107 Replies to “April 2, 2020: Reader Tips”

  1. Spoke to a physician acquaintance of mine about Hydroxychloroquine. She remarked how she has prescribed it to her lupus patients (plaquenil) BUT!…it has been in short supply since DECEMBER! I wonder what was happening in December inside a certain, populous, communist country. My guess is the Chinese realize this stuff works and have been trying to get their hands on as much of it as possible.

    She was also unfamiliar with the Zelenko protocol. Printed off his letter for her reading pleasure

      1. I wonder if one of my original posts will prove to be accurate as it was just speculation.

    2. Probably the South Koreans were using it. After all, they’ve had to deal with SARS.
      Memo to Dr. Tam….
      THEY ALL WEAR MASKS!!!!

      1. Tam has zero credibility. Her only strength is her ability to parrot the talking points.

    1. L-We’re told that the Chinese government provides mobile crematoriums where ever they are required.

      How do they know where to send them? Simple, they check your social credit rating, err… political credit rating.

      They know where to locate people from cell tower co-ordinates, once your social media/texting/calls are checked, a computer adds it up, notifies the “Public Health Authourity”, who executes a permanent social distancing directive.

      Now you understand how dangerous it is to criticize corruption. Good thing no politicians here admire C.C.P. power.

    1. Good tune.

      No ripe streams out here in the buck brush. It was damn cold today. We branded 6 mature bulls today that are on the truck tomorrow.

      They were very quiet and things went off without a hitch.
      I suggested to my rancher buddy that Temple Grandin would be pleased at how things went…ha

      Sometimes the bulls get their blood up and things get a bit rammy.

      ‘April in Paris’ by the Basie Band. His band swung.

      1. You had a busy day!
        I shoveled 3 driveways, more snow here. Cold. -20 with wind chill.
        Took a bow from the neighbour’s applause!
        Other neighbour will think it didn’t snow.

        The streets are dead here. Most stores closed. One tends to look for the ones that are in fact open.

        April in Calgary during our lovely pandemic. Should we all be keeping a diary to write a book?

        “April in Paris” – Count Basie and his Orchestra (1965)
        https://youtu.be/enijgnO_UA8

        (I put Chairman Sinatra on yesterday’s thread)

        1. I just checked it out. Thanks.

          No snow here. It’s brown and the ground froze.

    2. Good tune and thanks for posting the song’s title. I learned Paul Simon’s guitar riff, as part of my three-finger picking education.

  4. Guest on Eric Metaxas show – a few wks ago I think – said he was using it and got his from Africa.

  5. A key ingredient in hand sanitizer – isopropyl alcohol is produced by the oil and gas industry.

    Liz May and the gang greens are now busy trying to rub sanitizer off their hands. 🙂

    Polypropylene, used in N95 masks is also an oil and gas product.

    Liz May and friends are now busy making masks out of Sphagnum moss and traditional herbs.

    1. And to clean and sterilize your N95 mask just dip it in isopropyl alcohol.
      Yes, that is a recommend solution.

      1. Alternatively, the Battelle process (mentioned by Kate) uses “vapor phase hydrogen peroxide” to sanitize the N95 masks, allowing them to be reused up to 20 times. )USA Today)
        I prefer alchohol for removing dust and grime as it sanitizes.

  7. Supposed to hit -18 C in Calgary tonight.

    Windmills are currently at 5% of capacity in Alberta. Wishing Liz May was here, and existing on wind and solar only.

    1. I was in northern B. C. earlier this week. No banana belt weather up there, either.

    2. -13 C and cloudy this AM in Calgary. Windmills at 1.6% of capacity.

      Wishing Rachel Notley and all her NDP caucus were on wind and solar power only.

      1. Great news, wind power in Alberta has doubled!!!

        It’s currently at 3.6% of capacity.

        Notley is ecstatic.

