Apr 9, 2020

Why We Fight

I am not going to let myself slip into full Cult45-like behavior by advocating the wholesale slaughter of these Wall Street assholes.

Not now. Not yet. But don't think for one fuckin' second I can't be persuaded.

Go ahead and push me some more, motherfuckers.




Reuters:

Exclusive: Wall Street firm dangled up to 175% returns to investors using U.S. aid programs

A New York investment firm pitched wealthy investors in recent days on a way to make returns of 22% to 175% using U.S. government programs designed to help Americans keep their jobs and boost the coronavirus-stricken economy, according to a marketing document seen by Reuters.

Following questions posed by Reuters, Arcadia Investment Partners LLC, which has about $1 billion under management, said it had put its plans on hold.

The idea was in “formative stages” and the firm was not “presently moving forward with this strategy given reasons that include uncertainty surrounding the regulations,” Dahlia Loeb, managing director at Arcadia, told Reuters in an email on Wednesday. She did not elaborate further.

The firm had sent the pitch as recently as this weekend to “a limited number of sophisticated investors,” according to the marketing materials, which are dated April 4 and marked confidential. In an email sent Sunday, and seen by Reuters, Loeb wrote it was a “highly time sensitive opportunity” and had offered to discuss it with investors that day or early in the week.

Arcadia’s pitch offers a glimpse into how some private investors are looking to quickly take advantage of the unprecedented government intervention after the novel coronavirus brought economic activity to a screeching halt.


There are reasons 45* keeps going out of his way to get rid of all the oversight processes and all the Inspectors General.

Crooks need the cops to stick to the donut shops.

COVID-19 Update

Growth Rates
Cases:
1.03 - World
1.08 - USA

Dead:
1.08 - World
1.15 - USA



Optimism about flattening the curve, or slowing the acceleration (or whatever terminology applies) may be a little premature.

When I look back over the last several days, I can see that the date on which we can expect to hit 100,00 dead Americans is not receding very quickly - it is receding, but it's taking its own sweet time about it.

On April 3rd, the projected date for 100K dead was April 20th. 6 days later, today's calculation puts that date at April 23rd.

I don't know what that means - or even if it means anything.

Today's Tweet


Never-Trumper Rick Wilson, one of the pimpiest of the pimps, continues to get in some great shots.

Follow the thread.

Burying The Hoax

Drone video from Hart Island NYC. Mass burials as the bodies have to be quarantined - and the funeral homes can't keep up anyway.



The bodies will eventually be exhumed and the families will dispose of the remains "as usual".

Apr 8, 2020

New Motto

There's just two kinds of people in this world - and you should avoid them both.


Overheard

Fake News:
When the media reports what you said, shows video of you saying it, and asks you questions about it.

COVID-19 Update

Growth Rates
Cases:
1.07 - World
1.09 - USA

Dead:
1.11 - World
1.17 - USA
There was lots of hopeful punditry yesterday (including your favorite blogger here) about how the numbers may be indicating a slowdown and that maybe we're seeing the beginnings of the inflection point, where the curve starts to level off.

Except for the growth in number of cases in the USA, all the Growth Rates ticked up a little.




Today's Tweet




Today's Brian

When 45* blusters about how great all the COVID-19 testing is going, there's an element of truth to it - surprise!

But, as usual, the element of truth is at the surface, and you don't even have to drill down to get to a look at just how FUBAR this "response" is right now.

I'm sure they told President Stoopid that ya gotta get the testing in place so we can see where we are, and to map out how to get where we need to go.

And we've done well in ramping up the number of tests conducted. But there are glitches - because this is Cult45 and there are always fucking glitches.

First, get thru Brian's thing.

Brian Tyler Cohen


Now then, focusing in on the continuing testing fuckup:
  1. We weren't adequately supplied with testing kits. And this is NOT an Obama problem. Obama knew there were problems, and he talked about it, and he asked Republicans every year for more money for CDC and FEMA and DOD so they could get us ready for this kind of threat, but somehow, Congress just couldn't see their way clear to ease up on any of the stoopid "sequestration" constraints.
  2. WHO offered us kits and we turned 'em down. I think that's because somebody closely connected to this White House felt they deserved to get a paycheck out of it.
  3. Testing finally starts to get ramped up, but this fuckin' moron 45* thinks that sticking a swab up somebody's nose is all there is to it. The reason he can brag about how great the testing is going while we still don't know what the fuck is going on, is that we have a shitload of tests sitting in boxes waiting to be processed.
So yes, we're #1 in test volume,


 ...but like I said, that's the number of tests performed - the number of samples collected - but we have yet to figure out how to boost the processing throughput so those tests can actually tell us something useful.

And, BTW, one of the numbers that really matters is the Tests/Million Population, and we're #44 on that list.

Apr 7, 2020

Overheard

Him: I'm exhausted - I went out for a walk, and it's usually a good way to relax and enjoy some time to myself and not have to worry about much of anything. But now - with all this COVID-19 thing - I have to watch every step, and make sure nobody gets too close, and I have to practically live in fear of every stranger. It's pretty awful just walking down the street.

Her: And now you know how almost every woman feels almost every day of her life.