by John Walters

A Response To Susie B.

Wanted to begin today’s sermon by responding to Susie B.’s questions in the comments yesterday. Please turn your hymnals to yesterday’s edition, then scroll down through the dozens of comments until you reach Susie B’s. This should not take too long. ‘

But, for those of you who simply do not have the time…

1. Why should retired folks that are receiving Social Security checks get the “Stimulus payment”? 

My housemate actually resembles this remark, Susie B. She received her check yesterday. Enjoying the rent-free and lasagna-rich lifestyle I currently do, I believe it prudent to not forward this question on to her.

2. What do you think about the attempted bill in Congress that will EXCUSE, not just delay but completely wipe out, one’s Rent or Mortgage payments while COVID rages on? AND the landlords/mortgage holders are not left holding the bag, [because] apparently the “govt” (i.e. TAXPAYERS) will reimburse them?

I think the Republicans do not have a monopoly on dumb ideas. I agree with Vic from New Jersey, whose rant we featured on this site a few weeks back. His fundamental idea is that if you have a rent or mortgage, you just push it back three months and then continue paying again after that. And as for the three months in arrears, you pay that back at the end of your mortgage or when your lease is up (or sooner, if you like). So yeah, that puts the hurt on landlords in the short term. Guess what? Landlords can afford it because the biggest bill most landlords have is… their own mortgage payment. But the average landlord has far more liquidity than his/her tenants.

3. If the federal govt really wants to help, monthly stimulus checks to all LIVING & not yet retired & getting Social Security makes more sense to me. AND the eligibility cut-off should be those who made less than $140k… What’s your opinion on this type of “stimulus”?

$140 K, eh, Susie B.? Nice neighborhood, that. So, basically, the Bottom 91%.

Anyway, I agree with the spirit of your idea and I’m about to go off on a jag…

See, when the pandemic’s economic effects first became clear in mid-March, the federal government had a very important choice to make: Would they rather save Americans or would they rather save American businesses? They chose the latter. To them, and to many analysts and guests on CNBC, this isn’t even a choice. It’s like choosing between sulfur and oxygen.

But it IS a choice only the GOP and CNBC suits don’t see it as one because their lives and or welfare is not at stake. By funneling money to big business and banks, the government voted to keep the heart of Wall Street beating…while countless Americans will (again) suffer, and many die needlessly, for the second time in the past dozen years.

It’s so ingrained in them that we are not a democracy but rather a plutocracy that it didn’t even seem obscene to them, which it is, that it’s more important to save American Airlines than it is to save Americans. But that’s honestly how they feel.

Let’s try to imagine their mindset: Well, if we just dole out the money to Americans, what will they do with it? Spend it?!? Um, yeah. And guess what happens when Americans spend money? The economy is pollenated, nourished, fertilized, what have you. It’s actually economically astute to give Americans who desperately need money money. Because they’ll spend it, and that will grease all the gears.

But see, Americans, 320 million though we may be, are a much smaller lobbying group than the cruise industry or the commercial airline industry. So pols give them money in return for political favors and “trust” them to pay their employees, although they’re free to lay off and/or furlough whomever they please.

Do we give the money to banks and business or to Butch and Betty? Child, please.

Of course, the funniest and most ludicrous part about all of this is that Republicans proudly wear all these Darwinist ideals on their epaulets, and capitalism is nothing more than economic Darwinism. But when it’s big business that natural selection is leaving behind in the jungle undergrowth, the government always steps in with socialist measures to save them. Funny, that.

Apparently, the government does not think we can do without a failing airline (we can, and we always have; ask Pan Am and TWA, etc.) But it does think we can do without half of America being able to afford the next two months of their lives.

Steve Mnuchin, Larry Kudlow, Trump and the rest had a choice: save big business or protect you and I. They made their choice. The fallacy is that Americans cannot do without major corporations. False. Where there’s a supply void, a smart capitalist will always step in to fill it. The companies that got saving were the companies that needed being saved. It’s funny how Republican pols have no problem discussing “culling the herd” when it comes to actual people but do have one when it comes to companies. Why is that?

McNeil Gets McReal

Watch all of this interview between New York Times science editor Don McNeil and Christiane Amanpour. Watch how intelligent and informed he is, how confident (“You can say ‘rush'”), how defiant (he notes that in the same way the CDC had a difficult time getting Trump to take them seriously, that he had a similarly difficult time getting his editors at the NYT to take him seriously about the virus), how candid (“I think [CDC director] Redfield should resign.”).

