ANATOMY OF OUR ALLEGED DISCUSSIONS: We watched the angriest dog in the world!

TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2020

But how many people will die?:
Last evening, starting at 8 PM Eastern, we had a chance to observe the angriest dog in the world.

Some readers may yelp in surprise. They may recall "The Angriest Dog in the World" as the comic strip created and drawn by a younger version of director David Lynch.

Fair enough! According to the leading authority on the subject, "the strip was conceived by Lynch in 1973 during a period when he was experiencing feelings of great anger. First published in the LA Reader, the strip ran from 1983 until 1992."

We recall The Angriest Dog from its days in Baltimore's City Paper. Today, though, the angriest dog has moved on. Last night, he was hosting on CNN, a so-called "cable news" channel.

We'd avoided the angriest dog for the past several weeks. We'd become appalled by his carnival act—by his posing, his endless pretense.

Last night, due to a bit of a misunderstanding, we went back and watched him again. The angriest dog was snapping and growling as he came rushing out into the yard:
COOPER (7/6/20): And good evening. Thanks for being with us.

If divisive inflammatory racist words could kill the coronavirus, the president of the United States would be heading to Stockholm right now to pick up his Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Instead, tonight, the same as every night, he is safe inside his biological bunker surrounded by people wearing masks and frequently getting tested. And from the safety of his biological bunker, he is encouraging the rest of us not to follow the best scientific advice.

He is trying to persuade the country that the virus is simply vanishing. Or if that won't work, he is trying to divert people's attention elsewhere to smearing a black NASCAR driver, supporting the Confederate flag and statues of traitors, which he claims is part of our proud heritage.

So, knowing it's a diversion, we begin tonight where attention ought to be, on the facts that we all have to face right now. Or as White House Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci put it today, quote, "We are still knee-deep in the first wave of this."

Today, the country crossed another milestone—130,000 lives lost. By tomorrow or Wednesday, it will surpass another three million known COVID cases, that milestone. Those are facts. So is this:

We now have more cases than any other country on Earth and more fatalities, again, than any other country on Earth. We're number one for cases and for deaths. America is first...
The angriest dog was very angry, and he was highly sarcastic.

Dogs like these still don't bother adjusting for size of population. As with Trump, so too here—any bow to intellectual regularity would be viewer as a sign of weakness.

Very frankly, we were sad to see the angriest dog this way. We think of what Elliott said to ET: "Look what they've done to you."

We remember how gentle the angriest dog used to be. Back in 2016, for example, when he twice rolled over for Candidate Trump, letting his stomach be rubbed.

(Candidate Trump was good for ratings. A certain remarkably well-trained dog seemed willing to sit and stay.)

Today, the angriest dog is full of antiracism. It's quite a change from the complete disinterest he and his "cable news" channel have displayed with respect to such topics in the past.

That said, the corporate showboats of cable news are all reciting these days. The angriest dog is visibly angry, and he wants you to know he (now) cares.

Last evening, the angriest dog never abandoned his sarcasm. At one point, he showed us tape of the man for whom he once played pool boy as that man spoke at Mount Rushmore.

He said the president had delivered his comments at Rushmore "by the gaslight's blue glare." The angriest dog is endlessly on the prowl these days, unlike the way he played fetch back then.

After watching the angriest dog, we stuck around for Cuomo. In our view, his work has been weirdly unskilled of late.

Last night, we watched him mansplain his way through an interview about parenting during the time of coronavirus. He delivered his speeches to Keisha Lance Bottoms, who strikes us as roughly a thousand times more competent, sane and disciplined than this cable host is.

Mayor Bottoms listened politely. So it went on CNN as consumers were handed the news.

Late in the evening, on MSNBC, we actually saw Dr. Nahid Bhadelia deliver a significant assessment. This is the way it went down:

Bhadelia spoke as one part of Brian Williams' three-pundit opening panel. Williams maintains this three-pundit procedure to ensure that the attention span of no consumer will ever be taxed or strained.

