vdare--2020-03-20--The Naming Of Plagues, Made In China, And Geezers on Gurney, Etc.

01m39s End of the Playboy era .
( Home of the centerfold folds . )
09m49s Justice for Justinian !
@ @ @ @ @ . )
29m37s Geezers on gurneys .
( Our leaders do their best . )
@ @ @ @ @ in China .
( Who knew ? )
37m45s More visas for Chinese .
( @ @ @ @ @ ! )
39m34s Where 's your Bible printed ?
( It 's not just pharmaceuticals @ @ @ @ @ front in the War on Hate .
( But so much still to do !
@

01m39s End of the Playboy era. (Home of the centerfold folds.)
05m23s Europeans: Invade us, please! (EU cuts a sneaky deal; lefties indignant.)
09m49s Justice for Justinian! (The naming of plagues.)
18m15s Putting healthcare to the test. (Monkey, football.)
23m29s The evidence fiasco. (Lotsa contrarians.)
29m37s Geezers on gurneys. (Our leaders do their best.)
36m07s Our pharmaceuticals are made in China. (Who knew?)
37m45s More visas for Chinese. (It's who we are!)
39m34s Where's your Bible printed? (It's not just pharmaceuticals.)
40m37s A new front in the War on Hate. (But so much still to do!)
41m41s Slothgate. (News from New Jersey.)
43m17s Signoff. (Happy birthday, Dame Vera!)
01—Intro. And Radio Derb is on the air! Greetings, listeners, from your stoically genial host John Derbyshire.
Apologies for the absence of a podcast last week, and heartfelt thanks to listeners who emailed in with expressions of concern. No: To the best of my understanding I do not have the China virus—no fever, no difficulty breathing—but I have been afflicted with an exceptionally nasty upper respiratory infection, whether influenza or a cold I don't know.
These are the minor trials of life. We must put up with them as best we can, always in awareness of others with far heavier burdens to bear, and soldier on. Ill health is far less common today than it was even just a few decades ago, thanks to the advances of modern medicine. Let's be grateful we live when we do.
So, to the news. First up: the end of an era in our literary culture.
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02—End of the Playboy era. One casualty of the coronavirus disruption has been Playboy magazine. Or perhaps not really: The CEO of Playboy enterprises tells us they have been trembling on the edge of stopping print publication for a while; coronavirus just pushed them over the edge.
Yes, yes, I do understand that for any American much below the age of sixty Playboy is a historical artefact, if not an archeological one. Founded in 1953 by, of course, the late Hugh Hefner, Playboy peaked in the sixties, was still occasionally worth a glance in the seventies, then faded from the cultural furniture of anyone not incurably nostalgic. The print edition went from being a monthly to a quarterly last year; it will survive now in some digital format.
I only actually bought one issue of Playboy in my entire life, in honor of Hugh Hefner's 80th birthday in 2006. I got a good long column for National Review out of that, which I am still quite pleased with. Longish quote from that column:
Stasis … is the main characteristic of Playboy, as of its founder's own lifestyle. The whole thing is frozen in time, like some image of the Garden of Eden. The main impulse to my buying the May 2006 Playboy was indirect: not to peruse the ads for ideas about how to spend my pitiful quantity of disposable income, nor to read the interview with Ozzie Guillen (of whom I had never heard), nor even to cast a lustful eye on the naked girls (honestly!) I was mainly just curious as to where the thing had gone to since the last time I looked into it—which was, I think, around 1977. And the short answer is: nowhere. I suppose there have been tremendous advances in printing technology since 1977, and three or four revolutions in magazine layout, ad design, and so on. Content-wise, though, Playboy is one of those curious, and oddly reassuring, instances of stasis in human affairs, like Pez dispensers, the standard big-house opera repertory, or Fidel Castro's speeches.
End quote.
Now the print magazine has followed its creator to the grave (Hefner died in 2017). I am older than I once was, and the world has changed in ways some of which I don't like. So the wheel turns. Goodbye, Playboy.
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03—Europeans: Invade us, please! Civilizationally consequential at a much higher level has been the fighting along Greece's border with Turkey and the related floods of Muslim and black African invaders across the Ionian Sea to what were once quiet, pretty Greek islands and have now been transformed by the invaders into bedlams of filth, crime, disease, and violence.
Now, as the weather starts to warm, we are starting to see a replay of 2015, with boats full of invaders setting out from Libya in hopes of making it to Europe.
I just got through reading a very strange news story about this. The story appeared in the far-left London Guardian newspaper, March 12th. Headline: Revealed: the great European refugee scandal.
The scandal in that headline concerns Operation Sophia, a project of the EU, the European Union. Sophia was a joint sea-and-air patrol system covering the south-central Mediterranean. It was set up during the great crisis of 2015. Remember those aerial pictures of boats crammed with invaders? Right.
Now, quote from the Guardian story:
After participating in thousands of rescues in its first four years, Sophia withdrew its sea vessels from March 2019, leaving only aircraft in the rescue zone. It came to be known as the naval mission without any ships.
End quote.
So what do the aircraft do? They spot boats full of invaders, alert the Libyan coastguard, and direct them to the boats to be towed back to Libya. It's plain from the Guardian story that the EU, and perhaps Italy separately, have cut some kind of quiet deal with Libya to make sure the invaders don't get across to Europe.
That is the "scandal" in the Guardian writers' headline. They are in a state of high indignation about it. The deal, they sputter, violates international laws on so-called "asylum seekers" and so-called "refugees." It probably does: Those laws all favor the rights of the invaders over Europeans who cherish their national sovereignty.
There is the strangeness, as it appears to me. Millions of people—potentially tens, eventually hundreds of millions of people—most of them tough-looking young men, from dysfunctional poop-hole countries in black Africa and the Muslim world, are desperate to gate-crash Europe.
And here are earnest, literate Europeans keen to help them and indignant at an effort to stop them; and here is a respectable broadsheet newspaper glad to give over its pages to letting those Europeans vent their indignation at 3,000-word length.
This could be an interesting summer in the Mediterranean.
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04—Justice for Justinian! Yeah, yeah, I've just been screwin' with you here. I know you're all on tenterhooks waiting to hear what Radio Derb, the civilized world's most authoritative source of news and opinion, has to say about the current flu pandemic.
What I have actually been doing there is practicing the oldest trick in the narrative writer's book. The Victorian author Charles Reade—of whom George Orwell was a great fan—Charles Reade was once asked what was the trick of writing a successful novel. Replied Reade: "Make 'em laugh; make 'em cry; make 'em wait." But I shouldn't be giving away trade secrets here.
So, the virus. There's no avoiding the durn thing, although after two weeks of frenzied reporting, it's hard for the poor commentator to come up with anything original to say.
I shall begin by nailing down some nomenclature. What do we call the thing?
That's been exciting some public controversy all by itself. Wednesday our President was tackled by a distraught snowflake reporterette at his news conference.
[Clip:
Snowflake: "Why do you keep calling this "the Chinese virus"? There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese-Americans in this country. Your own aide, Secretary Azar, says he does not use this term. He says ethnicity does not cause the virus. Why do you keep using this? A lot of people say it's racist."
President: "Because it comes from China. It's not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that's why. It comes from China."]
Hard to argue with that; hard, but not impossible. You could argue, for example, that while indeed the virus originated in China, its becoming a world-wide concern has been due mainly to the reflexive lying and thuggery of China's rulers, the Chinese Communist Party. So it would be a bit fairer to the great mass of Chinese people, who don't want the filthy thing any more than you or I do, it would be fairer to call it "the ChiCom virus."
In fact, since the communists still revere the guy whose portrait looks down across Tiananmen Square, and hold him up to their people as a paragon of wisdom and patriotism, we could be even snappier and just call the virus "Mao." The objection to that would be, that the virus is unlikely to kill as many people as Mao did—estimates start at forty-five million—so that to call the virus "Mao" would be unfair to the virus.
People are arguing, though. There is a considerable movement afoot, led by the World Health Organization, to stop naming diseases and pathogens after places, and to re-name those that have customarily been so named. The guardians of our culture are hard at work on this. Neocon Never Trumper David Frum will rap you across the knuckles with a ruler if you refer to the 1918-19 pandemic as "the Spanish Flu."
This is petty, low-grade stuff—evidence that the horrid plague of Political Correctness has done far more damage to our minds than this current virus will to our lungs. We've been naming diseases after the places we thought they came from forever: German measles, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, … Hel-lo?
Sean Hannity pointed out the other evening that Ebola virus is named after a river in West Africa. Thanks, Sean: Now will you please stop saying "Wuhan Province"? Wuhan is not a province. Saying "Wuhan Province" is not politically incorrect; it's actually, factually incorrect. Don't you have people to look this stuff up for you?
Back in the 19th century bronchitis was known on the European continent as "the English disease." England is cold and damp, and was the first country to get an industrial revolution, with all the air pollution that brought. Not hard to figure. Or possibly, in the case of France at any rate, it was revenge for English people having named syphilis "the French pox," a usage that started up in the 16th century.
It's been going on for ever, and whining about it is silly. The Babylon Bee caught the absurdity of it all with their suggestion that we start referring to the Black Death as the Death of Color. They didn't offer an alternative for Yellow Fever, and perhaps that's just as well.
And speaking of plagues in times long past, why don't the Thought Police get to work renaming the Plague of Justinian back in the sixth century? That one was as bad as the Black Death, possibly worse. It wasn't the Emperor Justinian's fault, though. He seems to have been a pretty good egg. In fact he was struck by the plague himself, but recovered. Why is this excellent ruler mainly remembered for having his name attached to a horrid pandemic? It is so unfair! Where are the snowflakes?
OK, OK, so what are we going to call it? The specialists of course have their own precise jargon. The virus causing all the trouble is named SARS-CoV-2, one of a family of related critters known as coronaviruses, with six or seven other members in the family. The condition it causes in those afflicted is named COVID-19.
I don't see much sign that "COVID-19" is catching on in ordinary talk, much less "SARS-CoV-2." People mainly seem to just say "coronavirus." That's a bit loose, as the villain here is just one member of the coronavirus family, but it's what people say, so I'll say it too.
Nomenclature out of the way, how are we doing with this coronavirus outbreak?
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05—Putting healthcare to the test. The answer to that last question is, it's hard to tell. The reason it's hard to tell is, we're working with a poor and debatable quality of data, from which all kinds of contradictory things can be deduced.
There don't seem to be any international standards for data reporting, either. Germany's reporting a mortality rate of 0.3 percent. Italy's reporting 7.9 percent. Wha?
So I open my Friday New York Post and it tells me there are 5,645 cases of coronavirus in New York State. My state has a population of 19½ million, so that would be point zero two eight percent and change—something like one in thirty-five hundred. That doesn't seem too bad at all … except that the number is meaningless without context.
Hoo-kay: 5,645 people were tested and found positive. Out of how many tested altogether? If all 19½ million of us were to be tested, what would the number be then? And what, by the way, is the rate of false positives?
The whole area of testing for the virus is an embarrassment. The CDC and the FDA, given the task of creating and distributing tests, went at it with all the efficiency and finesse of the proverbial monkey trying to get intimate with a football. South Korea tests ten to twenty thousand people a day; the U.S.A. tests two thousand on a good day.
The testing fiasco has generated a small genre of op-ed columns by people describing their efforts to get tested, usually without success. Journalist Tim Herrera had a good one in the New York Times Wednesday. Herrera was one of the lucky ones, being in New York City with half a dozen first-rank hospitals nearby. Still it took him hours working the phone, getting bounced from one healthcare drone to another.
