalo, NY at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2016.  However the current ideologically based, economic embargo against Cuba is hindering that cooperation.  An immunologist at Roswell said of the Cuban doctors involved, “The wonderful thing about working with our Cuban colleagues is that they really believe, in their heart of hearts, that medical care is a human right.”  If that type of commitment to the common good is socialistic, US Person says bring it on!*

*On the subject of vaccines and vaccinations, the Colorado county of El Paso, which contains the city of Colorado Springs has more reactionary conservative voters than any other county in the state, and they have displayed more weirdness in anticipation of a vaccine for COVID-19. These rabid reactionaries passed two county platform resolutions against mandatory vaccination, condemning the policy in no uncertain terms twice. Possibly by strange coincident, the county also has the most deaths from COVID-19 in the state.  Colorado already has lax vaccination requirements allowing parents to exempt their children for religious or philosophical reasons.  It has the worst vaccination rate for measles in the nation

Continuing the Purge

Latest:  The latest casualty in Il Douche's war against government oversight of his criminally corrupt regime is the inspector general selected by a panel of inspector generals--in other words an independent civil servant--to oversee the distribution and use of $2 trillion in pandemic relief.  Glenn Fine was replaced on Monday by the inspector general of a captive agency, the EPA. The replacement apparently is expected to do both jobs, badly. DOD is a the government's largest agency both in terms of personnel and budget.  Fine's removal is the latest in a series of personnel decisions intended to squash any independence in the apparatus of federal government and replace it with slavish sycophants in thrall to the Cult of Trump. The Antichrist is also attacking the IG of Health and Human Services following her report about delays in testing and short supply issues. Criticism of his "fantastically incredible job performance is definitely not allowed by the Anointed One. Senator Schummer, the minority leader, ripped Douche's "corrupt action" and said he is trying to sideline "honest and independent public servants because they are willing to speak truth to power and because he is so clearly afraid of strong oversight."  What was your first clue, Senator?

{05.04.20}The Antichrist in Office continues his purge of civil servants who stood by their public duties over slavish adherence to the Cult of Trump.  Michael Atkinson, the former intelligence inspector general, was fired by Trumpillini on Friday in an attempt to avoid media coverage of the event.  Atkinson was the IG who forwarded the whistle blower complaint about the Ukraine affair to Congress, where it became the basis of an unsuccessful impeachment attempt.  In his statement concerning his dismissal, Atkinson said he was compelled by law to forward the complaint, which turned out to be a highly accurate description of Trumillini's attempted shakedown of the Ukrainian government for help smearing his Democratic rival in the election campaign.

As justification for the dismissal, Trumpillini said that he had "lost confidence" in Atkinson's abilities, and his handling of the complaint against him was "unfair". He told the press, "Not a big Trump fan, "that I can tell you." Both the Very White House and the Barr Department tried for days to prevent the complaint from reaching Congress as required by federal law.  Observers consider this latest purge of perceived 'enemies of Trump' endangers democracy at a time when 'Mericans are frightened out of their minds by the pandemic.

Who will be the next victim of the Antichrist's unrelenting vindictiveness? US Person nominates, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has the impertinence to speak truth to power about the pandemic.  During one of his propaganda broadcasts, the Antichrist restrained Dr. Fauci from answering repeated questions about hydroxchloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by the huckster-in-chief as a miracle cure for COVID-19. Dr. Fauci has repeatedly said in public that there is no firm evidence the drug is an effective treatment for COVID-19, and that it has serious side effects.  But Don Douche interrupted Dr. Fauci's response saying, “You don’t have to ask the question,” stepping in front of the podium, waving his hand in the air and using his immense girth as a physical barricade between Fauci and the reporter.

It is not obvious why he continues to insist that this anti-microbial drug would be effective against a novel virus infection, but some pundits argue that if he follows his cult-like modus operandi, he will use the medical warnings against its untested clinical use as an excuse for the worsening spread of the disease, which has been exacerbated by the regime's muddled and confused response to the crisis.  As a public voice of expert caution, Dr Fauci is in danger of becoming another scapegoat for Don Douche. “If it does work, it would be a shame we did not do it early,”  said Don about hydroxychloroquine during the press conference Sunday. Thwarted again by another 'deep state' conspiracy against him, his propaganda line will be.  Will Fauci join the league of truth-tellers whose members include James Comey, Robert Mueller, Col. Vindmin, Ambassador Yovanovitch, and Michael Atkinson?   The emperor not only has no clothes, but he has also lost his mind.

Corova Virus: A Biological Perspective

It may be helpful to put the current pandemic into the broader context of ecology and history.  SARS CoV-2 is not as deadly as the Bubonic plague that killed sixty percent of the population of Europe in the fourteenth century, nor is it as lethal as the swine flu pandemic of 1918-20 that killed 50 million worldwide.  Ebola killed more than 11,000 in West Africa in 2016.  All of these infectious diseases however, pale in comparison to the fungal infection known as Bd after Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungus that kills amphibians by eating their sensitive skin and causing fatal heart attacks.

baby limosa harlequin frog, Daily Mail

The latest estimate by researchers published in Science is that the cytrid fungus, identified twenty years ago, is responsible for the decline of a shocking 501 amphibian species and is presumably responsible for the extinction of 90 species.  Another 124 have declined more than 90% and probably will not recover.  Lead researcher Ben Steele of Australia National University, told the Atlantic, “It rewrote our understanding of what disease could do to wildlife.”