In this instance, the fact that Williams was discussing three or four different topics with three different guests meant that Bhadelia only spoke twice in the 21-minute opening segment. This is what "discussion" looks like on our cable "news" channels now.

The second time Dr. Bhadelia spoke, she spoke to a very important issue. How many people are likely to die in future weeks, given the nation's sudden increase in (confirmed/reported) coronavirus cases?

How many people are likely to die? As a general matter, cable hosts are too scattered, and perhaps too savvy, to zero in on such questions. On her second and final chance to speak, here's part of what Bhadelia said:
BHADELIA (7/6/20): The trouble is not the current numbers. What we're seeing is, hospitalizations generally are followed by deaths.

From a CDC surveillance from the end of May, what we know is that, of the people who were diagnosed, 14 percent got hospitalized, five percent died.

And maybe that's half of that now. Hopefully, we've done better.
That's still a lot of people of that number that we're seeing hospitalized that are going to follow and may unfortunately pass away.
(If MSNBC ever posts a transcript, it will show up here. Under the corporate channel's apparent new slow-walk procedures, you might check back next year.)

In that statement, Bhadelia seemed to say that something like 2.5 percent of our growing number of new "cases" may end up dying of Covid-19.

Plainly, that was only a rough assessment. But it was a start.

Is Bhadelia's assessment reasonably sensible? We have no way of saying. Needless to say, Brian—he was discussing three topics at once—didn't attempt to clarify, ask or assess.

Nor will he ever ask anyone else. Homey don't play it that way!

Bhadelia was offering a very rough assessment. But if her assessment is accurate, it means that we'll soon be returning to the days of more than one thousand deaths per day.

(As of this morning, our seven-day rolling average stands at 463.7 deaths per day.)

If Dr. Fauci's earlier unexplained assessment is correct—his assessment that we may soon be recording 100,000 new cases per day—Bhadelia's assessment would mean that we'll be experiencing roughly 2500 deaths per day. That would be a higher average than we ever attained in the bad old days of April and May.

Is that the actual shape of our "America carnage" to come? Are we headed for that level of daily deaths?

We have no idea, and it's unlikely that anyone will ever ask. Last night, we saw a snapping dog and some ardent mansplaining, but we saw no real discussions. On cable, it pretty much isn't done.

Williams jumped around among three opening guests, discussing three opening topics. Bhadelia got to speak just twice. He didn't follow up.

Ever since the visitations started, we've been forced to offer sour reports like this.

The visitations, of course, are from the experts who come to us late at night, advising us through the nocturnal submissions the haters refer to as dreams.

These experts keep saying that our species isn't built for real discussion. Scanning the globe in the past few days, we found ourselves forced to admit that these highly credentialed anthropologists may have the germ of a point.

Tomorrow: The Washington Post lets a college grad (class of 2019!) pretend to discuss public schools

Coming later: Cable stars, and everyone else, pretend to discuss police shootings

75 comments:

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    ReplyDelete
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  2. ma0 ma0 * ,!, ,!,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deaths increased 44% yesterday over the previous day

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somerby yesterday: Cases still rising, deaths still decline!

      Somerby today: Oops

      Delete
  4. Deaths in CA increased 350% yesterday over the previous day

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deaths in Texas yesterday was the highest daily death count, a 133% increase over the previous day

    ReplyDelete
  6. Deaths in Arizona just as of 9am today have already surpassed the previous highest daily death count, a 2800% increase over yesterday

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  7. "Dogs like these still don't bother adjusting for size of population. "

    You only need to adjust for size of population if you are going to compare US with other countries.

    You don't need to make such an adjustment to see that a hell of a lot of Americans have died and more are sick, and that the virus has not gone away.

    Looking at the rate adjusted by population might make Somerby feel better about what is happening, but that is not the way the president of the US should be looking at things. He is the president of each and every person who lives here, not of some rate adjusted by population size. He is responsible for all of the lives, not some statistical adjustment, every single goddamned person, living and dead.

