Cooper, Weir discuss deaths in the U.S., Brazil!

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020

Lack of elementary journalistic/analytical skill:
In yesterday's post, we should have mentioned the difference between the dueling front-page headlines.

We mentioned the struggles in the New York Times. We didn't mention the Washington Post. Below, you see the dueling front-page headlines from the two major newspapers:
New York Times headlines (online):
Daily Virus Death Toll Rises in Some States
In several states where the virus has surged in recent weeks, the death toll is edging up. That may end a long period in which the national toll has steadily declined.

Washington Post headline (print edition):
Once falling, daily death toll from virus rises anew
The New York Times still wasn't sure that the nationwide decline in deaths had ended. The Washington Post was willing to say that the death toll was rising again.

(It was clear, within its report, that the Post was referring to the nationwide death toll.)

As of this morning, the 7-day rolling average stands at 673.6 deaths per day nationwide. That's where the nationwide average stood way back on Bloomsday—way back on June 16, almost a month ago.

As of yesterday morning, it was already easy to say that the decline had ended. As of today, it's hard to deny that daily deaths actually seem to be rising:

(On the morning of July 1, the average number of daily deaths stood at 538.7. Today, the 7-day average is roughly 25 percent higher than that.)

As of yesterday morning, the New York Times still wasn't ready to say that the decline was over. Then too, there was CNN's July 9 report, a rebroadcast of which we watched on CNN last night.

At issue is the lack of statistical sophistication within our upper-end press corps. By "lack of statistical sophistication," we actually mean lack of the most elementary journalistic / analytical skills.

Remember, this is anthropology! We don't mean this as a criticism of the essential decency, or the essential worth, of the individuals involved.

But Thursday night's brief report about Brazil featured a rolling and remarkable lack of basic journalistic skill. Anderson Cooper led it off, and then he threw to Bill Weir:
COOPER (7/9/20): More now on Brazil and President Bolsonaro, who has mocked the virus and was infected by it. Sadly, his was just one of tens of thousands of new cases in recent days.

Brazil now ranks second only to the United States in confirmed cases and in deaths, and in the hills outside Sao Paulo, drone footage tells the story:

Row after row of newly prepared graves. None likely will stay empty for long. The way things are going, none will be the last.

CNN's Bill Weir is in the capital city, Brasilia. He joins us now.
So Bill, what's the latest there and what's being done to try to deal with this spread?

WEIR: Well, the latest, Anderson—about another 40,000 or so confirmed cases and another 1,100 fatalities. They are closing in on close to 70,000 tragic deaths due to COVID-19.

But the testing here, you've got to keep in mind, is one-sixth of what's happening in the United States. So most experts think those numbers are vastly under-reported by a factor of 10.

And as we've seen, and as we've been discussing, you know, from South Korea to Sweden, this virus has really laid bare the strength of communities and the smarts of the people in charge. And it's no coincidence, I suppose, that number one and number two, and the worst categories these days, are led by sort of cult-of-personality leaders...
Weir continued a bit from there. In fairness, the journalists remembered to say that the cases and the deaths were not only "sad" but were also "tragic."

Still, consider what had been said:

Cooper fails to adjust: As he started, Cooper said this: "Brazil now ranks second only to the United States in confirmed cases and in deaths."

That's true, but only if we're talking about total numbers of confirmed cases and deaths to date. But if we make an obvious statistical adjustment—if we adjust for total numbers to date per million people—that statement isn't accurate.

(Would that statement be true if we were talking about current death rates per million people—average daily deaths per million? We have no idea, and you can be fairly sure that Cooper doesn't know either.

Bill Weir does adjust: Cooper was telling the preferred story, in which the United States is worst in the world under Trump.

Now, though, when Cooper threw to Weir, Weir made the type of adjustment for population Cooper hadn't made, although he didn't say so.

Weir started by saying this: "The testing [in Brazil] is one-sixth of what's happening in the United States." Based in part on a look at the data, we're assuming he meant the total number of tests to date, although he didn't specify.

The number of tests in Brazil, to date, is one-sixth the number of tests in the United States? That's true if you adjust for population. If you deal in absolute numbers, the number of tests in Brazil to date is one-eleventh the number in the United States.