  9. One bit of good news: The Shameless Sodomite parade in Toronto has been cancelled.
    That’s one way to prevent the spread of viruses and infectious diseases.

    1. Best news for the children whose parents take them to see this disgraceful display of narcissistic hedonism which is always graced by the presence of our country’s leader and his children. Needed some good news.

    1. The FDA has already approved a mask sanitizer.

      And a 5 minute doctor’s office Covid-19 test.

      And a 2 minute antibody test.

      1. In a recent issue of the AAAS’s flagship publication Science, the editor wrote a scathing criticism of Trump–you know, that “anti-science” President?

        The editor didn’t like how Trump wanted quick results rather than letting the scientific “process” take its time. After all, there have to be human trials, data need to be analyzed, and, presumably, papers need to be written. Of course, that’s all fine and good if one has all the time in the world.

        Well, Dr. Editor, we’re apparently in a medical emergency. Corners have to be cut and risks taken because people can’t wait for the tea-time-in-the-faculty-lounge crowd to get off its collective backsides and decide that, maybe, it might actually contribute to the effort. The public that funds your research spent a lot of money so that you can keep your butts warm and comfortable but, now, it wants an immediate return on its investment.

        Boo-hooing that your President, your country is putting pressure on you lot to make use of your education and, by extension, your intellects to do something beneficial for the public you so openly despise gets no sympathy from we deplorables.

      3. Just read a tiny rant on FB. Fellow saying chinese test kits infected with wuhan virus.. Anybody heard this?

  11. I flew to my house in B. C. on Monday and got back this evening. The airports were dead, but there’s one nice thing about the current situation: the security personnel in Edmonton were polite for a change.

    Fort St. John is dead as a doornail. At least, though, I could buy groceries and get a temporary permit for my truck and, of course, that most essential of services, the government dairy bar (as we used to call it while I was growing up there) was open.

    And, no, there wasn’t any toilet paper to be found in the store I was at.

    1. Strangely dead in Calgary too.
      And f- f- freezing! Wednesday was – 20 wind chill. Don’t mind it much – – because winter is over.

      But those strange emails. I keep getting emails …”we’re temporarily closed due to the Virus”….oh no kidding!

      1. NR , I have a eye appointment scheduled for The first of July. I received an e-mail telling me they are closed until further notice and not to worry. If I have a problem that could be considered an emergency I am to call the eye doctor immediately but not to go to the hospital.

          1. Dentists are on call too “until further notice” unless one has pain. Their cell phone numbers were provided.

  12. A San Francisco doctor featured in the Netflix documentary “Pandemic” announced that he and his team have discovered a potential coronavirus cure — which will now be tested by the US military.

    Jacob Glanville, who runs the biotech company Distributed Bio, tweeted that the new antibody therapy, which works by “blocking the novel coronavirus from infecting human cells,” is a “candidate cure” for the deadly bug that has swept 180 countries and territories.

    https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/doctor-in-netflix-doc-says-he-discovered-potential-coronavirus-cure/

      1. “they are still handsome dudes” That’s very kind of you Nancy.
        “Do you see anybody in this that you know?”
        No. I just thought it was sort of interesting to see some old guys and gals get together.
        Like Chief Wampum Seeker always says “those are my people”.

    1. Clan of the Cave Bear. Steakman. Not sure what to call the Right Dishonourable Trudeau. Club them all like Newfy’s club seals

      1. You defame the Clan of the Cave Bear; they weren’t actively trying to kill off their fellow Neanderthals.

  15. Peter Robinson of Hoover Institution is interviewing Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a friend of his plus a professor of medicine at Stanford University. His March 24, 2020, article in the Wall Street Journal questions the premise that “coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines.” In the article he suggests that “there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high.” Dr. Bhattacharya is asked to defend that statement and describe how he arrived at this conclusion.
    “It’s not popular right now to question conventional wisdom on sheltering in place, but Dr. Bhattacharya makes a strong case for challenging it, based in economics and science. ”
    If you like to think, I recommend this video.
    https://youtu.be/-UO3Wd5urg0