    Who benefits when you make feel-good adjustments through statistical manipulations of numbers? Perhaps Somerby. Perhaps people will believe Trump is doing better if the rate and not the actual number of lives is discussed. But not the relatives and friends of those 130,000+ people -- the won't feel any better about their loss.

    Since there is no relative comparison being made -- that matters to Americans living in this country -- Somerby's complaint is ridiculous, repetitious and annoying.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous Ignoramus @12:14P opines,

      You only need to adjust for size of population if you are going to compare US with other countries.

      And here's a line from the Cooper broadcast that TDH complains about:

      We now have more cases than any other country on Earth

      More is literally the comparative of much.

      Looking at the rate adjusted by population might make Somerby feel better about what is happening....

      Why would the adjusted rate comfort anyone? If anything, the context makes things look worse. As of the end of last month, among populous countries (>4M people) with a signficant presence of COVID-19 (>5K cases) we're 4th.

      Perhaps people will believe Trump is doing better if the rate and not the actual number of lives is discussed.

      Both are required to understand the situation. Nobody who can think straight will look at the per capita number and figure Trump is "doing better."

      Since there is no relative comparison being made -- that matters to Americans living in this country

      It's a disease transmissable from human to human. The per capita number tells you the chance of running into someone who can infect you. You don't think that matter to Americans living in this country who want to keep living?

      Congratulations. Every comment you make is an improvement on its successor.

      Delete
    2. The rate of deaths per million looks like a smaller number than 130,000+ people (if you don't know what the numbers imply).

      If you think that knowing the death rate per million is going to help you decide whether to go out or not, I wish you good luck. Does it help you to know the rate in Croatia when making your decision?

      Your comments might be valid but the abuse obscures your points. Can't you let readers decide who is an ignoramus and who isn't?

      Delete
    3. The rate of deaths per million looks like a smaller number than 130,000+ people (if you don't know what the numbers imply).

      9 teaspoons looks like a larger number than 3 tablespoons (if you don't know how many teaspoons there are in a tablespoon). What's your point?

      If you think that knowing the death rate per million is going to help you decide whether to go out or not, I wish you good luck.

      When I said both total cases and cases per capita are necessary to understand the situation, I didn't mean my situation in deciding whether to go out or not. Cumulative cases are historical. For deciding to end quarantine, I'd also want to know the trend in new cases. But in evaluating risk, why wouldn't I compare the per capita cases in my county to the per capita availablility of health care resources, e.g., ICU beds?

      Does it help you to know the rate in Croatia when making your decision?

      I don't live anywhere near Croatia. Why would I take any Croatian statistics into account?

      Your comments might be valid but the abuse obscures your points.

      For anyone who can think straight and knows things like say, how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, the validity of my comments rests on the strength of my evidence and logic. Regardless of my "abusive," yet also valid asides.

      Can't you let readers decide who is an ignoramus and who isn't?

      I take your point, but readers are free to make that decision for themselves regardless of what and how I comment. In this age, both the time to make nice and my patience have run out. Besides, I'm old, surly, and have no feelings, and it won't be as much fun for me.

      Delete
  8. Why does Somerby have to call Anderson Cooper a dog? He seems like an innocuous TV personality who is trying to do a job.

    Was it OK when Trump called women dogs? If not, then why is it OK when Somerby calls Cooper a dog?

    Are we to believe that Somerby, in his musings beneath his pear tree, comes up with images of dogs when he thinks about TV newsreaders? Why does that spring to mind for him? Too much solitude perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why does Somerby have to call Anderson Cooper a dog?

      Do you just read random phrases from the blog entries? It would be better if you read entries in their entirety. I don't know that TDH has to call Cooper a dog. The reason that he does is in the second paragraph:

      [Readers] may recall "The Angriest Dog in the World" as the comic strip created and drawn by a younger version of director David Lynch.

      Was it OK when Trump called women dogs? If not, then why is it OK when Somerby calls Cooper a dog?

      Because calling a woman a dog is to call her ugly. That's not an epithet applied to an ugly man.

      Delete
    2. I have been called a dog.

      I have never seen the mentioned comic strip, so I do not get the reference.