The previous Wednesday Herrera had woken with symptoms—cough, fever. He called his doctor's office. They gave him the number of a clinic doing tests. He called the clinic. No, they weren't doing tests. Could they refer him to someone that was? No, they couldn't.
He called New York City hospital system and was put on hold. Meanwhile his girlfriend called the CDC. They got back first, took his details, and said someone would call to check later. Nobody ever did. Then the hospital system called back. They took his details all over again, told him to quarantine for two weeks, and hung up … but later they called back with a test date for the next day.
Herrera got his test at last; but the results were posted online, which they shouldn't have been, and late.
Recognize our healthcare system? It sure sounds familiar to me. In my February Diary I narrated the time-wasting fandango I had to go through just to get the right co-pay on a routine medication.
This is where I pose my usual challenge to listeners: Name one country anywhere in the world, under any system of government, that has a lobby of any size agitating for an American-style healthcare system.
We'll get a handle on the thing eventually, I'm sure. Winston Churchill said that America always does the right thing at last, after trying everything else first. We're still on the trying-everything-else phase yet.
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06—The evidence fiasco. We all quickly got used to the jargon. "Social distancing" was the order of the day. We had to "flatten the curve." That's the curve you get if you plot number of infections day by day. Do nothing and that curve soars upwards, overwhelming your medical facilities. By social distancing—minimizing our contacts with other people—we get a much gentler upward curve, allowing medical facilities time to catch up.
That's what we've settled on: social distancing to flatten the curve. Was it inevitable that we should? Might we have taken some other course of action?
Certainly we might. One of the interesting features of public conversation this past couple of weeks has been the healthy skepticism expressed by many commentators. We reproduced an example here at the VDARE.com website: Heather Mac Donald's March 13th piece at the New Criterion. Sample quote. Here Heather is scoffing at the fuss about rates of infection being exponential. Quote:
Even if my odds of dying from coronavirus should suddenly jump ten-thousand-fold, from the current rate of .000012 percent across the U.S. population all the way up to .12 percent, I'd happily take those odds over the destruction being wrought on the U.S. and global economy from this unbridled panic.
In the same spirit, also on March 13th, was Dennis Saffran at the American Greatness website. In a good thoughtful piece about the public appetite for risk and the quality of our scientific leadership, Dennis retails a quote from New York State Senator Vincent Graber, in a debate on related issues, quote:
We could really reduce the death rate if we lowered the speed limit to 21 and raised the drinking age to 55.
End quote.
It hasn't been just journalists, either. Constitutional Law Professor Richard Epstein did a good quantitative analysis of the data, such as it is, on March 16th at the Hoover Institution website. Sample quote:
Even though self-help measures like avoiding crowded spaces make abundant sense, the massive public controls do not. In light of the available raw data, public officials have gone overboard.
End quote.
What's that you say? None of these people are credentialed epidemiologists? OK, here was John Ioannidis, professor of medicine, of epidemiology and population health, of biomedical data science, and of statistics at Stanford University, posting at the medical website statnews.com, March 17th. Sample quote, edited:
The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable … Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population.
This evidence fiasco creates tremendous uncertainty about the risk of dying from Covid-19. Reported case fatality rates, like the official 3.4 percent rate from the World Health Organization, cause horror—and are meaningless.
End quote.
Professor Ioannidis' piece got a polite, collegial rebuttal from Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard—I quoted some previous comments of his in my February 28th podcast. Prof. Lipsitch, responding to Prof. Ioannidis on March 18th, sample quote.
There are two options for Covid-19 at the moment: long-term social distancing or overwhelmed health care systems.
End quote.
So … we have a leaky, dubious mass of data and a wide range of opinions from thoughtful analysts, including specialists. What are we supposed to do with that?
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07—Geezers on gurneys. What you and I do with it is of course up to us as individual citizens. I'm very lucky here. I live in a spacious outer suburb of New York with my wife and son, never have to get close to anyone else at all. My wife works from home three days a week, and that's just been extended to four. My son's a college student; but classes are suspended. He fills his time quite happily working out at the home gym, playing computer games, and chatting on the phone with friends.
So the Derbs are well-nigh self-quarantining. I wash my hands a lot and avoid touching my mucous membranes. For trips to the drugstore I wear a mask—I bought a big supply back when the whole thing started. I eat sensibly and exercise: Basil gets a 45-minute walk every day, on the vague superstition that viruses don't like fresh air. We pass other dog-walkers at ten feet distance, waving in a neighborly way.
I've cut back on consumption of ardent spirits in accordance with Kipling's advice to the young British soldier:
[Recites] When the cholera comes—as it will past a doubt —
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier …
[Bursts into song]
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier,
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier,
So-oldier OF the Queen!
Sorry, I always get carried away with Kipling.
As I said, I'm lucky, well-situated to ride the thing out. Other people seem to be coping sensibly in the face of massive dislocation and inconvenience—worst of course in the cases of people laid off from their jobs. This category may include our own daughter; we're waiting to hear.
So there's the answer to what we citizens are doing with that leaky, dubious mass of data and that wide range of opinions from thoughtful analysts. What are our politicians, legislators, and administrators doing with it?
What they're doing is, following the social distancing / flattening the curve paradigm. It looked for a while as though the British government might take a different tack, just letting the virus burn through the population fast, creating a big mass of people gifted with immunity by having had a mild case. Then, March 16th, a report by a panel of experts came out modeling the consequences of that nine ways to Sunday. The consequences were all terrible. The Brits turned on a dime and are now social distancing and flattening the curve with the rest of us.
The degree of social distancing we're doing is pretty dramatic, with any kind of big gathering now shut down. The economic consequences will be dire. That was the choice our leaders faced, though: Drive the economy off a cliff, or … what?
My answer to that "what?" is: geezers on gurneys. The best advice our leaders could get was: Either do a full-court press on social distancing, or face scenes of hospital parking lots filled with hundreds of geezers on gurneys, coughing their lives away because we don't have the staff or equipment to deal with them.
Given the likelihood of that appalling spectacle, on the best advice they could get, you can't blame our leaders for what they are doing. Will it prove in the end to have been unnecessary? Shall we have crashed the economy for nothing? Possibly; the underlying data here is, as I've said, iffy.
Among all the unknowns here, the scariest, it seems to me, are long-term. What happens in the Fall?
If we can get a handle on things these few weeks, then the warmer weather causes the virus to quiesce, with maybe just a mild resurgence in the Fall, we'll be able to ride out the economic consequences and get the economy back on track in a year or two, as we did twelve years ago. On the other hand, if the virus comes roaring back in the Fall, perhaps in some variant form, then it'll be: Katy bar the door.
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08—Miscellany. And now, our closing miscellany of brief items.
Imprimis: It's amazing how we trundle along from year to year in blithe ignorance of important things. Tucker Carlson's been drumming in the fact that 97 percent of our pharmaceuticals are made in China. Did you know that? I didn't, and I flatter myself I'm a decently well-informed person.
Thursday night this week Tucker had as a guest on his show one Rosemary Gibson, author of a book titled China RX: Exposing the Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine. Ms Gibson's book came out in April 2018, two years ago. I'm ashamed to say I never heard of it until Thursday night.
How many other unwelcome little facts are lurking away there in the woodwork, waiting for some accidental coronavirus moment to bring them to the fore?
There's always a silver lining. The silver lining to this current crisis is, that we're going to be thinking a whole lot harder about globalization, and being a whole lot less carefree about what critical industries we export.
[Permalink]
Item: Or are we? Perhaps we're too far gone in multicultural stupidity.
It's been an oft-repeated remark here on Radio Derb that:
The most amazing, astounding, astonishing statistic of the 21st century is that the annual rate of Muslim immigration into the U.S.A. increased after 9/11.
We may soon have a companion fact to set alongside that one, a fact just as amazing, astounding, and astonishing. Politico reports this week that the Trump administration is planning a massive expansion of the EB-5 investor-visa program, half of whose recipients come from communist China. The EB-5 visa program, as well as being addled with fraud, increases Chinese influence here and jacks up property prices.
The moving spirit here seems to be First Son-in-Law Jared Kushner, although of course plenty of congressroaches will be on board once they hear that clink of donor cash. Senator Lindsey Graham's already got his fat fingers all over it.
I guess the maxim "Never let a crisis go to waste" works just as well for globalist nation-wreckers as for our domestic radicals.
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Item: It's not just pharmaceuticals. A week or two ago, just after I'd first heard Tucker Carlson put forward that statistic about 97 percent of our pharmaceuticals being made in China, I happened to be in church listening to a sermon. My attention wandered, as it often does in long sermons, and I flipped idly through the Bible on my lap.
It was a standard newish Bible belonging to the church, which is a Baptist confession. There in the front matter, along with date of publication and so on, I spotted the words Printed in China.
So it's not just our medicines we're getting from China, it's our spiritual nourishment too. Good grief!
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Item: A new front has opened in the War against Hate. The British government's Home Office—roughly equivalent to our Justice Department—has declared that calling someone ugly is a hate crime.
This is a welcome step forward in the elimination of hate from Western society. We have a way to go yet, though. It is still lawful for a Briton to describe someone as boring, annoying, stupid, or mean.
When, oh when, shall hate in all its manifestations be outlawed at last? How long, O Lord, how long?
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Item: And then: Slothgate.
The arena here is a mall in New Jersey named Woodbridge Center. The mall includes a combination petting zoo and aquarium that has been much criticized by animal-rights activists. Their latest beef—"beef"? … whatever—their latest issue is that a sloth named Flash was brought into the petting zoo in December in poor shape, and quickly died. Flash was, the activists claim, secretly replaced by a lookalike sloth and given the same name.
That's what's happening in New Jersey. Slothgate.
The money quote here is from activist Whitney Malin, who has started an online petition to shut down the petting zoo. Quote from him:
Animals do not belong in a mall.
End quote.
You think I'm going to comment on that? I'm not. Absolutely not. No way, never.
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09—Signoff. That's it. ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening; and should you happen to catch the coronavirus, may it be only a mild case, as the majority of them are.
Today, March 20th, is the birthday of Dame Vera Lynn, the Forces' Sweetheart of WW2. The lady is 103 years old, bless her stout English heart. It's been a Radio Derb tradition, at least since her hundredth birthday three years ago, to play out the show with one of her songs. Here's a favorite from my childhood: "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles." May you be blowing bubbles for many more years yet, Ma'am!
There will be more from Radio Derb next week.
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[Music clip: Dame Vera Lynn, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."]