(What's the current level of daily testing in these two large nations? We have no idea. Neither does anyone relying on CNN for information.)

Now we hit Weir's most striking statement. Based upon other things one hears on TV, this only creates confusion:
"The testing here...is one-sixth of what's happening in the United States. So most experts think those numbers are vastly under-reported by a factor of 10."
Most experts think the actual number of cases in Brazil is ten times the reported number? That assessment may be accurate, though we have no way of knowing.

That said, a few nights earlier, that's exactly what Dr. Irwin Redlener told Brian Williams about the actual number of cases in the United States! Redlener seemed to be applying an earlier statement by Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC.

With this, we offer a warning:

When you watch cable news, you're hearing Storyline. There's a vastly lesser interest in reliable, clear information.

For Cooper, the current storyline is this: Under President Donald J. Trump, everything here is the worst.

That's the basic storyline Cooper wants viewers to hear. For that reason, viewers are sarcastically told that we're number one in the world when it comes to deaths. Viewers are never shown such basic statistics as these:
Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:
Belgium: 844
United Kingdom: 660
Spain: 607
Italy: 576
Sweden: 548
France: 460
United States: 415
[Chile, Netherlands, Peru, Ireland]
Brazil: 336
Using Weir's language, the U.S. and Brazil are only "number one and number two" in the world if you don't adjust for size of population. In fairness, that depends on what Weir was actually talking about, which remained unclear for every viewer and even, perhaps, for Bill Weir.

Make no mistake! Before this whole disaster is done, the United States may well be number one for deaths even adjusted for population. We say that because our daily deaths have started to rise once again, while many other countries seem to have wrestled daily deaths to the ground.

It would be interesting to see Cooper convey such elementary information to CNN's viewers. But CNN, and especially Cooper, have long since ceased to focus on the reporting of information, even basic information.

Cooper is almost all storyline now. He opens with sarcasm, and he rarely lets up. He's become a parody of a journalist—but as they say on cable TV, "This is CNN."

Meanwhile, at the Times, they still weren't sure if the decline in deaths was over! For what it's worth, the lead reporter for the report which generated those headlines is a Harvard grad.

Eventually, the Times report said this. We're prepared to believe that the editor did it:
Some officials have attributed the drop in deaths over the last few months to improvements in treatment for the virus. Doctors have more tools today than they did in the spring, including the use of remdesivir, an anti-viral drug that has been shown to shorten hospital stays though not reduce fatalities.
The drop in deaths has been attributed to treatments like remdesivir, an anti-viral drug which doesn't reduce fatalities! So it goes at the very top of our remarkable press corps.

The United States is, indeed, involved in a rolling disaster. All roads from that rolling disaster lead back to Donald J. Trump.

That said, Cooper's a bit of a rolling disaster too. Ask yourself two questions:

First question: To what extent does our actual number of new daily cases exceed our reported number of new daily cases?

It would be interesting to see that question hashed out. Unfortunately, that question lies several light years beyond the verdant planets, Sarcasm and Storyline, where Cooper now makes his homes.

Second question: How does our nation's current number of daily deaths (adjusted for population) compare to current numbers from other nations?

Those statistics would be grossly embarrassing for the United States. Those numbers would illustrate the size of our disastrous failure to function under President Donald J. Trump.

That said, you'll never see those numbers on CNN, and you aren't likely to see them in the Times. Those numbers would represent real information, and people like Cooper are happy to laze along feeding you pure storyline.

Put another way, those numbers would be hard. Cable news likes it easy.

CNN's multimillionaire hosts have amazingly few analytical skills. At present, the channel is serving you two major products: Sarcasm, Storyline.

Plus, those deaths are tragic and sad. They remember to inform us of that, as any sharp analysts would.

Full disclosure: We offer this as anthropology. This is the way our species actually functions, or so major experts have said.