      You think a handyman could come fix my crack?

      Delete
    3. Comparing people to animals is unfair to the animals.

      Delete
    4. Do I think a handyman could fix your crack? I suppose, but you'd have to pull your head out of it first.

      Delete
    5. You are retorting yourself. Get some rest.

      Delete
  9. The US currently ranks 9th in the world for deaths per capita

    Yesterday the US had 780% more deaths than the countries ranked 1-8th, combined

    Deaths per capita in individual states in America eclipse all other countries in the world, dramatically so in those with similar population size and density

    The US ranks 25th for testing per capita, and has yet to reach even half the overall number of tests China has done

    ReplyDelete
  10. The quote of Anderson Cooper's remarks don't seem very sarcastic to me.

    First, sarcasm is a two-channel phenomenon in which the tone of voice does not match the content of what is said. While you cannot tell the tone from a printed transcript, it seems (from what Somerby attributes to Cooper) that Cooper's tone and content are likely congruent, which is not sarcasm. There must be a contradiction between the two in order for it to be sarcasm. Where is the contradiction between angry tone and antry words?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your point may be valid.

      Some of us have no trouble finding tone from the written word.

      I could care less?

      Delete
    2. You can find tone from the written word, but not sarcasm. That's why authors typically write things like:

      "Oh yes, I love school" my daughter said sarcastically.

      Otherwise, the reader might think she actually loved school.

      Or you might describe the nonverbals:

      ""Oh yes, I love school" my daughter said, rolling her eyes.

      But you cannot tell from just the words that were spoken, without any clues or context, as Somerby provided.

      Somerby has added the sarcasm and it doesn't make any sense given what was said in the transcript and what Somerby is attributing to Cooper. If Cooper doesn't believe what he said, how can he be a hypocrite, for example?

      Delete
    3. It's not that it's impossible to deduce tone (and sarcasm in particular) from text. It's that it's difficult to do reliably, and as you point out, why it helps when the author gives descriptive aids.

      Sarcasm relies on the message failing to match the literal meaning of the words. When Cooper says that certain circumstances would dictate that Trump receive the Nobel Prize in medicine, you can be pretty sure he's talking sarcastically without the transcript adding "AC said sarcastically."

      Somerby has added the sarcasm and it doesn't make any sense given what was said in the transcript and what Somerby is attributing to Cooper.

      Except that TDH has drawn his conclusion from watching Cooper's show and not from the transcript.

      If Cooper doesn't believe what he said, how can he be a hypocrite, for example?

      I don't think TDH's complaint is that Cooper is a hypocrite, that he merely pretends to be angry when he's not. It's that Cooper is late to the party, too late at this point. Back in 2016 his biting criticism might have done some good, but it was absent. Now when it can't make any difference, Cooper is an attack dog. Back when it could have, he was a lap dog.

      Delete
    4. Yes if only Cooper had been on the ball in 2016 we would have neoliberal Clinton for president.

      Anyhoo, now Trump is king and we are stuck with him forever.

      Did you detect it?

      Delete
    5. @deadrat
      Does anyone really think Anderson Cooper has any impact on an election?

      It’s cute to call him a “lap dog” or an “attack dog”, but why would anyone think Cooper is functioning that way? I doubt he sees himself as an arbiter of who should or shouldn’t be president.

      So Trump was on his show in 2016. So what? That in and of itself doesn’t show Cooper was a lap dog. What questions did he ask? Did he really offer no criticism of Trump?

      Cooper is critical now because of Trump’s failure during the pandemic. That doesn’t make him an attack dog. He is just making valid criticisms.

      Delete
    6. 'I don't think TDH's complaint is that Cooper is a hypocrite,'

      TDH's complains is that Cooper is not a lying malevolent Trumptard like TDH himself, and dares to challenge the lies of TDH's Orange Messiah.

      Delete
    7. The question was why TDH referred to Cooper as a dog. I think TDH makes the reason clear. He may be justified; he may not. I'm agnostic on the matter since I didn't watch AC in 2016, I don't watch him now, and I didn't watch him during the intervening time. All I'm saying is that the reason for the comparison is no mystery.