vdare--2020-03-20--John Derbyshire Is Still A Coronavirus Agnostic, But He’s Wearing A Mask

[ Adapted from the latest Radio Derb , now available exclusively on VDARE.com . ]
I know you 're all on tenterhooks waiting to hear what Radio Derb , the civilized world 's most authoritative source of news and opinion , has to say…about what we should call the current flu pandemic !
Wednesday our President squashed a distraught snowflake reporterette at his news conference : Snowflake : `` Why do you keep calling this `` the Chinese virus '' ?
There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese-Americans in this country .
Your own aide , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use this term .
He says ethnicity does not cause the virus .
Why do you keep using this ?
A lot of people say it 's racist . ''
President : `` Because it comes from China .
It 's not racist at all , no , not at all .
It comes from China , that 's why .
It comes from China . ''
But while indeed the virus originated in China , it ’ s become a world-wide concern due mainly to the reflexive lying and thuggery the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bit fairer to the great mass of Chinese people , who do n't want the filthy thing any more than you or I , to call it `` the ChiCom virus . ''
In fact , since the Communists still revere the guy whose portrait looks down across Tiananmen Square , we could be even snappier and just call the virus `` Mao Flu '' But as the virus is unlikely to kill as many people as Mao did—estimates start at forty-five million—that would be unfair to the virus .
People are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a considerable movement afoot , led by the World Health Organization , to stop naming diseases and pathogens after places , and to re-name those that have customarily been so named .
The guardians of our culture are hard at work on this .
Neocon Never Trumper David Frum will rap you across the knuckles with a ruler if you refer to the 1918-19 pandemic as `` the Spanish Flu '' even though , as his Twitter followers documented devastatingly , he ’ s done so himself : This is petty , low-grade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Correctness has done far more damage to our minds than this current virus will to our lungs .
The Babylon Bee caught the absurdity of it all with their suggestion that we start referring to the Black Death as the Death of Color .
They did n't offer an alternative for Yellow Fever , and perhaps that 's just as well .
OK , OK , so what are we going to call it ?
The virus causing all the trouble is named SARS-CoV-2 .
The condition it causes in those afflicted is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see much sign that `` COVID-19 '' is catching on in ordinary talk .
People mainly seem to just say `` coronavirus . ''
That 's a bit loose , as the villain here is just one member of the coronavirus family .
So what happens next ?
I ’ m still agnostic .
The reason it 's hard to tell : we 're working with a poor and debatable quality of data , from which all kinds of contradictory things can be deduced .
There do n't seem to be any international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Germany 's reporting a mortality rate of 0.3 percent .
Italy 's reporting 7.9 percent .
Wha ?
So I open my Friday New York Post and it tells me there are 5,645 cases of coronavirus in New York State .
CITE My state has a population of 19½ million , so that would be point zero two eight percent and change—something like one in thirty-five hundred .
That does n't seem too bad at all…except that the number is meaningless without context .
Hoo-kay : 5,645 people were tested and found positive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ altogether ?
If all 19½ million of us were to be tested , what would the number be then ?
And what , by the way , is the rate of false positives ?
The whole area of testing for the virus is an embarrassment .
The CDC and the FDA , given the task of creating and distributing tests , went at it with all the of the proverbial monkey trying to get intimate with a football .
[ Coronavirus : US is failing on testing , says Fauci , BBC , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tests ten to twenty thousand people a day ; the U.S.A. tests two thousand on a good day .
[ U.S. Lags in Coronavirus Testing After Slow Response to Outbreak , by Larry Buchanan , K.K .
Rebecca Lai and Allison McCann , NYT , March 17 , 2020 ] The testing fiasco has generated a small genre of op-ed columns by people describing their efforts to get tested , usually without success .
Journalist Tim Herrera had a good one in the New York Times Wednesday : My Coronavirus Test : 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Confusion [ March 18 , 2020 ] .Herrera was one of the lucky ones , being in New York City with half a dozen first-rank hospitals nearby .
Still it took him hours working the phone , getting bounced from one healthcare drone to another .
The previous Wednesday Herrera had woken with symptoms—cough , fever .
He called his doctor 's office .
They gave him the number of a clinic doing tests .
He called the clinic .
No , they were n't doing tests .
Could they refer him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they could n't .
He called New York City hospital system and was put on hold .
Meanwhile his girlfriend called the CDC .
They got back first , took his details , and said someone would call to check later .
Nobody ever did .
Then the hospital system called back .
They took his details all over again , told him to quarantine for two weeks , and hung up…but later they called back with a test date for the next day .
Herrera got his test at last ; but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they should n't have been , and late .
( They were positive , but he seems to be recovering ) .
Recognize our healthcare system ?
It sure sounds familiar to me .
In my February Diary I narrated the time-wasting fandango I had to go through just to get the right co-pay on a routine medication .
We all quickly got used to the jargon .
`` Social distancing '' was the order of the day .
We had to `` flatten the curve . ''
That 's the curve you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day by day .
Do nothing and that curve soars upwards , overwhelming your medical facilities .
By social distancing—minimizing our contacts with other people—we get a much gentler upward curve , allowing medical facilities time to catch up .
That 's what we 've settled on : social distancing to flatten the curve .
Was it inevitable that we should ?
Might we have taken some other course of action ?
Certainly we might .
One of the interesting features of public conversation this past couple of weeks has been the healthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported an example : Heather Mac Donald 's March 13th piece at the New Criterion , .
Here Heather is scoffing at the fuss about rates of infection being exponential .
In the same spirit , in about the public appetite for risk and the quality of our scientific leadership , Dennis Saffran retails a quote from New York State Senator Vincent Graber , in a debate on related issues : It has n't been just journalists , either .
Constitutional Law Professor Richard Epstein did a good quantitative analysis of the data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ March 16th at the Hoover Institution website .
: What 's that you say ?
None of these people are credentialed epidemiologists ?
OK , here ’ s John Ioannidis , professor of medicine , of epidemiology and population health , of biomedical data science , and of statistics at Stanford University : Professor Ioannidis ' piece got a polite , collegial rebuttal from Marc Lipsitch , professor of epidemiology at Harvard—I quoted some previous comments of his in my February 28th podcast .
Prof. Lipsitch , responding to Prof. Ioannidis So…we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a wide range of opinions from thoughtful analysts , including specialists .
What are we supposed to do with that ?
What you and I do with it is of course up to us as individual citizens .
I 'm very lucky here .
I live in a spacious outer suburb of New York with my wife and son , never have to get close to anyone else at all .
My wife works from home three days a week , and that 's just been extended to four .
My son @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are suspended .
He fills his time quite happily working out at the home gym , playing computer games , and chatting on the phone with friends .
So the Derbs are well-nigh self-quarantining .
I wash my hands a lot and avoid touching my mucous membranes .
For trips to the drugstore I wear a mask—I bought a big supply back when the whole thing started .
I eat sensibly and exercise : Basil gets a 45-minute walk every day , on the vague superstition that viruses do n't like fresh air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet distance , waving in a neighborly way .
I 've cut back on consumption of ardent spirits in accordance with Kipling 's advice to the young British soldier : When the cholera comes—as it will past a doubt — Keep out of the wet and do n't go on the shout , For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out , An ' it crumples the young British soldier .
Crum- , crum- , crumples the soldier … [ Bursts into song ] Crum- , crum- , crumples the soldier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soldier , So-oldier OF the Queen !
Sorry , I always get carried away with Kipling .
Other people seem to be coping sensibly in the face of massive dislocation and inconvenience—worst of course in the cases of those laid off from their jobs .
This category may include our own daughter ; we 're waiting to hear .
But what are our politicians , legislators , and administrators doing with it ?
They ’ re following the social distancing / flattening the curve paradigm .
It looked for a while as though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tack , just letting the virus burn through the population fast , creating a big mass of people gifted with immunity by having had a mild case .
Then a report by a panel of experts came out modeling the consequences of that nine ways to Sunday .
[ Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions ( NPIs ) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand , Imperial College , March 16 , 2020 ] The consequences were all terrible .
The Brits turned on a dime and are now social distancing and flattening the curve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was the choice our leaders faced : Drive the economy off a cliff , or…geezers on gurneys .
The best advice our leaders could get was : Either do a full-court press on social distancing , or face scenes of hospital parking lots filled with hundreds of geezers on gurneys , coughing their lives away because we do n't have the staff or equipment to deal with them .
Given the likelihood of that appalling spectacle , you ca n't blame our leaders for what they are doing .
Will it prove in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shall we have crashed the economy for nothing ?
Possibly .
The underlying data here is , as I 've said , iffy .
Among all the unknowns here , the scariest , it seems to me , are long-term .
What happens in the Fall ?
If we can get a handle on things these few weeks , then the warmer weather causes the virus to quiesce , with maybe just a mild resurgence in the Fall , we 'll be able to ride out the economic consequences and get the economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two , as we did after the 2008 Crash .
On the other hand , if the virus comes roaring back in the Fall , perhaps in some variant form , then it 'll be : Katy bar the door .
email him ] writes an incredible amount on all sorts of subjects for all kinds of outlets .
( This no longer includes National Review , whose editors had some kind of tantrum and fired him . )
He is the author of We Are Doomed : Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism and several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ books published by VDARE.com com : FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT ( also available in Kindle ) and FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT II : ESSAYS 2013 .
For years he ’ s been podcasting at Radio Derb , now available at VDARE.com for no charge .
His writings are archived at JohnDerbyshire.com .
Readers who wish to donate ( tax deductible ) funds specifically earmarked for John Derbyshire 's writings at VDARE.com can do so here .