45 comments:

  1. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    New Jersey: 1757 (highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. HOW I GOT MY HUSBAND BACK WITH THE HELP OF PRIEST WISDOM CONTACT ON WHATS_APP NUMBER +2348124644470

      This is my testimony about the good work of priest wisdom who help me.... I'm Ann Earnis from north Carolina USA. And am sorry for putting this on net but i will have to, by this world best spell caster that brought back my husband who left me out for past 3 years, i eventually met this man on a blog site posting by one of is client for help, i explained everything to him and he told me about a spell caster that he had heard about and he gave me an email address to write to the spell caster to tell him my problems. In just 1 days, my husband was back to me. I just want to say thank you to this truthful and sincere spell caster, sir all you told me have come to pass and thank you sir. Please I want to tell everyone who is looking for any solution to their problem, I advise you to kindly consult this spell caster, he is real,he is powerful and whatever the spell caster tells is what will happen, because all what the spell caster told me came to pass. You can kindly contact him on: his email address is supernaturalspell1@gmail.com or directly on whats-app +2348124644470  or   https://supernaturalspell21.blogspot.com/  


















      HOW I GOT MY HUSBAND BACK WITH THE HELP OF PRIEST WISDOM CONTACT ON WHATS_APP NUMBER +2348124644470

      This is my testimony about the good work of priest wisdom who help me.... I'm Ann Earnis from north Carolina USA. And am sorry for putting this on net but i will have to, by this world best spell caster that brought back my husband who left me out for past 3 years, i eventually met this man on a blog site posting by one of is client for help, i explained everything to him and he told me about a spell caster that he had heard about and he gave me an email address to write to the spell caster to tell him my problems. In just 1 days, my husband was back to me. I just want to say thank you to this truthful and sincere spell caster, sir all you told me have come to pass and thank you sir. Please I want to tell everyone who is looking for any solution to their problem, I advise you to kindly consult this spell caster, he is real,he is powerful and whatever the spell caster tells is what will happen, because all what the spell caster told me came to pass. You can kindly contact him on: his email address is supernaturalspell1@gmail.com or directly on whats-app +2348124644470  or   https://supernaturalspell21.blogspot.com/  



      .........

      Delete
    2. A GREAT SPELL CASTER (DR. EMU) THAT HELP ME BRING BACK MY EX GIRLFRIEND.
      Am so happy to testify about a great spell caster that helped me when all hope was lost for me to unite with my ex-girlfriend that I love so much. I had a girlfriend that love me so much but something terrible happen to our relationship one afternoon when her friend that was always trying to get to me was trying to force me to make love to her just because she was been jealous of her friend that i was dating and on the scene my girlfriend just walk in and she thought we had something special doing together, i tried to explain things to her that her friend always do this whenever she is not with me and i always refuse her but i never told her because i did not want the both of them to be enemies to each other but she never believed me. She broke up with me and I tried times without numbers to make her believe me but she never believed me until one day i heard about the DR. EMU and I emailed him and he replied to me so kindly and helped me get back my lovely relationship that was already gone for two months.
      Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com
      Call or Whats-app him: +2347012841542

      Delete
    3. A GREAT SPELL CASTER (DR. EMU) THAT HELP ME BRING BACK MY EX GIRLFRIEND.
      Am so happy to testify about a great spell caster that helped me when all hope was lost for me to unite with my ex-girlfriend that I love so much. I had a girlfriend that love me so much but something terrible happen to our relationship one afternoon when her friend that was always trying to get to me was trying to force me to make love to her just because she was been jealous of her friend that i was dating and on the scene my girlfriend just walk in and she thought we had something special doing together, i tried to explain things to her that her friend always do this whenever she is not with me and i always refuse her but i never told her because i did not want the both of them to be enemies to each other but she never believed me. She broke up with me and I tried times without numbers to make her believe me but she never believed me until one day i heard about the DR. EMU and I emailed him and he replied to me so kindly and helped me get back my lovely relationship that was already gone for two months.
      Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com
      Call or Whats-app him: +2347012841542

      Delete
  2. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    New York: 1665 (2nd highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    Connecticut: 1220 (4th highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    Massachusetts: 1206 (5th highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    Rhode Island: 921 (6th highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    Washington DC: 805 (8th highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Total deaths from coronavirus, per million population, as of July 12:

    Louisiana: 733 (9th highest in the world)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The number of total deaths per million can never go down, only up. It is a cumulative number, even when adjusted by population.

      Even if Louisiana were to have no more covid deaths from here on out, it would remain 9th highest, as long as other countries have controlled their virus infections.