      Your disagreement is with TDH, not me.

      Delete
    8. @deadrat
      “I don't think TDH's complaint is that Cooper is a hypocrite, that he merely pretends to be angry when he's not.”

      You don’t think? Would you characterize Cooper as “angry?” I would not. He is offering valid criticisms. And how in hell would Somerby know whether Cooper is pretending? Answer: he does not. And he does seem to be criticizing Cooper for being a hypocrite. That is a standard complaint Somerby lodges.

      Delete
    9. No, I don't think that TDH is criticizing Cooper for hypocrisy. That's the accusation of saying one thing and doing the opposite. TDH says Cooper wasn't critical enough of Trump in 2016 when that posture was good for ratings, and now in 2020 he's changed his stance.

      People are allowed to change their minds. It's just in Cooper's case it's too little too late.

      I don't characterize Cooper as angry. I don't characterize him at all since I don't watch him. It's TDH's contention that Cooper is angry or seems angry. Take your pick, and then take it up with TDH.

      Delete
  11. If Somerby is upset because Anderson Cooper has changed his mind about Trump, how much more upset must he be about the Lincoln Project Republicans, who have all changed from supporting their party's leader to vehemently attacking him?

    Is no one allowed to change with the times in Somerby's world? If Somerby wants to claim that Cooper used to be a racist and is now an anti-racist, what is his evidence? And isn't it better late than never when it comes to getting things right?

    Somerby implies that Cooper is just being fashionable, but isn't a fashionable anti-racism better than old-fashioned racism? I'm not inclined to criticize anyone who wants to jump on this bandwagon.

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    1. I don't believe that TDH is upset with a Cooper change of mind. It's hard to believe that anyone with an ounce of sense (and in particular a journalist, who's supposed to research and report) didn't know that Trump was an incompetent, malignant grifter.

      But Trump was great for ratings then, so AC didn't challenge him lest he spurn AC's show.

      I agree that it's better late than never, but late just might be too late here.

      Delete
    2. 'It's hard to believe that anyone with an ounce of sense (and in particular a journalist, who's supposed to research and report) didn't know that Trump was an incompetent, malignant grifter.
      '

      Indeed. Why then is TDH so bent on defending Trump so ferociously ? And why doesn't TDH speak out against Tucker Carlson and Hannity ? Maybe because they are Trumptards, like TDH himself ?

      Delete
    3. Republicans have always been greedy, incompetent, lying grifters, but TV show hosts cannot refuse to interview Republican candidates on that basis.

      There are still about half of the voters out there who support Republican candidates and they will be angry at the cable station and host if their candidates are not treated politely and taken seriously. Republicans are good at generating the kinds of call-in complaint campaigns that scare cable stations into worrying about advertisers. Why shouldn't Anderson Cooper worry about that -- it is his job at stake? And if CNN were to become a wholly liberal station, where could Republicans go for real news who didn't want to watch Fox?

      And wasn't it Somerby who said that we should be reaching out to The Other? But if Anderson Cooper does it (in 2016), it is wrong?

      This is a culture war and the conservatives have lost. Mainstream cable stars like Cooper are aligning themselves with the moral center, which is now anti-racist. Get used to it. The demographics of this country are shifting toward inclusivity, multiculturalism, diversity, and the reporting and language that respect for all others (not just The Other) requires. It is smart of Cooper to do, and I expect to see everyone doing it soon, except for the retards at Fox News and the conservative white supremacist fringe.

      Delete
    4. I don't know whom your responding to (or really whether your comment was a response to anyone).

      But I don't believe TDH wants cable hosts like AC to treat Republican guests disrespectfully or not interview them at all. Trump was a greedy, incompetent, lying grifter in 2016, just as he is now. AC should have know this if he didn't, and his questioning should have been as sharp then when Trump was on his show as it is now in absentia.

      "The Other" refers to blanket condemnation of groups without finding out anything about them. Not to individual greedy, incompetent, lying grifters on whom you already have the goods.