[Adapted from the latest Radio Derb, now available exclusively on VDARE.com.]
I know you're all on tenterhooks waiting to hear what Radio Derb, the civilized world's most authoritative source of news and opinion, has to say…about what we should call the current flu pandemic!
Wednesday our President squashed a distraught snowflake reporterette at his news conference:
Snowflake: "Why do you keep calling this "the Chinese virus"? There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese-Americans in this country. Your own aide, Secretary Azar, says he does not use this term. He says ethnicity does not cause the virus. Why do you keep using this? A lot of people say it's racist."
President: "Because it comes from China. It's not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that's why. It comes from China."
But while indeed the virus originated in China, it’s become a world-wide concern due mainly to the reflexive lying and thuggery of the Chinese Communist Party. So it would be a bit fairer to the great mass of Chinese people, who don't want the filthy thing any more than you or I, to call it "the ChiCom virus."
In fact, since the Communists still revere the guy whose portrait looks down across Tiananmen Square, we could be even snappier and just call the virus "Mao Flu."
But as the virus is unlikely to kill as many people as Mao did—estimates start at forty-five million—that would be unfair to the virus.
People are still arguing, though. There is a considerable movement afoot, led by the World Health Organization, to stop naming diseases and pathogens after places, and to re-name those that have customarily been so named.
The guardians of our culture are hard at work on this. Neocon Never Trumper David Frum will rap you across the knuckles with a ruler if you refer to the 1918-19 pandemic as "the Spanish Flu" even though, as his Twitter followers documented devastatingly, he’s done so himself:
Nobody calls the 1919-20 pandemic the Spanish flu anymore, and not because we are soft on the Inquisition. It's just not a useful way to name a disease. — David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2020
This is petty, low-grade stuff—evidence that the horrid plague of Political Correctness has done far more damage to our minds than this current virus will to our lungs. The Babylon Bee caught the absurdity of it all with their suggestion that we start referring to the Black Death as the Death of Color.
Stop 👏 using 👏 racist 👏 terms 👏 pic.twitter.com/o1dFD9Ps4Y — The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 19, 2020
They didn't offer an alternative for Yellow Fever, and perhaps that's just as well.
OK, OK, so what are we going to call it? The virus causing all the trouble is named SARS-CoV-2. The condition it causes in those afflicted is named COVID-19. But I don't see much sign that "COVID-19" is catching on in ordinary talk. People mainly seem to just say "coronavirus." That's a bit loose, as the villain here is just one member of the coronavirus family.
So what happens next? I’m still agnostic. The reason it's hard to tell: We're working with a poor and debatable quality of data, from which all kinds of contradictory things can be deduced.
There don't seem to be any international standards for data reporting, either. Germany's reporting a mortality rate of 0.3 percent. Italy's reporting 7.9 percent. Wha?
So I open my Friday New York Post and it tells me there are 5,645 cases of coronavirus in New York State [Here is what's happening now in New York's coronavirus fight, by Bernadette Hogan, Julia Marsh and Aaron Feis, New York Post, March 20, 2020]. My state has a population of 19½ million, so that would be point zero two eight percent and change—something like one in thirty-five hundred.
That doesn't seem too bad at all…except that the number is meaningless without context.
Hoo-kay: 5,645 people were tested and found positive. But out of how many tested altogether? If all 19½ million of us were to be tested, what would the number be then?
And what, by the way, is the rate of false positives?
The whole area of testing for the virus is an embarrassment. The CDC and the FDA, given the task of creating and distributing tests, went at it with all the efficiency and finesse of the proverbial monkey trying to get intimate with a football [Coronavirus: US is failing on testing, says Fauci, BBC, March 12, 2020]. South Korea tests ten to twenty thousand people a day; the U.S.A. tests two thousand on a good day [U.S. Lags in Coronavirus Testing After Slow Response to Outbreak, by Larry Buchanan, K.K. Rebecca Lai and Allison McCann, NYT, March 17, 2020].
The testing fiasco has generated a small genre of op-ed columns by people describing their efforts to get tested, usually without success. Journalist Tim Herrera had a good one in the New York Times Wednesday: My Coronavirus Test: 5 Days, a Dozen Calls, Hours of Confusion [March 18, 2020]. Herrera was one of the lucky ones, being in New York City with half a dozen first-rank hospitals nearby. Still it took him hours working the phone, getting bounced from one healthcare drone to another.
The previous Wednesday Herrera had woken with symptoms—cough, fever. He called his doctor's office. They gave him the number of a clinic doing tests. He called the clinic. No, they weren't doing tests. Could they refer him to someone that was? No, they couldn't.
He called New York City hospital system and was put on hold. Meanwhile his girlfriend called the CDC. They got back first, took his details, and said someone would call to check later. Nobody ever did. Then the hospital system called back. They took his details all over again, told him to quarantine for two weeks, and hung up…but later they called back with a test date for the next day.
Herrera got his test at last; but the results were posted online, which they shouldn't have been, and late. (They were positive, but he seems to be recovering).
Recognize our healthcare system? It sure sounds familiar to me. In my February Diary I narrated the time-wasting fandango I had to go through just to get the right co-pay on a routine medication.
We all quickly got used to the jargon. "Social distancing" was the order of the day. We had to "flatten the curve." That's the curve you get if you plot number of infections day by day. Do nothing and that curve soars upwards, overwhelming your medical facilities. By social distancing—minimizing our contacts with other people—we get a much gentler upward curve, allowing medical facilities time to catch up.
That's what we've settled on: social distancing to flatten the curve. Was it inevitable that we should? Might we have taken some other course of action?
Certainly we might. One of the interesting features of public conversation this past couple of weeks has been the healthy skepticism expressed by many commentators. VDARE.com reported an example: Heather Mac Donald's March 13th piece at the New Criterion. Here Heather is scoffing at the fuss about rates of infection being exponential.
Even if my odds of dying from coronavirus should suddenly jump ten-thousand-fold, from the current rate of .000012 percent across the U.S. population all the way up to .12 percent, I'd happily take those odds over the destruction being wrought on the U.S. and global economy from this unbridled panic. Compared To What?
In the same spirit, in a good thoughtful piece about the public appetite for risk and the quality of our scientific leadership, Dennis Saffran retails a quote from New York State Senator Vincent Graber, in a debate on related issues:
We could really reduce the death rate if we lowered the speed limit to 21 and raised the drinking age to 55. Prepare, Don’t Panic, March 13, 2020
It hasn't been just journalists, either. Constitutional Law Professor Richard Epstein did a good quantitative analysis of the data, such as it is, on March 16th at the Hoover Institution website. Sample quote :
Even though self-help measures like avoiding crowded spaces make abundant sense, the massive public controls do not. In light of the available raw data, public officials have gone overboard. Coronavirus Perspective
What's that you say? None of these people are credentialed epidemiologists? OK, here’s John Ioannidis, professor of medicine, of epidemiology and population health, of biomedical data science, and of statistics at Stanford University:
The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable…Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population. This evidence fiasco creates tremendous uncertainty about the risk of dying from Covid-19. Reported case fatality rates, like the official 3.4 percent rate from the World Health Organization, cause horror—and are meaningless. A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data, March 17, 2020
Professor Ioannidis' piece got a polite, collegial rebuttal from Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard—I quoted some previous comments of his in my February 28th podcast. Prof. Lipsitch, responding to Prof. Ioannidis
There are two options for Covid-19 at the moment: long-term social distancing or overwhelmed health care systems. We know enough now to act decisively against Covid-19. Social distancing is a good place to start, March 18, 2020
So…we have a leaky, dubious mass of data and a wide range of opinions from thoughtful analysts, including specialists. What are we supposed to do with that?
What you and I do with it is of course up to us as individual citizens. I'm very lucky here. I live in a spacious outer suburb of New York with my wife and son, never have to get close to anyone else at all. My wife works from home three days a week, and that's just been extended to four. My son's a college student; but classes are suspended. He fills his time quite happily working out at the home gym, playing computer games, and chatting on the phone with friends.
So the Derbs are well-nigh self-quarantining. I wash my hands a lot and avoid touching my mucous membranes. For trips to the drugstore I wear a mask—I bought a big supply back when the whole thing started. I eat sensibly and exercise: Basil gets a 45-minute walk every day, on the vague superstition that viruses don't like fresh air. We pass other dog-walkers at ten feet distance, waving in a neighborly way.
I've cut back on consumption of ardent spirits in accordance with Kipling's advice to the young British soldier:
When the cholera comes—as it will past a doubt —
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier …
[Bursts into song]
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier,
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier,
So-oldier OF the Queen!
Sorry, I always get carried away with Kipling.
Other people seem to be coping sensibly in the face of massive dislocation and inconvenience—worst of course in the cases of those laid off from their jobs. This category may include our own daughter; we're waiting to hear.
But what are our politicians, legislators, and administrators doing with it?
They’re following the social distancing / flattening the curve paradigm.
It looked for a while as though the British government might take a different tack, just letting the virus burn through the population fast, creating a big mass of people gifted with immunity by having had a mild case. Then a report by a panel of experts came out modeling the consequences of that nine ways to Sunday [Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand, Imperial College, March 16, 2020]. The consequences were all terrible. The Brits turned on a dime and are now social distancing and flattening the curve with the rest of us.
That was the choice our leaders faced: drive the economy off a cliff, or…geezers on gurneys.
The best advice our leaders could get was: either do a full-court press on social distancing, or face scenes of hospital parking lots filled with hundreds of geezers on gurneys, coughing their lives away because we don't have the staff or equipment to deal with them.
Given the likelihood of that appalling spectacle, you can't blame our leaders for what they are doing.
Will it prove in the end to have been unnecessary? Shall we have crashed the economy for nothing?
Possibly. The underlying data here are, as I've said, iffy.
Among all the unknowns here, the scariest, it seems to me, are long-term. What happens in the fall?
If we can get a handle on things these few weeks, then the warmer weather causes the virus to quiesce, with maybe just a mild resurgence in the fall, we'll be able to ride out the economic consequences and get the economy back on track in a year or two, as we did after the 2008 Crash.
On the other hand, if the virus comes roaring back in the fall, perhaps in some variant form, then it'll be: Katy bar the door.
John Derbyshire [ email him] writes an incredible amount on all sorts of subjects for all kinds of outlets. (This no longer includes National Review, whose editors had some kind of tantrum and fired him.) He is the author of We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism and several other books. He has had two books published by VDARE.com com: FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT (also available in Kindle) and FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT II: ESSAYS 2013.
For years he’s been podcasting at Radio Derb, now available at VDARE.com for no charge. His writings are archived at JohnDerbyshire.com.
Readers who wish to donate (tax deductible) funds specifically earmarked for John Derbyshire's writings at VDARE.com can do so here.