When one considers that amphibians are a major class on the tree of life that have been in existence for some 370 million years the scale of destruction wrought by one organism in five decades is mind bending.  Amphibian experts are rightfully "freaking out" about the lost of so many species, so quickly.  The mysterious disappearance of frogs from the rain forests of the Americas and Australia in the '70s was noted by wildlife experts, but the cause was debated.  By the time the fungus was isolated in 1998, it had killed 60 amphibious species.  Epidemiologists at Imperial University (sound familiar?) conducted a genetic study that suggested the fungus originated in Asia and quickly spread to five continents.

adult harlequin, Daily Mail

Bd is the perfect frog killer, undiscriminating, persistent and able to convert nutrients found on amphibian skins, it spreads through the water.  There is another factor in the ability of the fungus to kill so many species around the world: the increasing interconnections artificially created by man's global transportation network.  Steele compares it to a recreation of Pangaea, the super continent existing in the Paleozoic Era.  A result of this condition is that fungal infections that might have stopped at the shoreline are showing up across the oceans, infecting a range of fauna from bats, snakes, salamanders and others. Included in this artificial transmission is the largely illegal wildlife trade in which foreign organisms are introduced to a defenseless ecosystem for the sake of profit. Besides the obvious ecological impact of too many rabbits or pythons, the pathogens they carry do the most damage to biodiversity.

There is a glimmer of hope for amphibians.  Some decimated populations are increasing and the rate of decline for sixty species appears to be easing.  So far Papua New Guinea, rich in amphibious species has escaped the fungal plague. Perhaps frog evolution has found a way to combat Bd. Nature may have to provide an effective defense because there is no easy way for man to combat the disease. There are captive breeding programs, research on hybridization, and genetic manipulation of the fungus itself.  None of these strategies are close to being deployed in Nature, and there are always unintended consequences to artificial solutions.  What the Bd scourge tells man, is there is no escape from natural processes that tend to restore ecological balance, no matter how successful the species.

Bronx Zoo Tigers Infected

More:In the middle of a pandemic and two weeks into a quarantine order, Wisconsin will go ahead with its primary.
Update: Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved on Monday evening to intensive care where a ventilator is available.  The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is now in charge of the British government at his request.  In early March Johnson visited a hospital were COVID-19 patients were treated. He boasted that he shook hands with everybody and would continue to do so.  Johnson attempted to take a Trumpian attitude to the disease spread, and was criticized for his initial slow response to the outbreak in the UK. COVID-19 deaths in the US now exceed ten thousand and are still climbing.  New York Mayor Cuomo has doubled the fine for violating social distancing rules to $1000. He told the press,  “This is an enemy that we have underestimated from Day 1, and we have paid the price dearly.”  Wisconsin finally postponed its primary set for Tuesday until June 9th.  The edict has been challenged in the Wisconsin Supreme Court by the Repugnant controlled legislature.  The court also has a conservative majority.

{5/4/2020}The SERS CoV-2 virus is proving its surprising resilience. It has made another species jump to tigers housed at the Bronx Zoo.  "Nadia", a four year old Malaysian [photo], her sister "Azul", two other Amur tigers, and three African lions are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19; they were probably infected by an asymptomatic keeper.   Nadia and the others are under the care of veterinarians; they are reported to be doing well, interacting with their custodians, and are expected to make a full recovery. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the zoo, says it is unknown how the virus will affect Panthera, since each species' response to a novel respiratory infection is different.   The USDA said Nadia first began experiencing symptoms such as persistent cough on March 27th. The infection is the first confirmed transmission to another species in the United States. Pets may be at risk of infection; the agency advises people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to restrict their interaction with pets out of an abundance of caution. The CDC does not have evidence that animals can spread the virus to humans at this time.  The Bronx Zoo, along with the New York Aquarium and four other city zoos are closed to the public, but staff are at work caring for their wards.

In other plague news: Boris Johnson, the British prime minister who has been self-isolated for the past ten days with a COVID-19 infection, was admitted to hospital Sunday.  A spokesperson said the admission was on the advice of his doctor for tests. However, there have been persistent rumors that his condition has not improved since contracting the infection. Item: New Orleans' death rate is twice New York City's. Question of the moment: Does Don Douche, or any of his family, own stock in a company that manufactures or distributes hydroxycloroquinine?

Its trade name is: Plaquenil.  The anti-malarial drug was developed in the 40's as a less toxic alternative to cloroquinine, and will undergo a trial in New York to determine its safety and effectiveness against COVID-19.  Health officials have repeated warnings that the drug has serious side effects and should not be self-administered despite Don Douche unqualified, reckless advice, "What do you have to loose? take it". Three people in Nigeria overdosed on the drug last month. Quinine drugs can cause heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure, and eye, muscle or nerve damage. There have been some unverified reports that the drug confers relief to patients with COVID-19.  Item: COVID-19 deaths in US, 8,500.