      Delete
    2. Yes that is the point. TDH wants the context of deaths per million on the meaningless scale of country-wide. Why? Who knows, but it plays to Trump's advantage regardless of TDH's intent. More meaningful is a comparison of areas with similar size, population, and population density. On that scale, the US is the worst and increasingly so as we have a done a relatively poor job at controlling the virus.

      Delete
    3. Total deaths per million is kind of a non sequitur - in the colloquial sense, and deaths per million is not really a cumulative number, it is a ratio. Overall the US is 9th in the world for deaths per million; however, the US deaths per day are many times the daily deaths of all of #1-8 countries combined.

      Delete
  8. "At issue is the lack of statistical sophistication within our upper-end press corps. By "lack of statistical sophistication," we actually mean lack of the most elementary journalistic / analytical skills."

    No, Somerby does not get to redefine terms to suit his own idiosyncratic viewpoints.

    The term "statistical sophistication" does not refer to "elementary journalistic/analytical skills". It refers to training and understanding of the creation and use of statistics to describe data sets. Period. Nothing about journalism.

    Because statistics always describe data, analysis cannot be performed without understanding the nature of the underlying data. The statistics themselves don't know where the data comes from. The statistics can be applied and operate independent of the coherence of the data set. So it remains for the statistician to understand what the data mean and to apply statistics correctly so that results can be interpreted in a valid way.

    One mistake made when calculating means is to combine apples and oranges into the same data set. To the extent that apples and oranges are different from each other, the means for each group separately are likely to be different. When you combine them into a single group, the resulting mean conceals the fact that the distribution is in fact bimodal (you need to graph data to find that out). Trying to analyze a basic statistic such as the mean will be misleading in that circumstance.

    Here Somerby wants to talk about a national death rate, as if the same thing were happening all over the country, as if every community were equally infected by the virus. That isn't the case. Our country is very large and there are big differences from place to place. That makes the mean misleading, depending on the state of the virus in your region. Oregon is not Texas and Vermont is not Florida.

    But Somerby blithely interprets the reported national mean deaths as if it meant something important. He would do better to talk about what is happening in Texas and Florida, and more importantly, why covid is increasing there, than to chide the NY Times because it didn't consider two days of increase a strong trend, whereas the Post did. No one can doubt that there are increases in TX and FL. The upward trend of the daily national mean only shows that those states are big enough to dominate what may be happening in the rest of the states. Texas is a very big country, so when it is bad there, presumably it is bad for us all -- reasons Somerby. This is patently ridiculous. Are the numbers going up everywhere or is there just a big spike in a populous state? Whoever interprets the stats should be considering that. Not journalists -- public health officials in the CDC, who tell Somerby and the rest of us what the numbers mean.

    And why should we care what the numbers are for other nations? We don't live there. It won't change our situation. It doesn't even tell us what to do, in the face of a president who doesn't care about his nation's well-being. The president wore a mask today to visit a Veteran's hospital. They no doubt wouldn't let him in otherwise. It doesn't signal any change in policy on his part -- he has no policy.

    But Somerby prefers one headline to another. For no good reason because he doesn't know how to think about data statistically, but he likes to pretend that connecting the dots from one day to the next makes a trend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "as if every community were equally infected by the virus. That isn't the case. Our country is very large and there are big differences from place to place" Yes, that is the exact same thing I found wrong with this piece. It is not that important that the national average of deaths is increasing. We won't too look at regions.

      Puzzingly, the ratio of deaths/cases is still far lower than a month ago.

      https://www.seattle-data.com/comparisons/state-deaths

      Delete
    2. Not so puzzling when there are several proposed explanations for that ratio:

      1. better treatment (no longer using protocols for severe respiratory failure as model, using less aggressive but more effective approaches learned via experience with covid)
      2. less overwhelmed hospital staff and ICUs
      3. greater availability of resources such as ventilators and associated drugs
      4. patients no longer being sent to nursing homes, better visiting and staff testing at nursing homes where patients are more vulnerable
      5. younger people becoming infected because they are the ones ignoring social distancing, not older at-risk people
      6. redesivir and similar new drugs being tested
      7. prevention of inflammatory reactions of the auto-immune system
      8. less delay in seeking and obtaining medical attention for serious cases, earlier intervention, greater awareness of varied symptoms, support systems for those ill at home
      9. Pressure in some states to under-report deaths, less testing of sick people, failure to test for covid after death so deaths appear to be from other causes.