vdare--2020-03-20--More Behind-The-Curtain Patriotism Among Editors At The NYT?

The fundamental concern here at VDARE.com is The National Question , which prompts our heavy focus on immigration : Of course , such a question is anathema to our `` elites , '' whom Mark Steyn has called `` this country 's depraved political class . ''
The question might even be unthinkable—beyond their blinkered comprehension .
And yet , there are occasional glimmers of comprehension of the national-question concept even at such beyond-hope institutions as The New York Times ( often referred to as `` the Gray Lady , '' but I prefer `` the Gray Slut '' ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evidence for such glimmers and wrote about it at VDARE.com in Comment Section Provides Belated Evidence Of An Editorial Mole At The NEW YORK TIMES .
( More properly , it was my stumbling across the evidence that was `` belated . ''
) Well , here 's another such belated discovery : Times grievances-hustler Jamelle Bouie emitted an op-ed on February 4 , 2020 , The Racism at the Heart of Trump ’ s ‘ Travel Ban ’ ; read it , if you must , here .
The article attracted 381 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` NYT Picks . ''
Here is the second pick among those 10 , by someone who identifies as `` Gander FIR '' : So someone who reads the Gray Slut is able to think along national-question lines—and make the case for it in writing in public ( admittedly , with a pseudonym ) .
Further , someone on the paper 's editorial-page staff rated Gander FIR 's comment highly among the 381 .
And—final bonus—this comment received 109 up-votes from the online readership , second best among the Times Picks .
Of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue with Gander FIR 's assertion that `` Yes United States was founded by immigrants ... '' But I would n't hold this against the commenter , since the statement is equivalent to the hyper-tiresome `` nation of immigrants '' trope , which is so hard to escape .
Still , it 's worth quoting John O'Sullivan on the point , from his review in The American Conservative of Samuel Huntington 's 2004 book Who Are We ?
: Anyway , here 's to the patriotic troll ( s ) at the Gray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ head ( s ) down !

The fundamental concern here at VDARE.com is The National Question, which prompts our heavy focus on immigration:
WHAT IS THE ‘NATIONAL QUESTION’? The current Merriam-Webster definition of “nation-state” is “a form of political organization in which a group of people who share the same history, traditions, or language live in a particular area under one government.” The National Question is, in short, an examination of how long the US can continue as a coherent nation-state in the face of current immigration policy.
Of course, such a question is anathema to our "elites," whom Mark Steyn has called "this country's depraved political class." The question might even be unthinkable—beyond their blinkered comprehension.
And yet, there are occasional glimmers of comprehension of the national-question concept even at such beyond-hope institutions as the New York Times (often referred to as "the Gray Lady," but I prefer "the Gray Slut"). Last November, I stumbled across evidence for such glimmers and wrote about it at VDARE.com in Comment Section Provides Belated Evidence Of An Editorial Mole At The NEW YORK TIMES. (More properly, it was my stumbling across the evidence that was "belated.")
Well, here's another such belated discovery: Times grievances-hustler Jamelle Bouie emitted an op-ed on February 4, 2020, The Racism at the Heart of Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’; read it, if you must, here. The article attracted 381 online comments, of which 10 are "NYT Picks." Here is the second pick among those 10, by someone who identifies as "Gander FIR":
New York | Feb. 4 United States still is a majority European White and Christian nation. It is perfectly reasonable that a nation state wants to retain its national identity and adjusting its immigration policy to that end is absolutely valid as well. What Trump administration doing in no different from what Singapore , Norway or Japan is doing in order to prevent social upheaval resulting from untrammelled immigration. Yes United States was founded by immigrants but that doesn’t mean that those open border policies should stay the same when the nation has matured and its predominant culture has taken root. To deny perfectly justified apprehensions of the natives about the ill effects of uncontrolled immigration ( jobs,assimilation, respect to values cherished by the natives such as freedom of speech, freedom from religion , women’s rights and rights of sexual minorities) is both obtuse and intellectually dishonest. I have seen strong indications that a silent majority of Americans tacitly approve of these measures even if they are hesitant to voice them in polite society for the fear of being labelled a bigot, racist or a xenophobe.
So someone who reads the Gray Slut is able to think along national-question lines—and make the case for it in writing in public (admittedly, with a pseudonym). Further, someone on the paper's editorial-page staff rated Gander FIR's comment highly among the 381. And—final bonus—this comment received 109 up-votes from the online readership, second best among the Times Picks.
Of course, expert VDARE.com readers will take issue with Gander FIR's assertion that "Yes United States was founded by immigrants ..." But I wouldn't hold this against the commenter, since the statement is equivalent to the hyper-tiresome "nation of immigrants" trope, which is so hard to escape. Still, it's worth quoting John O'Sullivan on the point, from his review in The American Conservative of Samuel Huntington's 2004 book Who Are We?:
Huntington punctures several comforting national myths dear to both liberals and conservatives but false and sometimes destructive in their current implications. He points out, for instance, that the U.S. is not “a nation of immigrants.” It is a nation that was founded by settlers—who are very different from immigrants in that they establish a new polity rather than arrive in an existing one—and that has been occupied since by the descendants of those settlers and of immigrants who came later but who assimilated into the American nation. Americans therefore are under no moral obligation to accept anyone who wishes to immigrate on the spurious grounds that everyone is essentially an immigrant. Americans own America, so to speak, and may admit or refuse entry to outsiders on whatever grounds they think fit.
Anyway, here's to the patriotic troll(s) at the Gray Slut: Thanks, and keep your head(s) down!


vdare--2020-03-21--Peter Brimelow's 1995 ALIEN NATION Warning Of Immigrant Disease Dangers

VDARE.com editor Peter Brimelow wrote this in his hugely successful , and much-hated book Alien Nation in 1995 .
I quoted it briefly here in when Dengue Fever ( `` what ?
—it 's like yellow fever '' ) was discovered in America in 2010 .
A number of immigrant-borne diseases have struck American since then , and it 's always considered racist to mention it .
I 've updated some links , and slightly improved the footnotes with links .
From Chapter 9 : Whenever large numbers of people are on the move , disease has the opportunity to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States with the Irish immigrants of the 1840s.14Awareness of this danger was one reason immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were so rigorously inspected by efficient batteries of doctors , the myth of `` Open Borders '' notwithstanding .
Of the 24,000 refused admission in 1910 , about 15 percent were carriers of contagious disease.15 • With 2 to 3 million illegal entries every year , it is quite possible that the United States has never been so unprotected against immigration ’ s impact on its public health standards .
News about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfit-to-print circular file .
But here are a few fragments : • Tuberculosis : once the leading killer in the United States , tuberculosis was virtually extinct by the 1970s .
Now it is surging .
Partly this is because of new strains resistant to antibiotics , but largely it 's because of immigration from regions like Latin America where the disease is endemic ( foreign-born cases accounted for nearly two thirds of the increase in the last decade , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. cases were foreign-born ; over 60 percent of California 's cases , and 30 to 80 percent of the cases in some immigrant-heavy Washington suburbs.16 • Leprosy : of the six thousand patients in the United States in 1987 , 90 percent were refugees or immigrants from Southeast Asia or Mexico.17 • Measles : virtually eliminated in the United States during the 1980s , measles is flaring up—in Hispanic areas , particularly among recent arrivals from Latin America.18 • Cholera , malaria , dengue fever ( what ?
—it 's like yellow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Latin America , and all have been reported in the United States recently.19 Quite possibly , disease incubated in the teeming human petri dishes that Third World cities now comprise may be the chance factor that finally crystallizes immigration as a political issue in the United States .
For example , the U.S. Institute of Medicine has recently predicted `` with some confidence '' that if yellow fever , the incurable mosquito-borne disease now resurgent in Africa and Amazonia , returns to New Orleans , public health defenses could be quickly overwhelmed : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
.
and 10,000 would likely die within 90 days .. .
`` 20 • Fears Are Raised Over Leprosy Plan , by Katherine Bishop , New York Times , May 4 , 1987 .
• Spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control , Atlanta , quoted in the Detroit News , April 11 , 1992 .
• U.S. Institute of Medicine spokesman quoted in John Maurice , ( London ) New Scientist ; as reprint , World Press Review , February 1994 .
[ Fever in the urban jungle : Across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fever are returning in force .
Will we be able to cope if the disease strikes a major city ?
by John Maurice , October 16 , 1993 .

