Food Supply; Trayf Ed.

The [coronavirus] outbreaks led 38 factories to cease operations for days or even weeks. Because of the highly consolidated state of meat processing in the US, those closures led to what some analysts say could be as much as a 50% drop in meat production. ... For farmers who have pigs ready for slaughter, there are no easy solutions.

Once pigs reach 350 to 400 pounds they are too large for slaughterhouse equipment. Continuing to feed hogs that will never be sold is a drain on the farm's bottom line. And new piglets are being born in sow houses every day. Farmers simply have no place to put them.

One farmer reported that he can sell 25% of his production, which is not enough for his farm to survive for the long-term.

The days of cheap-ish meat may be gone for awhile.

One May Regret That There Is No Death Penalty in Michigan

Three people are charged with the murder of a Family Dollar security guard in Flint, who was enforcing the store's policy requiring face masks.

Two men remain at large while a woman has been arrested and is awaiting arraignment in the Genesee County Jail.

The male suspects are 44-year-old Larry Edward Teague and 23-year-old Ramonyea Bishop. Teague's wife and Bishop's mother, 45-year-old Sharmel Teague, has been arrested.

One might also hope that the idiots at large do something else stupid and end up being toe-tagged.

Crude Oil is Now Cheaper Than Free

These are crazy times.

The dramatic collapse in worldwide demand for oil led to an extraordinary development on Monday: U.S. oil prices fell below zero for the first time ever, and kept falling.

The key U.S. oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, settled at negative $37.63.

Driven by a trading contract deadline, traders desperately looked for buyers for the barrels of oil they normally hold in their books. But buyers were hard to find — even when the oil was being given away for free.

So some traders, instead of paying to buy oil, were ready to pay as much as $37.63 to get someone to accept delivery of one barrel of oil.

A few years back, crude was at or over $100/barrel. Now, if you have a tank complex that can accept a lot of crude oil, you can get paid to fill it up.

If the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not topped off, now's the time.

Coronavirus Scalper Told to Go Fuck Himself

A supermarket boss has given one of his customers the bird after it’s claimed the man tried to return almost 5000 rolls of toilet paper and 150 bottles of hand sanitiser which he couldn’t sell online.
...
[The supermarket boss] said the man had come into the store to get his money back after website eBay refused to allow him to sell the items online.

That's just delicious that the jerk is stuck with his goods.

He's not the first guy to find out that people are not amused by hoarders who are trying to make speculative profits during the pandemic.

The jerk is at least lucky that his name wasn't publicized.

Of Course Trump Will Find Someone Else to Blame

Hours after suggesting that the bipartisan concerns of governors about his assertion of power would amount to an insurrection, Trump abruptly reversed course Tuesday, saying he would leave it to governors to determine when and how to revive activity in their states. He said he likely would discuss his plans with governors on Thursday.

“The governors are responsible,” Trump said. “They have to take charge.”
...
Trump warned that he will monitor how the governors perform and signaled he might blame them if he believes their actions slow the pace of what he hopes will be a robust economic recovery.

“If they don’t do a good job we’re going to come down on them hard,” Trump said.

With Trump, it's always, always someone else's fault. Remember the slogan of the Trump Presidency: "I don't take responsibility for anything."

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has been ordered to print Trump's name on the paper stimulus checks. They probably had to tell King Babyhands that it would take too long to print his name in gold ink.

Heh.

You'll have to imagine the voices.

pic.twitter.com/4ooEqQx7Ty

— Manny Sands (@mannysands) April 9, 2020

(H/T to an anonymous contributor)

Grifters Gotta Grift

U.S. health officials are warning conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones to stop pitching bogus remedies for the coronavirus.

The Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter Thursday ordering Jones to stop falsely claiming that toothpaste, mouth wash and other products sponsored by his show can help prevent COVID-19.

He's not alone. The fraudsters are rampant. They've started charging people.

The usual suspects are involved.

When Our Country Needs a Leader, We Got a Cheerleader

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he knew from the start that thousands of Americans could die from the novel coronavirus but downplayed the threat because he wanted to stay positive and be a "cheerleader" for the country.
...
He continued: "This is really easy to be negative about. But I want to give people hope too. You know I'm a cheerleader for the country — we are going through the worst thing that the country has probably ever seen."

When we needed this:

We got this:

No honesty. No straight talk. Just lies, bullshit and bluster.

And corruption:

Despite building a data-driven triage system in which FEMA allots supplies based on local needs, those who are politically connected and have the president’s ear have, at times, been able to bypass that process and move to the front of the line.

Suck up to Trump, in some way, and you'll get your supplies.

To Trump, the pandemic is nothing but a reality show with great ratings:

Public Displays of Piety = Hypocrisy

A handful of holdout U.S. churches plan to hold in-person services on Easter Sunday, saying their right to worship in person outweighs public health officials’ warnings against holding large gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak.
...
“Satan and a virus will not stop us,” said the Reverend Tony Spell, 42, pastor of the evangelical Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He expects a crowd of more than 2,000 to gather in worship at his megachurch on Sunday.