      You don't have to call this puzzling just because Somerby does. He is either not following this closely or he has an interest in pretending the press isn't reporting what is happening. All of the things I've listed come from the media, especially the local briefings occurring daily in my geographic area.

      If you are asking why this past month shows such a difference, there are possible explanations for that too. One is that every day matters and new info is being shared among medical practitioners daily. Another is that the reopening has occurred over the past month, and has been most enthusiastic among young people and they are in general more likely to survive the virus.

      I would expect the ratio to go up a little in the coming weeks because of the shortages and strain on resources in Houston and Arizona. They will be more like Italy and NYC were. In other places were virus cases are increasing, there are not strains on ICU beds or hospital ERs.

      Delete
  9. "Those statistics would be grossly embarrassing for the United States. Those numbers would illustrate the size of our disastrous failure to function under President Donald J. Trump."

    1. Why is Somerby worried about embarrassment when people are dead?

    2. Notice how Somerby says that this represents "our disastrous failure" not Trump's, not the Republicans, not the red states who refused to wear masks. Yes, this is partly De Blasio's fault, but there is a lot of blame to go around. But it is certainly not "our" fault as a nation, not the Democrat's fault, not the fault of the hardworking health care workers and ambulance drivers, those who endured the shutdown only to see their sacrifice unravel. I spit on his "our".

    ReplyDelete
  10. "It would be interesting to see that question hashed out. Unfortunately, that question lies several light years beyond the verdant planets, Sarcasm and Storyline, where Cooper now makes his homes."

    Somerby apparently wants Cooper to go out and interview all of the doctors who signed death certificates, the coroners and funeral homes, to figure out whether grandpa really died at home of natural causes or was secretly infected by covid. When it says "respiratory failure" on the death certificate is that code for an untested covid patient, or did the deceased actually have COPD or pneumonia. Somerby wants to know, so Cooper better get out there and DO HIS JOB! Because Somerby demands it.

    If the living cannot get tested unless they have symptoms (thus they cannot get on an airplane to places like Hawaii, which demands a negative test result to get on the plane), does anyone think hospitals are routinely testing those who die just so Somerby can have his daily dose of news?

    ReplyDelete
  11. "the channel is serving you two major products: Sarcasm, Storyline"

    I think Somerby is supplying the sarcasm. As to storyline, is Somerby suggesting that CNN shake things up by reporting more flashbacks? Viewers who drop in and out of a broadcast might find that confusing. What would a report without a storyline look like?

    "In other news, 89%, only 60% capacity, de Blasio said "wow, I won't do that again?", hurricane, and now this..."

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Mark Urquiza rarely left the house while Arizona’s stay-at-home order was in place except to do his job, which was deemed essential, his daughter said. He started to go out with friends after Ducey and Trump said people could safely resume their normal lives, even as his daughter begged him to stay home.

    Kristin Urquiza remembers that as the state continued to reopen, her father told her the governor was encouraging residents to go out in public again. Mark Urquiza asked his daughter: Why would he do that if it was still dangerous?"

    THIS is what we should be talking about...not how the daily death toll is reporting in the NY Times versus the Washington Post. THIS, not statistics, is how people decide whether to go out or stay home. THIS is the source of leadership failure, not journalism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark Urquiza died June 30 of complications from COVID-19.

      Delete
  13. It's never a bad time to elect a lazy sociopath to run a country.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "For Cooper, the current storyline is this: Under President Donald J. Trump, everything here is the worst."

    It is the worst.

    Then Somerby lists countries with their deaths per millions and we are not at the top of the list, so he thinks we are OK, not worst.

    He ignores that countries such as Spain and Belgium now have their virus under control, whereas we are still in the midst of rising infections and overwhelmed hospitals, we aren't done yet.

    He doesn't discuss how likely it is that we may yet hit the top of his list of little countries in Europe, because as long as he keeps his focus narrow, he can pretend we aren't as bad as the fake news wants us to seem.

    In this, he is little different than Trump, who only hears what he wants to hear and never listens to experts about anything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's bad all right. Maybe it's even the worst, as you say.