VDARE.com editor Peter Brimelow wrote this in his hugely successful, and much-hated, book Alien Nation in 1995. I quoted it briefly here in when Dengue Fever ("what?—it's like yellow fever") was discovered in America in 2010. A number of immigrant-borne diseases have struck American since then, and it's always considered racist to mention it.
I've updated some links, and slightly improved the footnotes with links. From Chapter 9:
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF IMMIGRATION: PUBLIC HEALTH Whenever large numbers of people are on the move, disease has the opportunity to erupt. Cholera and smallpox returned to the United States with the Irish immigrants of the 1840s.14 Awareness of this danger was one reason immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were so rigorously inspected by efficient batteries of doctors, the myth of "Open Borders" notwithstanding. Of the 24,000 refused admission in 1910, about 15 percent were carriers of contagious disease.15 With 2 to 3 million illegal entries every year, it is quite possible that the United States has never been so unprotected against immigration’s impact on its public health standards. News about immigrant-borne disease is also firmly in the unfit-to-print circular file. But here are a few fragments: Tuberculosis: once the leading killer in the United States, tuberculosis was virtually extinct by the 1970s. Now it is surging. Partly this is because of new strains resistant to antibiotics, but largely it's because of immigration from regions like Latin America where the disease is endemic (foreign-born cases accounted for nearly two thirds of the increase in the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta). In 1991, some 27 percent of U.S. cases were foreign-born; over 60 percent of California's cases, and 30 to 80 percent of the cases in some immigrant-heavy Washington suburbs. 16
Leprosy: of the six thousand patients in the United States in 1987, 90 percent were refugees or immigrants from Southeast Asia or Mexico. 17
Measles: virtually eliminated in the United States during the 1980s, measles is flaring up—in Hispanic areas, particularly among recent arrivals from Latin America. 18
Cholera, malaria, dengue fever (what?—it's like yellow fever): all are widespread in Latin America, and all have been reported in the United States recently.19 Quite possibly, disease incubated in the teeming human petri dishes that Third World cities now comprise may be the chance factor that finally crystallizes immigration as a political issue in the United States. For example, the U.S. Institute of Medicine has recently predicted "with some confidence" that if yellow fever, the incurable mosquito-borne disease now resurgent in Africa and Amazonia, returns to New Orleans, public health defenses could be quickly overwhelmed: "100,000 people would become ill . . . and 10,000 would likely die within 90 days .. ."20
Footnotes:


vdare--2020-03-21--Rich Skiers Step Up to Say: Let's Get the Data—Pay To Test Entire County Around Telluride

As I responded to John Ioannidis ’ s “ A fiasco in the making ?
As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold , we are making decisions without reliable data : ” Well , let ’ s get the data .
Let ’ s set up random samples to figure out how widespread the infection is so that we can estimate more accurately the case fatality rate .
A Telluride couple is paying for their entire county ’ s coronavirus tests .
They hope the results will stop the disease everywhere .
The idea is that the data collected in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ box canyon that holds Telluride and broader San Miguel County San Miguel County in southwest Colorado through Thursday had no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus .
But already it has sent a handful of people with severe respiratory ailments to hospitals where they ’ re receiving critical care for suspected infections .
In response and as a precaution , the county has taken some of the state ’ s most drastic measures to try to limit the spread of the disease .
On Wednesday , the San Miguel County public health department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in place until at least April 3 .
The problem is the county , which includes the ritzy resort town of Telluride , has had little to no testing for COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus .
Final results from the screening that has been done on just 38 people aren ’ t yet available , so health officials are essentially flying blind .
“ We are presuming we have disease , ” county spokesman Susan Lilly said .
“ We just don ’ t know how widespread it is.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in to try to solve the testing problem .
They ’ re paying for everyone in the town of about 2,500 — whether they are symptomatic or not — and county to be screened twice in the coming two weeks for coronavirus using a new blood test that ’ s received preliminary OK from the Food and Drug Administration .
The test was created by their own company , a subsidiary of United Biomedical Inc. , and some 15,000 kits will be provided — representing roughly double San Miguel County ’ s population @ @ @ @ @ @ @ town first and then expanded out into the county .
“ Data is power , ” said Mei Mei Hu , who along with her husband , Lou Reese , is making the testing possible .
They spoke to The Colorado Sun on Thursday morning as they were preparing their plane to ship an initial phase of samples — taken from emergency first responders and their family members — to a lab in California to be tested .
Results are expected back in a few days — and then once everyone in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , they will then be tested again .
There ’ s a hope that the data collected can be used far beyond San Miguel County and the one-road-in-one-road-out box canyon that holds Telluride .
Hu and Reese believe their endeavor will mark the first time everyone in a U.S. county is tested for the virus .
( Participation is voluntary . )
“ This will be one of the first times where we screen a whole population , ” Hu said .
“ What you do by testing en masse is you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevalence ?
’ If you ’ re positive on antibodies , that means you ’ ve been exposed to it at some time .
If you test again in 14 days and you see that everyone is in the same state , it means that you didn ’ t have any new infections and you can then begin releasing people.
” Perhaps most significantly : The testing may be able to show how many people in Telluride and San Miguel County are infected with coronavirus but aren ’ t aware of it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in only mild symptoms .
Some people show no symptoms at all .
“ In the event that there ’ s a lot , then I think it really informs the public , ” Reese said .
Hu and Reese point to a similar mass testing completed in a town that was at the center of Italy ’ s outbreak .
The experiment in Vo allowed authorities in the town near Venice to completely stop the spread of the illness by taking targeted social distancing measures and ensuring infected people were isolated .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ they may be able to replicate their model across the U.S .

As I responded to John Ioannidis’s “A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data”: Well, let’s get the data. Let’s set up random samples to figure out how widespread the infection is so that we can estimate more accurately the case fatality rate.
From the Colorado Sun:
A Telluride couple is paying for their entire county’s coronavirus tests. They hope the results will stop the disease everywhere.
The idea is that the data collected in the testing can be used far beyond the box canyon that holds Telluride and broader San Miguel County
PUBLISHED ON MAR 20, 2020 3:00AM MDT
Jesse Paul
@jesseapaul
The Colorado Sun — jesse@coloradosun.com
San Miguel County in southwest Colorado through Thursday had no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. But already it has sent a handful of people with severe respiratory ailments to hospitals where they’re receiving critical care for suspected infections.
In response and as a precaution, the county has taken some of the state’s most drastic measures to try to limit the spread of the disease. On Wednesday, the San Miguel County public health department ordered its roughly 8,000 residents to shelter in place until at least April 3.
The problem is the county, which includes the ritzy resort town of Telluride, has had little to no testing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Final results from the screening that has been done on just 38 people aren’t yet available, so health officials are essentially flying blind.
(UPDATE: On Friday, the county announced it had received word that a 54-year-old man tested positive for the virus. He is isolation at home and is “recovering well.”)
“We are presuming we have disease,” county spokesman Susan Lilly said. “We just don’t know how widespread it is.”
But two part-time Telluride residents have stepped in to try to solve the testing problem. They’re paying for everyone in the town of about 2,500 — whether they are symptomatic or not — and county to be screened twice in the coming two weeks for coronavirus using a new blood test that’s received preliminary OK from the Food and Drug Administration.
The test was created by their own company, a subsidiary of United Biomedical Inc., and some 15,000 kits will be provided — representing roughly double San Miguel County’s population. Testing will be done in the town first and then expanded out into the county.
“Data is power,” said Mei Mei Hu, who along with her husband, Lou Reese, is making the testing possible.
They spoke to The Colorado Sun on Thursday morning as they were preparing their plane to ship an initial phase of samples — taken from emergency first responders and their family members — to a lab in California to be tested. Results are expected back in a few days — and then once everyone in the town and county is tested a first time, they will then be tested again.
There’s a hope that the data collected can be used far beyond San Miguel County and the one-road-in-one-road-out box canyon that holds Telluride. Hu and Reese believe their endeavor will mark the first time everyone in a U.S. county is tested for the virus. (Participation is voluntary.)
“This will be one of the first times where we screen a whole population,” Hu said. “What you do by testing en masse is you say, ‘What is active outbreak prevalence?’ If you’re positive on antibodies, that means you’ve been exposed to it at some time. If you test again in 14 days and you see that everyone is in the same state, it means that you didn’t have any new infections and you can then begin releasing people.”
Perhaps most significantly: The testing may be able to show how many people in Telluride and San Miguel County are infected with coronavirus but aren’t aware of it. In most cases, the disease results in only mild symptoms. Some people show no symptoms at all.
“In the event that there’s a lot, then I think it really informs the public,” Reese said.
Hu and Reese point to a similar mass testing completed in a town that was at the center of Italy’s outbreak. The experiment in Vo allowed authorities in the town near Venice to completely stop the spread of the illness by taking targeted social distancing measures and ensuring infected people were isolated.
If they are successful in Telluride, they may be able to replicate their model across the U.S.


vdare--2020-03-21--Masks vs. Hand Sanitizer: Why No Good News On Masks?