Make no mistake, this is not about praying to the Almighty. One can do it at home.

No, this is the religious equivalent of the open carry assholes (who carry guns at people); it is a public display of piety to prove to the world that they are pious.

Matthew 6:1: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven."

There are oodles of other biblical verses that hold the same: Worshiping in public to show one's devoutness is not proper.

It's the same elsewhere: People who consider themselves faithful have been disregarding social distancing and other pandemic-fighting measures. In Israel, the ultra-orthodox, who comprise a tenth of the population, have had almost half of the coronavirus cases.

So here is my modest proposal: Those Covidiots who insist on flouting the law and violating measures to limit the propagation of the coronavirus shall go to the back of the line when it comes to receiving treatment. If there are twelve ventilators and the thirteenth person to need one is Tony Spell, well, it will suck to be him. If a Covidiot can be shown to have transmitted the virus to an innocent party, the Covidiot bears full liability for what happens.

Meanwhile, in Huntsville, Alabama, drooling low-wattage fools are engaging in the same old hatreds.

The Massive Hit to Air Travel

The number of Americans getting on airplanes has sunk to a level not seen in more than 60 years as people shelter in their homes to avoid catching or spreading the new coronavirus.

The Transportation Security Administration screened 94,931 people on Wednesday, a drop of 96% from a year ago and the second straight day under 100,000.

The official tally of people who passed through TSA checkpoints exaggerates the number of travelers – if that is possible – because it includes some airline crew members and people still working at shops inside airport security perimeters.

Historical daily numbers only go back so far, but the nation last averaged fewer than 100,000 passengers a day in 1954, according to figures from trade group Airlines for America.

That was back when air travel within the U.S. was by piston-engined aircraft: DC-3s and Martin 4-0-4s for shorter flights, DC-6s, DC-7s and Constellations for longer flights.

One might expect that some of the smaller carriers are going to go Tango Uniform.

Fully Predictable

The captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus on his ship was fired by Navy leaders who said he created a panic by sending his memo pleading for help to too many people.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the ship’s commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, “demonstrated extremely poor judgment” in the middle of a crisis. He said the captain copied too many people on the memo, which was leaked to a California newspaper and quickly spread to many news outlets.

See, if you murder prisoners on a battlefield, your lawyer can go on Fox News and whine and Trump, the Chickenhawk-in-Chief, will protect your ass.

But if you do everything that you can to look after the health and welfare of the people who are under your command, you'll get fired.

Good to know.

ADDED THOUGHT: It will be very interesting to see whether or nor Capt. Crozier successfully screens for admiral. Very interesting, indeed.

He Went to Jared; Coronavirus Ed.

Dozens of Trump administration officials have trooped to the White House podium over the last two months to brief the public on their effort to combat coronavirus, but one person who hasn't -- Jared Kushner -- has emerged as perhaps the most pivotal figure in the national fight against the fast-growing pandemic.

What started two-and-a-half weeks ago as an effort to utilize the private sector to fix early testing failures has become an all-encompassing portfolio for Kushner, who, alongside a kitchen cabinet of outside experts including his former roommate and a suite of McKinsey consultants, has taken charge of the most important challenges facing the federal government: Expanding test access, ramping up industry production of needed medical supplies, and figuring out how to get those supplies to key locations.

Jared the Wunderkind will save us all.

Just like he's brought peace to the Middle East and fixed the Veterans' Administration, so now Jared is bringing his record of failure doing Trump's bidding to the pandemic.

Kushner is symptomatic of an American delusion: The belief that having a business degree qualifies the holder thereof to run anything, to do anything.

Because we've seen how well that's worked for Boeing.

What the Fuck is Wrong With People?

There are a lot of crazed walking-cases-for-retroactive-abortions running around:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic and a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, is facing threats to his personal safety and now requires personal security from law enforcement at all times, including at his home, a source confirms to CNN.

I've seen a security bulletin that at least one nurse was fired upon at a gas station because she was wearing scrubs, the idiot yelled that she was infecting the public.

Shit is beginning to get weird.

Play Stupid Games, Get Charged For It

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Lakewood Township Police Chief Gregory Meyer announced that on Sunday, March 29, 2020, Eliezer Silber, 37, and Miriam Silber, 34, both of Lakewood, were charged with five counts of Child Endangerment in violation of N.J.S.A. 9:6-1.

On March 29, 2020, members of the Lakewood Township Police Department were summoned to a residence on Alamitos Drive for a report of a gathering of people blocking the street. This gathering was in violation of Executive Order No. 107 signed by Governor Phil Murphy on March 21, 2020, which bans gatherings of individuals, whether they be at weddings, parties, celebrations, or other social events. Upon arrival, Officers discovered a gathering of approximately 40-50 people, including children, on the front lawn and in the street in front of the residence. The Officers ordered the crowd to disperse, and made contact with the owners of the residence, Eliezer and Miriam Silber. Eliezer Silber was charged with Violating Any Rule or Regulation Adopted by the Governor in violation of APP.A: 9-49h, as well as Endangering the Welfare of his five children who were at the gathering. Miriam Silber was likewise charged with Endangering the Welfare of her five children. They are both required to appear at a future court date in Ocean County Superior Court.