      But that's no excuse for lazy journalism. Or worse, journalism that keeps eyeballs glued by deliberately shaping evidence to suit a story line.

      As for your point that Somerby "doesn't discuss how likely it is that we may yet hit the top of the list of little countries in Europe," didn't you read the following in which he says exactly what you claim he didn't?

      QUOTE:

      "Make no mistake! Before this whole disaster is done, the United States may well be number one for deaths even adjusted for population. We say that because our daily deaths have started to rise once again, while many other countries seem to have wrestled daily deaths to the ground.

      It would be interesting to see Cooper convey such elementary information to CNN's viewers. But CNN, and especially Cooper, have long since ceased to focus on the reporting of information, even basic information."

      END QUOTE

      Now I understand that a lot of commenters here seem fed up with Somerby that they can barely bring themselves to read him. But if you can't bring yourself to read what he says, ALL that he says, how can you make a constructive comment?

      Oh well.

      Delete
    2. Cooper conveyed correct information. We are among the worst, if not THE worst nation in terms of dealing with covid.

      Somerby thinks he understands statistics well enough to critique the news. He doesn't. He routinely makes basic mistakes himself, including today.

      You think that admitting that we may well top the list eventually gets him off the hook? It doesn't, because Cooper didn't present that list -- he said we are doing badly and that remains true no matter where we are on Somerby's favorite list.

      Cooper is doing the right thing by summarizing what the consequences are of such numbers, not quoting them directly. Putting up a list like Somerby's doesn't work on TV because readers don't have time to figure out what it means, even if they are comfortable with numbers. Cooper's summary of the info is right -- we are doomed. Somerby should discuss that evaluation but instead he's off on a nit-pick chase, calling journalists incompetent statistically when it is himself who doesn't know what these numbers imply about our situation.

      I have made several constructive comments today. Your point implies that Somerby agrees with Cooper's conclusion. I don't believe that is true.

      Delete
    3. Anon 4:22, nicely put. Somerby continually nitpicks over small matters, quite often on matter he is ignorant about when commenting on an item that criticizes DJT (or Barr, Roy Moore etc).

      But he repeats right wing talking points, such as those from Faux, uncritically.

      Somerby complains about media narratives, but he has his own narrative -- a narrative that just happens to consist of defending DJT, Barr etc. I ('We') can't 100% say that Somerby is a malevolent Trumptard, but
      certainly 90-95% of evidence points that way

      Delete
    4. How does Somerby make a living? He doesn't work. Anyone know who funds him?

      Delete
    5. Right! So you read all of what Somerby wrote, and then you made a false claim, i.e. he "doesn't discuss how likely it is that we may yet hit the top of the list of little countries in Europe." Did you just say that just to score points -- that's intellectual dishonesty. I don't call it constructive at all.

      I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt when I said that maybe you didn't read everything he wrote. Since you don't want to own up to your "mistake" (or intellectual dishonesty, take your pick), you shift your focus to whether Cooper did a good job (which Somerby says he didn't), and you say Cooper did. That's an argument worth making. So why go out of your way to misrepresent Somerby? Is it because you think your argument can't stand on its own merits?

      Oh well.

      Very slippery.

      Delete
    6. 10:00, it is not central to 12:07's point. His point is Somerby is slippery with his agenda. Somerby's qualifier comes after days of insisting that deaths were on the decline so there should not be hand wringing over cases. This was obviously ridiculous, it is clear that deaths lag cases, yet Somerby kept pushing his narrative. The late arriving qualifier rings hollow, context matters. I do not know if it is ironic, but your complaint actually cuts against Somerby, not 12:07.

      Delete
    7. anon @11:51

      Somerby never argued that "there should not be hand wringing over" deaths-- that's your characterization, designed, it seems, to make Somerby look as heartless or incompetent as possible. He only asked that the press (print and electronic) do something, anything to ADDRESS the lag between the rise in cases and decline in deaths -- he wasn't seeing that, and it seems to me to be a pertinent question to ask. The so-called "late arriving qualifier" that deaths seemed now to be on the rise arose from the reality that Somerby is reading the same data everyone else is, and the number of deaths had started to climb. You call that "slippery." I call it "paying attention" and relaying the facts as they happen. But 12:07's outright misrepresentation of Somerby's statement is dishonest, and your claim that he scorned "hand-wringing" over deaths is at the very least distorted.