In the comments at West Hunter , Scott Novak writes : Taiwan and other East Asian nations claim a mask shortage – despite having the bulk of world N95 and surgical mask productive capacity .
Even the 23 million nation of Taiwan makes more masks than the US .
The reason they claim a shortage is that their goal is to flood nearly every man , woman and child with a continual mask supply – not just health care professionals .
To be clear I agree with the East Asian mask consensus and not with the CDC/WHO consensus that only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is besides the point because our Health Care Professionals do not even have enough .
China and Taiwan have banned exports .
We can expect China to do this – but Taiwan is supposed to be our friend and we have helped them for decades – to the point of risking war with China – to keep them independent .
Yesterday Taiwan not-so-generously proposed to start supplying us with 100,000 per week .
This is 1/700th or 0.14 % of their production of 70 Million per week .
Forget about their claimed mask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only because they are attempting to nearly blanket every single person in their country of 23 Million with continuous masks .
That is their right to try and is probably wise , but given our robust and necessary protection of their independent existence , why are we not firmly asking – arm twisting behind the scenes if you will – to get them to supply more like 1 million per day ?
We could pay dearly for them – almost no price is too high – so Taiwan can save face .
Our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 320 million should come before every man woman and child in Taiwan getting one .
American lives are at stake .
Here ’ s a questions : What ’ s behind the big difference in how everybody is thinking about hand sanitizers vs. facemasks ?
The news is full of stories about American gumption : Everybody and his uncle are brewing their own hand sanitizer !
vs. We ’ re doomed : There aren ’ t enough masks for doctors and nurses and there ’ s nothing anyone can do about the shortage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeing stories about clever organizations making masks like I am about everybody making hand sanitizer ?
Is it because hand sanitizer is virtually unregulated and mask factories have to meet stringent safety inspections ?
Is it because the media is worried that reporting good news on masks would make people want them and undermine the cover story that only people who have taken both Maskology 101 and 102 will get the slightest benefit out of them ?

In the comments at West Hunter, Scott Novak writes:
March 20, 2020 at 5:45 pm
Off topic but Coronavirus related: Taiwan and other East Asian nations claim a mask shortage – despite having the bulk of world N95 and surgical mask productive capacity. Even the 23 million nation of Taiwan makes more masks than the US. The reason they claim a shortage is that their goal is to flood nearly every man, woman and child with a continual mask supply – not just health care professionals. To be clear I agree with the East Asian mask consensus and not with the CDC/WHO consensus that only Health-Care Professionals need them, but that is besides the point because our Health Care Professionals do not even have enough. China and Taiwan have banned exports. We can expect China to do this – but Taiwan is supposed to be our friend and we have helped them for decades – to the point of risking war with China – to keep them independent. Yesterday Taiwan not-so-generously proposed to start supplying us with 100,000 per week. This is 1/700th or 0.14% of their production of 70 Million per week. Forget about their claimed mask shortages – we must remember that is only because they are attempting to nearly blanket every single person in their country of 23 Million with continuous masks. That is their right to try and is probably wise, but given our robust and necessary protection of their independent existence, why are we not firmly asking – arm twisting behind the scenes if you will – to get them to supply more like 1 million per day? We could pay dearly for them – almost no price is too high – so Taiwan can save face. Our health care professionals in a nation of 320 million should come before every man woman and child in Taiwan getting one. American lives are at stake.
Here’s a question: What’s behind the big difference in how everybody is thinking about hand sanitizers vs. facemasks? The news is full of stories about
American gumption: Everybody and his uncle are brewing their own hand sanitizer! vs.
We’re doomed: There aren’t enough masks for doctors and nurses and there’s nothing anyone can do about the shortage.
How come I’m not seeing stories about clever organizations making masks like I am about everybody making hand sanitizer?
Is it because hand sanitizer is virtually unregulated and mask factories have to meet stringent safety inspections?
Is it because the media is worried that reporting good news on masks would make people want them and undermine the cover story that only people who have taken both Maskology 101 and 102 will get the slightest benefit out of them?
What’s the deal?
[Comment at Unz.com]


vdare--2020-03-21--As China Virus Puts Americans In Lockdown, ACLU Advocates for Mass Release of Criminals from Jail

“ These juvenile criminals hit a low level .
Born with only the instinct for survival , the highest morality they achieved was a shaky loyalty to a peer group , a street gang .
But the do-gooders attempted to ‘ appeal to their better natures , ’ to ‘ reach them , ’ to ‘ spark their moral sense.
’ Tosh !
They had no ‘ better natures ’ ; experience taught them that what they were doing was the way to survive .
The puppy never got his spanking ; therefore what he did with pleasure and success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basis of all morality is duty , a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual .
Nobody preached duty to these kids in a way they could understand—that is , with a spanking .
But the society they were in told them endlessly about their ‘ rights.
’ – Starship Troopers , Robert Heinlein What is a `` right '' ?
As the China Virus washes across the globe like a tidal wave , your friendly , neighborhood ACLU has only one goal in mind : pressure authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of jail .
ACLU calls on Justice Department , Bureau of Prisons to release inmates vulnerable to coronavirus , The Hill , March 18 , 2020 The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) requested the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Prisons ( BOP ) release prisoners who are vulnerable to coronavirus to prevent an outbreak in federal prisons .
The letter , addressed to Attorney General William Barr and BOP Director Michael Carvajal called on the agencies to “ take immediate action to safeguard ” the prisoners , specifically those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conditions .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) has designated these demographics as most susceptible to serious illness or death .
The union requested the officials “ increase the use of compassionate release ” to limit overcrowding that could intensify an outbreak in the bureau ’ s 122 facilities that hold almost a quarter of a million inmates .
“ The same social distancing principles guiding public and private sector responses should guide the BOP ’ s response and ensure that its facilities do not unnecessarily bring people into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposure to coronavirus , ” the letter reads .
“ Deliberate action must be taken to meet the responsibility to ensure the health of those incarcerated in the federal system.
” The union requested the officials “ increase the use of compassionate release ” to limit overcrowding that could intensify an outbreak in the bureau ’ s 122 facilities that hold almost a quarter of a million inmates .
The ACLU and 14 of its affiliates also sent a letter to state and local officials across the country , appealing governors to commute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years or less and those being held on a technical supervision violation .
The letter to local officials also called on police to stop arresting people for minor offenses and prosecutors to avoid cash bail requests .
The letter also asks that prosecutors implement a review-and-release protocol for inmates who sought bail in the past 30 days .
The ACLU requested judges to allow those with open criminal cases and an upcoming hearing to voluntarily waive the hearing or attend digitally , sheriffs to keep facilities “ empty , safe , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to speed up and extend release opportunities .
If there were a zombie apocalypse , you can beat your entire brokerage account the ACLU would advocating for the rights of the zombies .
While more and more states mandate mandatory quarantines , the ACLU is advocating for criminals to be released from jail , a reminder criminal justice reform is an idea even a global pandemic won ’ t stop… even as the ‘ rights ’ of the law-abiding are restricted to try and ensure social distancing stop the China Virus .
Of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distancing the criminals from the law-abiding be abandoned as a policy immediately , regardless of if a global pandemic is raging or not .
Heinlein , more than any other science fiction writer , knew ‘ rights ’ were nothing more than a fiction if a people forgot about duty .

“These juvenile criminals hit a low level. Born with only the instinct for survival, the highest morality they achieved was a shaky loyalty to a peer group, a street gang. But the do-gooders attempted to ‘appeal to their better natures,’ to ‘reach them,’ to ‘spark their moral sense.’ Tosh! They had no ‘better natures’; experience taught them that what they were doing was the way to survive. The puppy never got his spanking; therefore what he did with pleasure and success must be ‘moral.’ “The basis of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual. Nobody preached duty to these kids in a way they could understand—that is, with a spanking. But the society they were in told them endlessly about their ‘rights.’ – Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein
What is a "right"? As the China Virus washes across the globe like a tidal wave, your friendly, neighborhood ACLU has only one goal in mind: pressure authorities across the United States to let criminals out of jail.
ACLU calls on Justice Department, Bureau of Prisons to release inmates vulnerable to coronavirus, The Hill, March 18, 2020 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) requested the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) release prisoners who are vulnerable to coronavirus to prevent an outbreak in federal prisons. The letter, addressed to Attorney General William Barr and BOP Director Michael Carvajal called on the agencies to “take immediate action to safeguard” the prisoners, specifically those who are elderly or have chronic health conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has designated these demographics as most susceptible to serious illness or death. The union requested the officials “increase the use of compassionate release” to limit overcrowding that could intensify an outbreak in the bureau’s 122 facilities that hold almost a quarter of a million inmates. “The same social distancing principles guiding public and private sector responses should guide the BOP’s response and ensure that its facilities do not unnecessarily bring people into confined spaces that may lead to greater exposure to coronavirus,” the letter reads. “Deliberate action must be taken to meet the responsibility to ensure the health of those incarcerated in the federal system.” The union requested the officials “increase the use of compassionate release” to limit overcrowding that could intensify an outbreak in the bureau’s 122 facilities that hold almost a quarter of a million inmates. The ACLU and 14 of its affiliates also sent a letter to state and local officials across the country, appealing governors to commute sentences that will end in the next two years or less and those being held on a technical supervision violation. The letter to local officials also called on police to stop arresting people for minor offenses and prosecutors to avoid cash bail requests. The letter also asks that prosecutors implement a review-and-release protocol for inmates who sought bail in the past 30 days. The ACLU requested judges to allow those with open criminal cases and an upcoming hearing to voluntarily waive the hearing or attend digitally, sheriffs to keep facilities “empty, safe, and clean” and probation and parole agents to speed up and extend release opportunities.
If there were a zombie apocalypse, you can beat your entire brokerage account the ACLU would advocating for the rights of the zombies.
While more and more states mandate mandatory quarantines, the ACLU is advocating for criminals to be released from jail, a reminder criminal justice reform is an idea even a global pandemic won’t stop… even as the rights of the law-abiding are restricted to try and ensure social distancing stop the China Virus.
Of course, the ACLU would rather social distancing the criminals from the law-abiding be abandoned as a policy immediately, regardless of whether a global pandemic is raging or not.
Heinlein, more than any other science fiction writer, knew "rights" were nothing more than a fiction if a people forgot about duty.
[Comment at Unz.com]