You have to wonder what sort of stupid, self-absorbed snowflake would throw such a shinding in this time.

We're finding out.

(H/T)

Pandemic Profiteers: Bankster Ed.

As millions of Americans get thrown out of work during the pandemic, one group stand ready to make a killing: The Banksters.

This is why: When it comes time to making decisions on buying stuff during this crisis, more and more people are going to turn to their credit cards. The landlord isn't going to take plastic, but the grocery stores and the pharmacies will. Millions, if not tens of millions of people who would routinely pay off their credit card each month are now going to, out of necessity, run balances on them, The banks stand ready to reap massive profits from the pandemic.

Credit card rates are averaging 17-20%, with some cards into the mid-30s. During a time of crisis, this is nothing short of usury and profiteering.

I am not against the banks making a profit. but I am opposed to them making a killing on the backs of people during a global pandemic and its ensuing economic crisis.

So please, Gentle Readers, sit down at your keyboards and send off emails to your Senators and Congressmen. Ask them, for the love of Your Dear and Fluffy Lord, to step up and do something.

(Feel free to repost.)

COVID-19 and H1N1

A physician was asked whether COVID-19 was reallly no worse than H1N1. This is a screenshot of his response:

There was a cohort of people who were largely immune to H1N1 in 2009. That's not true this time. Nobody seems to be immune.

Being Young and Stupid During a Pandemic

“If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not gonna let it stop me from partying”: Spring breakers are still flocking to Miami, despite coronavirus warnings. https://t.co/KoYKI8zNDH pic.twitter.com/rfPfea1LrC

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 18, 2020

More here.

Being young isn't a complete shield against COVID-19. Even if they don't get seriously sick or die, they may bring the virus to someone who is more susceptible.

Their names are going to be written down, they won't be forgotten. Their stupidity will follow them.

Another Conspiracy Theory (ie, "Wingnut") Lie Falls

COVID-19 is not a bioweapon.

But those who are soft in the head will continue to believe it.

For COVID-19, by the way, "19" refers to the year it was discovered. It's not the 19th iteration of coronavirus, OxyBoy.

Trump: We Have This Under Tremendous Control

"This is a very contagious virus, it's incredible, but it's something that we have tremendous control over."

Right. Trump sounds like Cadet Diller in Animal House:

President Donald Trump urged Americans not to hoard food on Sunday during a White House press conference that came just minutes after the Federal Reserve announced new steps to shield the U.S. economy from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

“You don’t have to buy so much,” Trump said. “Take it easy. Relax.”

Don't be surprised if the stores this afternoon look as though the locusts have descended, if they don't already. Everyone who isn't on Fox News knows that Trump has been lying every step of the way during this pandemic. If Trump was a doctor and told you that you were doing well, you would be smart to buy a funeral plot.

Here's another point illustrating that nobody trusts the Trump Administration:

The Federal Reserve, saying “the coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States,” cut interest rates to essentially zero on Sunday and launched a massive $700 billion quantitative easing program to shelter the economy from the effects of the virus.

“It makes me very happy and I want to congratulate the Federal Reserve,” Trump said. “I think that people in the market should be very thrilled.”

And the reaction:

Stock futures were down sharply on Monday even after the Federal Reserve embarked on a massive monetary stimulus campaign to curb slower economic growth amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Stock market futures hit “limit down” levels of 5% lower, a move made by the CME futures exchange to reduce panic in markets. No prices can trade below that threshold, only at higher prices than that down 5% limit.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off by more than 1,000 points, triggering the limit down level. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also at their downside limits. (emphasis added)

We are in a situation where the country, if not the world, would normally expect transparency and honesty from the President of the United States. Trump can deliver neither. Nobody trusts him and he just keeps on lying and bullshitting along.

We are so screwed.
--------------------------
An update on an earlier story: The hand-sanitizer hoarders donated their stash under threat of being prosecuted in Tennessee and Kentucky for price-gouging. Yes, it's illegal in most states to engage in price-gouging during an emergency.

JIT, the Disruption Thereof

By now, everybody is aware of the possible disruption of the supply chains. That's why the stores are crowded as people buy stuff to stock up.

But what happens if the supply chains are not disrupted? People who are filling spare rooms or garages with canned goods and toilet paper won't have a need to buy that stuff for a goodly amount of time. So as the stores restock, their new stock won't move at the same rate. It'll be like the "rubber-band effect" of heavy traffic.

Another bit of fallout may be that a lot of those supplies will be donated to food banks. That would not be a terrible thing, as it appears that a goodly number of people are going to be out of work in the coming weeks.