  16. Took another trip to the Foothills today. Round 4 cancer treatment. Life goes on in Cancer World. Phone consultation Tuesday with the Oncologist. Saves me a trip in. I’m good with that. Probably a new trend from now on. Remarkably, taxi service was good both ways. Traffic was light. Reduced access to the hospital and questions at the entrance (got a koff, or any symptoms, stay away!) and sanitize your hands. Masks not mandatory for patients it seems, emergency entrance might have different rules. The place was dead except for those who need to be there. Might be a different case in two weeks at Emergency. Supposed to be 560 C-19’s in Calgary. Population is 1.4 million. Bone marrow doing a brisk business, as was my clinic. There’s another Joe with the same name as mine (no my name isn’t Joe) with the same cancer and treatment, so a bit of yuk, yuk wrong guy, while sorting it out. Our paths have crossed before. We were last out. Nurses just as chirpy as a couple of weeks ago. Standard disinfect at home, including clothes.

    2. I had a similar issue at the Foothills when I had my liver biopsy last year; the attendant was wheeling away another “Dave” for the treatment and it took them a few minutes to sort it out. That is probably why they ask you in great detail why you are here and what is going to happen before they anesthetize you.

  17. Anyone follow the blog ‘A Chemist in Langley’? He has an interesting take on wearing a mask.

  20. Dead here too in Palm Desert, CA. Dog in cargo flight April 24 re-booked (by phone, as required by Westjet) to May 5 from Palm Springs to yvr . No flight when Trudeau said go home, and I think yvr was a terrible place to be in March, anyway. I call them at 4am. Nice and warm, at my seasonal 2nd home, but golfing and our 37 pools are closed. Have self isolated for a month now, with good pantry, going out for occasional items. I need to get back, but the USA probably will as good as Vancouver for now and I came in mid-January, so have a bit of leeway to get back without annoying border authorities or the IRS.

    Thank you Kate, for keeping us informed about the liberal power grabs. ..and conservatives going along. Frightful times …..

  21. Instapundit discusses the Saudi Arabian – Russian Oil War.

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/363489/#respond

    They want to crush the US Shale Industry. How can we keep them whole?
    My idea is a Tariff on all non USMCA Oil imports. Pick a price target, and make the tariff a sliding amount. Maybe US$40 per BBL, and an 80% tariff. Price is $40.00 or more, no tariff; at $39 tariff is $0.80 for a total cost of $39.80; Price is $30, tariff is $8 and cost is $38.00; $20/bbl oil has a $16 tariff, and a total cost of $36.00.
    PEMEX and Canada can sell their oil to us w/o tariffs, which gives them price protection for some of their exported products, and stabilizes their economies almost as much as it stabilizes ours. They must agree not to try any pass through either. Any oil they import is used in their countries, and no games either, or they get tariffs slapped on all their oil too.

    If this is a play against the US Shale industry, they will stop their production war almost immediately. The threat alone may be enough to stop Russia and KSA.

    Maybe we, the US will do nothing, and let those two and the damned Coronavirus crush Iran and Venezuela. Except a lot of innocents there will die too.

    1. Yep, there should be at least a $10 or 20 import duty to get oil into USA/Canada/Mexico. Quebec can get theirs out of Alberta or the Gulf Coast or pay the price. Then the Russkies and Saudis can play games until the cows come home and we won’t care. They drop the price – we raise the tax. We could have stability. The price gets too high, we drop the tax.

    2. FO slaver. It’s not the job or right of government to save the (possibly redundant) US fracking industry by STEALING from people. By all means do try to campaign on the promise of higher oil and gas prices.