      Delete
    8. Somerby pointedly headlined repeatedly with the notion that cases were rising but deaths were not, as if that was significant. It was not. It was an attempt to thumb his nose at liberals.

      It was not a pertinent question, it was obvious to everyone, even Somerby. He does not discuss in good faith. Everyone knows cases lag re opening and deaths lag cases. When Somerby wants to push his agenda, he always pretends he is unaware of context.

      Trump is suffering from a significant drop in polls as a result of events of the past few weeks. Somerby's theory on politics is demonstrably wrong. Somerby tends to headline when Trump has the slightest uptick in polls, never mentions when his polls drop, particularly when politics he disapproves of is being effective. He does not operate in good faith.

      Delete
  15. If we had never done any testing at all, we would have 0 confirmed cases and we would be at the bottom of all the lists. If there were no testing, no death certificate would say covid on it, and there would be 0 deaths per million, 0 deaths at all.

    Everyone would be happy and we could go about our business without worrying about social distancing or masks.

    The only problem is that people would still be dying, dead, sick, have lingering health problems, and no family would be untouched by the virus. But perhaps we would be happy, since no one would know why. And bleach sales would go up.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "All roads from that rolling disaster lead back to Donald J. Trump."

    This is dembot-Cooper's "preferred story", we get it.

    But isn't it also your own "preferred story", dear Bob? Could you clarify, please? You liberals aren't easy to decipher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump is no worse than any other establishment loving, bigoted, Republican. He's the current figure-head for their criminal enterprise, but they'll find another piece of shit to glom onto, as soon as he's out of office.
      Bet on it.

      Delete
    2. Trump doesn't love the establishment. He loves himself and he loves money. Republicans cling to him with the hope that they can pick up the crumbs he leaves as he loots the country.

      Delete
    3. "Trump doesn't love the establishment."

      His cabinet appointments say otherwise.

      Delete
  17. Somerby doesn't mention why Belgium's numbers are so high. It's because Belgium counts suspected COVID cases in deaths, which the US does not (for the most part). Belgium is singularly honest about it's death numbers, but many US states are not.

    Somerby is a malevolent Trumptard, so he focuses his complaints on his usual bashing of anyone who dares to criticize his Orange Messiah.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Are you arguing that Somerby is number three?

    Excessively literal.

    ReplyDelete
  19. From the Times:
    “The seven-day death average in the United States reached 608 on Thursday, up from 471 earlier in July, but still a fraction of the more than 2,200 deaths the country averaged each day in mid-April, when the situation in the Northeast was at its worst.

    Some health experts cautioned that it was too early to predict a continuing trend from only a few days of data. But on Friday, Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, struck a different tone than President Trump has in recent days, saying that she expects to soon see an increase in deaths.”

    From the Post:
    “After mid-April, the daily death toll declined as shutdown orders took effect across the country and the virus curve began to flatten. The low point came July 5, with 217 recorded coronavirus deaths, the lowest toll since March 24, when the pandemic was in its initial upswing.

    Since then, amid record-breaking case numbers in several states, the death count has begun to rise, surpassing 800 deaths each of the past four days. Although still below the highs in April and May, when more than 2,000 people per day were regularly dying from the virus, experts warn that the trend could continue to get worse.”

    There isn’t much difference between the two accounts, and they both convey factual information.

    ReplyDelete
  20. 3:46 is calling 4:04 an asshole because 11:32 called Somerby an asshole? Wouldn't that make 3:46 an asshole? You guys figure it out, all this asshole talk is making me need to go poop.

    Ok, tanks fo da chuckle. I am enjoying the slow burn.

    ReplyDelete
  21. EFFECTIVE LOVE SPELL TO GET EX HUSBAND/BOYFRIEND OR EX WIFE/GIRLFRIEND AND CURE HERPES AND INFERTILITY THAT WORKS WITHIN 24 HOURS.