vdare--2020-03-21--Increased Firearms Sales Indicate Fear of Corona Chaos

The more America imports unfriendly foreigners to live here , the more obvious the need for the Second Amendment .
Of course , every citizen deserves access to adequate self-defense , and we were guaranteed that right in our founding documents .
Today normal life has suddenly become a lot more complicated and perhaps dangerous with the coronavirus threat , or at least that ’ s how many Americans must feel , as shown by increased numbers of firearms sales in recent days .
Tucker Carlson noticed the trend and surmised that many Americans must not feel safe for so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He also observed that State Department continued to resettle refugees from corona-infected nations through this week , showing how old preferences live on .
TUCKER CARLSON : Across the country , Americans are literally the lining up outside gun stores ahead of what could be some kind of shutdown .
UNIDENTIFIED LOS ANGELES REPORTER : Toilet paper , hand sanitizer and now gun supplies .
Lines weave around gun shops .
UNIDENTIFIED GUN SHOPPER : I ’ ve been robbed before , you know , who says that the people aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that ’ s scary .
ANOTHER GUN SHOPPER : When you feel uncertainty about your security , you want to do something about it .
COLORADO REPORTER : Many of them are first-time firearm owners who are learning how to use a weapon to protect themselves and their families .
ARIZONA REPORTER : Coronavirus uncertainty has led to a spike of guns and ammo sales at his store .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE : They sold upwards of 40 to 50 guns yesterday alone .
ARIZONA REPORTER : That is a big uptick from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ REPORTER : Owner Andrew Chernoff says sales are soaring as fears of coronavirus continue to climb .
GUN STORE OWNER ANDREW CHERNOFF : We got in a bunch of guns , I ’ m sure by the end of the day , we will be out of guns again .
We are now seeing a lot of first time gun buyers who never would have thought to buy a gun before who are now saying I need to have something to protect myself .
CARLSON : And just to be clear , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owned a gun before , if the public believes their leaders would protect them , they wouldn ’ t be buying guns ; but they know their leaders won ’ t , and so they are , and this infuriates Democrats .
In New York , Nassau County Executive Laura Curran attacked people for trying to protect themselves amid this uncertainty .
LAURA CURRAN , D-NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE : Guns are not going to fight the virus .
What will fight the virus is people staying home and isolating themselves and not having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in big groups .
CARLSON : Arrogant , stupid , totally uneducated , nasty .
That ’ s the face of it right there — Laura Curran .
Tim Schmidt is President of the U.S .
Concealed Carry Association .
He joins us tonight .
Tim , thanks so much for coming on .
I mean , it does seem pretty clear that when you trust that the authorities are going to keep you safe , you ’ re probably not fixated on protecting yourself because you don ’ t have to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect themselves , correct ?
TIM SCHMIDT , PRESIDENT , U.S .
CONCEALED CARRY ASSOCIATION : Of course , Tucker , and as you ’ re talking about before , our law enforcement professionals and police departments , they had their hands full before the coronavirus , and so now , it ’ s only going to be worse .
Now more than ever , people need to understand that they need to be their family ’ s first line of defense .
CARLSON : Well , of course , and by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitutional right guaranteeing that , and if there was ever a moment to invoke it , it ’ s now .
So how can leaders lead ?
Air quotes around it , leaders like Laura Curran , the one we just saw right there from Nassau County , New York , how can she — I mean , how can any of them get in the way of your constitutional right to protect yourself ?
SCHMIDT : Well , you ’ re right .
They shouldn ’ t be , and honestly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people that are buying guns , but Tucker , what I ’ m about to say is going to become a little bit of a shock to you , especially coming from a guy like me , and that is that that so many — 90 percent of these brand new people buying guns have never owned guns before .
They ’ ve probably never even touched a gun .
And that means they ’ re untrained .
Now , don ’ t get me wrong , Tucker , I personally think that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of free people .
But with that , right , comes a tremendous responsibility and that responsibility is to be trained .
And so I will make a request right now if you ’ re watching this and you just bought a gun for self-defense , get training .
Get training as fast as you can , whether it ’ s in person or even online , it will help you be a better defender , which we all know you ’ re going to have to be .
CARLSON : I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone who has hunted a lot or has had guns , you know , they tend to have real respect for firearms because they ’ re dangerous tools .
Thanks so much for that .
Tim , we appreciate you coming on tonight .
CARLSON : Well around the world , thanks to this pandemic , countries are rediscovering the value of borders .
Canada , believe it or not , has announced is closing itself off from foreigners .
Obviously , it ’ s time we did the same .
And yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States was still resettling refugees in the country , many of them from countries battling coronavirus outbreak .
Let ’ s repeat that .
Until this afternoon , our State Department was resettling refugees in your neighborhood from countries with virus outbreaks .
To stop a virus , while millions of Americans can ’ t go outside , the State Department was still dropping outsiders , foreign nationals into their communities .
We ’ re glad the Trump administration put a stop to that .
Thank God , at least for @ @

The more America imports unfriendly foreigners to live here, the more obvious the need for the Second Amendment. Of course, every citizen deserves access to adequate self-defense, and we were guaranteed that right in our founding documents.
Today normal life has suddenly become a lot more complicated and perhaps dangerous with the coronavirus threat, or at least that’s how many Americans must feel, as shown by increased numbers of firearms sales in recent days.
Tucker Carlson noticed the trend and surmised that many Americans must not feel safe for so many newbies to be buying guns.
He also observed that State Department continued to resettle refugees from corona-infected nations through this week, showing how old preferences live on.
TUCKER CARLSON: Across the country, Americans are literally the lining up outside gun stores ahead of what could be some kind of shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED LOS ANGELES REPORTER: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer and now gun supplies. Lines weave around gun shops.
UNIDENTIFIED GUN SHOPPER: I’ve been robbed before, you know, who says that the people aren’t going to start robbing for food, and that’s scary.
ANOTHER GUN SHOPPER: When you feel uncertainty about your security, you want to do something about it.
COLORADO REPORTER: Many of them are first-time firearm owners who are learning how to use a weapon to protect themselves and their families.
ARIZONA REPORTER: Coronavirus uncertainty has led to a spike of guns and ammo sales at his store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sold upwards of 40 to 50 guns yesterday alone.
ARIZONA REPORTER: That is a big uptick from a typical day.
NEW YORK STATE REPORTER: Owner Andrew Chernoff says sales are soaring as fears of coronavirus continue to climb.
GUN STORE OWNER ANDREW CHERNOFF: We got in a bunch of guns, I’m sure by the end of the day, we will be out of guns again. We are now seeing a lot of first time gun buyers who never would have thought to buy a gun before who are now saying I need to have something to protect myself.
CARLSON: And just to be clear, a lot of these people who have never owned a gun before, if the public believes their leaders would protect them, they wouldn’t be buying guns; but they know their leaders won’t, and so they are, and this infuriates Democrats.
In New York, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran attacked people for trying to protect themselves amid this uncertainty.
LAURA CURRAN, D-NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Guns are not going to fight the virus. What will fight the virus is people staying home and isolating themselves and not having birthday parties and weddings and clustering together in big groups.
CARLSON: Arrogant, stupid, totally uneducated, nasty. That’s the face of it right there — Laura Curran.
Tim Schmidt is President of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. He joins us tonight. Tim, thanks so much for coming on. I mean, it does seem pretty clear that when you trust that the authorities are going to keep you safe, you’re probably not fixated on protecting yourself because you don’t have to be. People know that they need to protect themselves, correct?
TIM SCHMIDT, PRESIDENT, U.S. CONCEALED CARRY ASSOCIATION: Of course, Tucker, and as you’re talking about before, our law enforcement professionals and police departments, they had their hands full before the coronavirus, and so now, it’s only going to be worse.
Now more than ever, people need to understand that they need to be their family’s first line of defense.
CARLSON: Well, of course, and by the way, I thought there was a constitutional right guaranteeing that, and if there was ever a moment to invoke it, it’s now. So how can leaders lead? Air quotes around it, leaders like Laura Curran, the one we just saw right there from Nassau County, New York, how can she — I mean, how can any of them get in the way of your constitutional right to protect yourself?
SCHMIDT: Well, you’re right. They shouldn’t be, and honestly, I applaud all of these brand new people that are buying guns, but Tucker, what I’m about to say is going to become a little bit of a shock to you, especially coming from a guy like me, and that is that that so many — 90 percent of these brand new people buying guns have never owned guns before. They’ve probably never even touched a gun.
And that means they’re untrained. Now, don’t get me wrong, Tucker, I personally think that firearm ownership is a natural born right of free people. But with that, right, comes a tremendous responsibility and that responsibility is to be trained.
And so I will make a request right now if you’re watching this and you just bought a gun for self-defense, get training. Get training as fast as you can, whether it’s in person or even online, it will help you be a better defender, which we all know you’re going to have to be.
CARLSON: I think that’s really wise advice and anyone who has hunted a lot or has had guns, you know, they tend to have real respect for firearms because they’re dangerous tools. Thanks so much for that. Tim, we appreciate you coming on tonight.
SCHMIDT: My pleasure, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well around the world, thanks to this pandemic, countries are rediscovering the value of borders. Canada, believe it or not, has announced is closing itself off from foreigners. Obviously, it’s time we did the same.
And yet remarkably, until this very afternoon, the United States was still resettling refugees in the country, many of them from countries battling coronavirus outbreak. Let’s repeat that. Until this afternoon, our State Department was resettling refugees in your neighborhood from countries with virus outbreaks.
To stop a virus, while millions of Americans can’t go outside, the State Department was still dropping outsiders, foreign nationals into their communities. We’re glad the Trump administration put a stop to that. Thank God, at least for now.