      1. That’s right you’re a communist bitch so it’s okay for foreigners to manipulate our markets.

  23. corona deaths

    “Look worse? Seems to me smaller countries they ARE worse. I’d much rather be in a country with a lower fatality rate. Wouldn’t you? No one expects a relationship between population and fatality rate — we expect one between policy and fatality rate. ”

    https://twitter.com/chrisking/status/1244570440279842818

    Are we really interested in total deaths (the US has the most as a country, so bad Trump), or are we interested in how policy affects mortality per capita? “Small” countries like Italy, France, Spain, UK, Germany have a larger mortality (per capita and together) than the US together. D’s need to say Trump bad, so the number of cases in the US needs to be an important D talking point. Now we see data visualization people say the capita doesn’t matter. Oh, it does. NY looks and is bad alone when you take the flyover states away.
    And just now I’m happy I’m from Finland and not Swiss or a New Yorker.

    European MSM tout now how bad the outbreak is in the US. Europe is in deeper sheet. Per capita, and total.

    1. The final numbers are the only one’s that matter. I heard the bleet that, oh my god a 1000 people died in the U.S. in a single day, Jeez, 8,000 people die every freaking day in America. How many deaths that occur will have another underlying basis will be obscured in order to pump up the virus numbers, sad freaking people. Their actions will have to be justified, if it saves only one life.

      1. OWG, you raise a good point.

        Some have argued that total deaths from all causes are actually down.

        I’m wondering if deaths from cancer and heart attack are down too. If someone dies who is 80 with a heart condition or cancer, and they had Wuhan virus, what did they die from.

        1. The whoowho flu. “They” will probably take all death stats and say if not for the flu those 53 million who die every year would not have died.

    2. Iceland has an infection rate of 1 in 300 (three hundred), but a fatality rate of about 0.2%, they have tested roughly 10% of their entire population (granted, it’s only about 340,000, they’re blessed to be a beautiful island far away in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and they actually do screening at their airports).

  25. I’m a public finance economist, and following Trudeau’s remark about this being the largest economic plan since WWII, one has to start predicting what sort of tax hikes our federal government has plans for us. During WWII governments hiked taxes, and floated additional bonds, to pay for the war.

    Note further, that with a minority government, the Liberals will tilt left to seek support from the NDP, the Bloc and the Greens — all of whom would be happy to raise taxes. The feds will also have the support of the paid-and-bought-for media cartel, cheerleading the tax increases all the way. Some possible moves:
    — reducing (or eliminating) the capital gains income exemption;
    — rising the marginal income tax rates on higher-income households;
    — eliminating the dividend tax credit;
    — eliminating Harper’s GST reduction, bringing it back up to 7%;
    — eliminating the seniors’ pension-income splitting, again a Harper tax reform;
    — raising corporate income taxes.

    After all, we are all one happy Canadian family. It’s not just the carbon tax that’s being raised.

    1. David: Other probable initiatives from Ottawa to watch for: 1) substantial inheritance taxes (none currently at the federal level), which would have to be supported by gift taxes; 2) capital gains tax added to sale of primary residences.

      What you won’t see: 1) reduction in the size of the government bureaucracy; 2) reduction in the pay and benefits (including pensions) of government employees. The reason? The bureaucrats are all voters and they would vote out of office any “employer” that tried to cut their pay and benefits.

      1. Watch for the Liberals to introduce a wealth tax.

        Each year at income tax time you add up all your wealth:
        – house (property tax assessment less mortgage outstanding)
        – current value of stocks, bonds and other investments
        – bank account balance
        – other property
        – cars
        – etc.
        Then you pay 1% on anything over 500k, 2% over 1 million, and 5% over 10 million.

        Don’t want this to happen, but I’m convinced this will happen.

        PS, they might include at wealth tax on pension plans, except for the public employees pensions.

  26. So with this China virus, does this mean Blackie won’t be sending us all camping this summer?

  27. Blackie’s media reports that the federal deficit will be over 140 billion dollars. Its a good thing Blackie balanced the budget over the past four years and saved up for a rainy day. And Ontario high school teachers are doing their part during this China virus outbreak. They are returning to the bargaining table today to demand more money, benefits, and less work. Remember, they are doing it for the kids.