      This is a culture war and the conservatives have lost. ...

      Can I stop saluting now and sit down? I'm getting a cramp in my right forearm, and my feet hurt.

      Delete
  12. "some ardent mansplaining"

    Mansplaining doesn't occur when a man explains something. It occurs when a man explains something to women (or an affected group) that they already know or that they ought to know better than the man in question.

    We don't want to give up having people explain things to each other -- that is essential to education.

    Personally, I think Somerby threw that term into his diatribe in order to make Anderson Cooper seem more wicked, and I don't like his borrowing of such a term to co-opt it for his own purposes. That is like going off on Cooper and at the end, saying that he doesn't tithe the proper amount to his church either. Out of context and inappropriate.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Reading comprehension?

      “After watching the angriest dog, we stuck around for Cuomo. In our view, his work has been weirdly unskilled of late.

      Last night, we watched him mansplain his way through an interview about parenting during the time of coronavirus. He delivered his speeches to Keisha Lance Bottoms, who strikes us as roughly a thousand times more competent, sane and disciplined than this cable host is.”

      Delete
    3. Yup. Sorry, I stand corrected. I misread the blog entry, my answer to which I will delete after a suitable period.

      Delete
    4. After a suitable period you might as well propose.

      Delete
  13. In the US, of those that catch Covid 19, 4.36% die

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    Replies
    1. In other words, 99% have no problem?

      Delete
    2. No

      100-4.36 is not 99

      In other words, Covid is 43 times more deadly than the flu

      Delete
    3. Having had Covid and survived (as best I can tell), I can assure you, it was not "no problem". It was a big problem, I was not able to function for close to six weeks, six weeks of hell stuck in bed feeling horrible every day. Btw I am relatively young and healthy, it is worse for those who have compromised immune systems, which is a large percentage of people. Apparently some survivors will have chronic long term health issues as a result of Covid, I suppose better than death.

      Delete
    4. @2:03 -- I was being sarcastic

      Delete
  14. Many people (mis)use statistics to support a previously chosen position. Here are some hints from a pro, who used statistics to ascertain reality:

    1. According to the CDC, at least 10 times (and possibly 20 times) as many people have been infected as have been tested and found positive.

    2. More testing finds more people who are asymptomatically infected. As US testing skyrockets, it's difficult to determine how much of the rise in new cases is due to the rise in testing.

    3. Many poor countries have done little testing. So, their case rate and mortality rate are meaningless.

    4. Mortality is measured differently in different places

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can divide the number of positives by the total number tested and determine the prevalence of Covid in a geographic area. For example, it has been 100% in several of the hotspots, while it is much less in places where Covid is decreasing.

      You can also send contact tracers to warn those who have come into contact with each of the positive cases, so that those people can limit themselves from spreading the virus to others. That is how you contain the virus when it is not already everywhere in an area.

      You can use testing the way Trump uses it -- to identify who has the virus so that they are not admitted into proximity with those who are trying not to catch it -- like people's grandparents, the immuno-compromised, and those with underlying conditions that would make the virus potentially fatal to them.

      Of course, Trump's only use for stats is to brag about how well he is doing. He doesn't seem to understand any of the practical uses of testing, except the one that keeps infected secret service and colleagues away from him.

      Delete
    2. 1. That was an offhand ESTIMATE (10 times, not 20 times) made by Robert Redfield, a Trump appointee known for scientific misconduct, SO NO STATISTICS WERE INVOLVED

      1a. Corona testing false positives may be as high as 50%, many people have multiple tests done, Covid death rates are under reported as revealed by death rates year over year

      2. Hospitalizations are peaking, and deaths are rising again so the increase in cases via testing is borne out.

      3. The UK has done a better job of testing than the US (they rank 15th vs 25th), the case fatality rate in the UK is 15%

      4. see #3

      You provided Republican talking points, not hints from a statistics pro - you did not even bother to mention anything about statistics.