    Contact Dr. Odunga at odungaspelltemple@gmail.com OR Whats App/CALL +2348167159012

    I got my ex husband back to me and also got fertile and gave birth to twin girls after 12 years of marriage.
    When I came online last year, I saw a testimony about Doctor ODUNGA and how he has been helping people with marriage issues and I decided to contact him. We spoke on email at odungaspelltemple@gmail.com and later he gave me his WhatsApp number which is +2348167159012. He assured me he would help me get my ex husband back after 3 years of no contact. Doctor Odunga is the best spell caster I must say. My husband called me after 24 hours of contact. The third day, I received natural herbs for fertility and after using it, I became fertile and conceived. I and my husband reconnected, had sex and I was pregnant. Presently I am happy to say I am the mother of twin girls and this is ALL THANKS TO DOCTOR ODUNGA. I came online to say this If you need help, I believe you are saved with this man.

    Contact his email at odungaspelltemple@gmail.com

    OR Whats App/Call +2348167159012 and you too will give a testimony too to help others

    ReplyDelete
  22. Online Assignment Writing Services website guarantees a 100% uniqueness of every assignment. Solving every task, we never forget about the writing style of your project.

    ReplyDelete
  23. PLEASE READ...                    

    From the bottom of my heart, I can never thank you enough DR.BALBOSA for the wonderful work you did for me and my kids to bring back my husband. Am stella Andre from England. I was having serious relationship problems with my husband and he was no longer committed to me and our kids, when i asked him what the problem was he told me he has fell out of love for me and wanted a divorce and  i was so heart broken, i cried all day and night, it had resulted in him moving out to his friend’s apartment. Everything got worse because he started going to bars and strip clubs frequently with his friend, getting drunk and passing out. He always threatens me on the phone whenever I call him because of all the bad advice that his friend has given him. I really love him and we had been married for 8 years which gave us a beautiful daughter and a son. I had also lost a lot of money on therapists until I was introduced to DR. BALBOSA by a friend whom he helped to marry her childhood boyfriend, this gave me total confidence and strength to get him back. I did all that DR. BALBOSA asked me to do it and I also followed all instructions given to me by DR. BALBOSA to my greatest surprise after 48 hours my husband called me and rushed back home with a brown new car for me and our kids... things just changed between us emotionally, I was the happiest woman on earth that day. my husband now has a good job and stopped drinking and he stopped keeping irrelevant friends. It’s a miracle I never believed was possible because I had lost all hope until I found DR. BALBOSA...contact him today and get your love back i can assure you .... contact him on his Email on: balbosasolutionhome@gmail.com and CALL/ WHATSAPP: +2347048047728...BYE... 





    PLEASE READ...                    

    From the bottom of my heart, I can never thank you enough DR.BALBOSA for the wonderful work you did for me and my kids to bring back my husband. Am stella Andre from England. I was having serious relationship problems with my husband and he was no longer committed to me and our kids, when i asked him what the problem was he told me he has fell out of love for me and wanted a divorce and  i was so heart broken, i cried all day and night, it had resulted in him moving out to his friend’s apartment. Everything got worse because he started going to bars and strip clubs frequently with his friend, getting drunk and passing out. He always threatens me on the phone whenever I call him because of all the bad advice that his friend has given him. I really love him and we had been married for 8 years which gave us a beautiful daughter and a son. I had also lost a lot of money on therapists until I was introduced to DR. BALBOSA by a friend whom he helped to marry her childhood boyfriend, this gave me total confidence and strength to get him back. I did all that DR. BALBOSA asked me to do it and I also followed all instructions given to me by DR. BALBOSA to my greatest surprise after 48 hours my husband called me and rushed back home with a brown new car for me and our kids... things just changed between us emotionally, I was the happiest woman on earth that day. my husband now has a good job and stopped drinking and he stopped keeping irrelevant friends. It’s a miracle I never believed was possible because I had lost all hope until I found DR. BALBOSA...contact him today and get your love back i can assure you .... contact him on his Email on: balbosasolutionhome@gmail.com and CALL/ WHATSAPP: +2347048047728...BYE... 

    ReplyDelete
  24. Writing perfect essays online became a rutine for me. I liked it from the very beginning and still like my job as a freelance writer but I also would like to rest from my favorite occupation to refill the source of inspiration and restore my energy.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for the post for me this is very useful information. I want to write an essay and I will write it using the coursework writing service. Because it will be very convenient and high quality.

    ReplyDelete