    1. And let’s not forget they are all at home with full pay and benefits while not working. Anyone heard of teachers’ unions taking any initiatives to teach students remotely, after all it is all about the kids?

      1. Ottawa, too bad they weren’t on strike when this started, no money, I would be in seventh heaven. Schadenfreud squared.

    2. Ontario teachers should have been locked out as part of bargaining, not to prevent the Wuhan flu. When they accepted a 5% wage decrease on a 5 year contract, they could start getting paid. Ford let an opportunity pass.

  28. Willis does some good number crunching on relative levels of infection.

    It seems that masks (his main point) and culturally acceptable distance between people (my take-away) are leading indicators of how bad the Wuhoo Flu will be in a nation. A couple of great graphs for which I hope he’ll provide weekly updates.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/04/01/do-lockdowns-work/

  30. Distraction

    Spying on the Scammers [Part 1/4]
    Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le71yVPh4uk

    A glance on how the internet scammers work.
    In an unseen ever detail.
    The guy sure knows how to get around on a laptop.
    There are four parts to it.

    Its interesting to note that nobody in any authority seems to be able to do anything about it.

    1. Wonder if the Calgary Stampede will still be on this July.

      Spruce Meadows has canceled until further notice the international show jumping sport at their facility due to WuFlu.

      Chris LeDoux – “This Cowboy’s Hat”
      https://youtu.be/qqDhE01jV_g

  33. Sad news. The jazz world lost a couple of giants yesterday to that GD virus.

    Ellis Marsalis father of Winton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason (all jazz players) passed away in New Orleans. Ellis brought modern jazz to life the Big Easy, a town known for 2 beat jazz and the blues. He was a teacher and mentor to almost everybody there. Harry Connick jr comes to mind. He loved ballads and I might recommend one of his own, “When we First Met’.

    N’awlins is poorer today than yesterday.

    Bucky Pizzarelli. What can you say. He was a NY first call guitarist who most people never heard of. He played in the Tonight Show Band when Johnny Carson did the show out of NYC. When the show moved to LA Bucky stayed behind not wanting to uproot his young family.

    It turned out to be a good move as his career as a soloist took off. He spanned pop and jazz. Played and recorded with everyone. He is father to John Pizzarelli who is a jazz star and the unsung bassist Martin who lives (like most Bass players) in the shadow of his father and brother.

    Jazz players work the clubs and Bucky was no different. I’d recommend a You Tube video, John & Bucky Pizzarelli @ Shanghi Jazz – a club in NJ.

    Thanks to both Ellis and Bucky for bringing so much joy to jazz fans everywhere.

      1. NR

        Thanks so much for those tunes. Look at the joy on their faces. Just having fun playing music. They brought back great memories of Bucky. I first heard him when I was a kid starting out. Never had the opportunity to see him. I have seen his son John who is an unbelievable talent.

        Bucky’s father had an obsession with the old west and when he was a young man went west to ‘cowboy’. When Bucky was born his Dad called him Buckskin which morphed into Bucky. No cowboy he.

        1. You’re Welcome.
          According to the comments, I think the title of the piece here is: L’il Darlin’
          He’s terrific. Had a 76 year career, he started professionally in 1944.

          Watch: Bucky Pizzarelli, his last performance, he says.
          https://youtu.be/hJTyOYRqqaw

          Re: Ellis Marsalis Jr.
          You challenged me. I was afraid to mix in the wrong Marsalis, as Ellis Junior had a son also named after himself, aka Ellis the III. He had many sons, big talents in their own right. (I know you know that)

          I thank you back!

    1. They can afford to have the climte change issue disappear as they are likely to manage the same totalitarian goals with the virus. Trudeau of course still mentions this as it is part of his programming and may take a while to get erased.

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