      Many people misuse Republican talking points to support a misleading position:

      1. Republicans have no integrity

      2. If you repeat Republican talking points you have no integrity

      3. You are a Republican, you do repeat Republican talking points

      4. You have no integrity

      Delete
  15. “his posing, his endless pretense.”

    What is he pretending about? His anger? His concern?

    What difference does it make? This is a form of mind-reading anyway. The substance of what Cooper said is the important thing. No one can really know whether Cooper is angry or unconcerned.

    Just as no one can really know if Somerby is truly liberal, or whether his anger is genuine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. “What difference does it make? This is a form of mind-reading anyway. The substance of what Cooper said is the important thing. No one can really know whether Cooper is angry or unconcerned.

      Just as no one can really know if Somerby is truly liberal, or whether his anger is genuine.”

      Heavy.

      Delete
    2. I have heard the proof is in the pudding, actions speak louder than words. Some people say this.

      Somerby posts daily, it is not that difficult to discern his thinking; having said that, Somerby has done nothing positive for liberals. Negative? Probably not, he has no influence.

      Delete
  16. “Today, the angriest dog is full of antiracism. It's quite a change from the complete disinterest he and his "cable news" channel have displayed with respect to such topics in the past.”

    Don Lemon would like a word...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cooper is deeply damaged.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes his partner is quite large.

      Delete
  18. Dear Bob, since the question of case fatality rate/infection fatality rate is an important issue, I wanted to make sure to clarify my point from last night. We were discussing the expected deaths among currently diagnosed patients given increased hospitalizations since the question was if death rate will go up. That is the denominator of the CDC report I referenced: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6924e2.htm

    "Diagnosed patients" is smaller denominator than all those with disease (detected + undetected). As we are testing more and we have become better at taking care of these patients, that mortality rate goes down. But there are at least 10 times as many people with disease that we didn't detect in May according to CDC serology estimates. That denominator is much bigger (at least 10 times bigger if you believe the antibody tests).

    The overall IFR/CFR for COVID19 is thought to be around 0.5% by many experts.

    here is a great recent article on this: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01738-2

    I am with you that we need much more sustained science communications in this country than media snippets allow.
    Best regards,

    Nahid Bhadelia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Covid deaths are under reported. The current case fatality rate of just over 4% is actual data and most likely accurate. In fact, it is much worse depending on your age, for the elderly it is as high as 14-15%. I will take data over any appeal to authority.

      Delete
    2. Damn. It’s too bad Somerby doesn’t read his comments.

      Delete
    3. And deadrat says nobody reads Somerby.

      Delete
  19. “Last night, we watched him [Cuomo] mansplain his way through an interview about parenting during the time of coronavirus. He delivered his speeches to Keisha Lance Bottoms, who strikes us as roughly a thousand times more competent, sane and disciplined than this cable host is.”

    This is such a minor thing, but, without viewing the segment, I am going to guess what actually happened, since Somerby didn’t link to it.

    Cuomo got Covid-19, as did his wife and 14-year-old son.

    Bottoms announced yesterday that she had tested positive.

    Cuomo was probably offering his personal experience as husband and father as a way of empathizing and conversing with Bottoms rather than “mansplaining.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bottoms is a bigger failure than Andrew Cuomo. Kemp had to swoop in to rescue her.

      Delete
    2. Chris Cuomo is not Mensa material, fer sure, but aside for his hogging of the airtime, I thought his exchange with Bottoms was cordial and well-intentioned.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hm3fjLXO1Dk

      I’ve had a fair amount of admiration for Bottoms. Heretofore, she didn’t play. How she got to the place of attempting to negotiate with area gangs involved in fighting for territory while keeping out the police, is inexplicable.

      Delete
    3. Atlanta is no paradise but it has had a steady decline in both the number of law enforcement officers and crime rate in the last 20 years.

      For the elitists playing at home, Mensa is cancelled.

      Delete
  20. And I made all this chicken salad.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Replies
    1. Did you try adding the zest?

      Delete
    2. Here, I’ll fetch you a plate [adding chlorine]

      Delete
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