We fell hard for McNeil when we first heard him speak with Rachel Maddow on the last Friday night in February and we’ve only grown fonder of him since. We put him right up there with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gov. Andrew Cuomo as one of the true American heroes of his disastrophe. And that all three have lived substantial portions of their lives in New York City only makes us prouder.

Later in the day the NYT released a statement saying that McNeil went “too far” in this interview in expressing his personal views. No, he went too far in being honest. People express their personal views in TV interviews every day. Most of them stay between the guardrails. Even more don’t know what they’re talking about.

McNeil is an expert on this subject. I appreciate his honesty here. We all should.

Sports Year 1891

On October 19, the first “Go As You Please” bicycle race is staged in Madison Square Garden. It’s a six-day race, and while that was nothing new, this was the first race that did not put a set limit on how many hours in a particular day the cyclists were allowed to race. It was all up to the cyclists how much or little sleep they decided to get.

At midnight Monday morning 14 riders from the U.S.A., England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany took off around the 1/10th mile track for what would be a race of 142 hours of duration (ending at 10 p.m. the following Saturday night).

“Plugger” Bill Martin, an Irish American, would win the race, pedaling a world-record (for that time span) 1,466 miles. The near equivalent of pedaling from Boston to Miami. He would take home $2,500 for the victory.

More importantly, the event kick-started the bicycle craze in the USA. Within a decade there would be about 300 bicycle manufacturers stateside. If we, as a civilization, had only stopped there, what a better world this would be.

***

James Naismith invents the game of basketball for his YMCA class in Springfield, Mass. He is Canadian (I am obliged to write that).

****

The National League-champion Boston Beaneaters decline to play the American Association champion Boston Reds in the World Series, citing travel costs. The American Association will fold after this season. Power move, Beaneaters. But it worked.

Worth noting that on the final day of the American Association season and thus, its history, rookie pitcher Ted Breitenstein of the St. Louis Browns makes his first Major League start (he had pitched in relief previously) and throws a no-hiiter. Breitenstein was one base on balls away from hurling a perfect game, but still faced the minimum 27 batters.

Breitenstein would be known, along with catcher Heinie Peitz, as the “Pretzel Battery” since both men were of German descent. I miss the days of this not being culturally insensitive but also just of people being named Heinie Peitz.

***

The inaugural French Open is held. A Brit wins. Sacre bleu!

****

Led by gargantuan guard Pudge Heffelfinger (6’4″, 178), Yale goes 7-0 and outscores its opponents 488-0. The Yalies are in the midst of a 37-game win streak under coach Walter Camp. Heffelfinger’s legacy will be as that of the first professional football player, the first known player to take money for playing (in games outside of Yale’s).

***

Kansas and Missouri play for the first time, initiating the oldest rivalry in college football that most of us don’t care about, The Border War.

by John Walters

Starting Five

“Don’t Ask me. Ask Jyna!”

As President Trump was LIP’ing (Lying In Public) once again yesterday, claiming that the U.S. “leads the world in testing” (blatantly false), CBS’ White Houe correspondent Weijia Jiang asked a blindingly straightforward question: “Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their lives and we are still seeing more cases every day?”

How wonderfully sweet and innocent that someone does not see the entire human condition in terms of sports metaphors.

Anyway, Trump was clearly taken aback by the simplicity of Jiang’s question. ““Well, they are losing their lives everywhere in the world. Maybe that is a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question. When you ask China that question you may get a very unusual answer.”

Which, painful as this is to every day, when you think about Trump’s retort, it makes no sense, other than to pass the buck. And Jiang, who is Chinese-American, couldn’t help but notice that the President perhaps saw her face and then directed the attack on the Chinese. ““Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?”

And within a minute Trump had stalked off the stage, President Poopie Diaper once again melting down after a female asks him a “nasty” question.

Let’s review the ground rules once more, shall we?

1. For Trump, everything in the world that happens is seen in terms of how it affects him.
2. For the Republicans, the only principle, the only virtue, is winning. By any means necessary. Power is all.
3. Trump subscribes to the First Rule of George Costanza: “It’s not a lie if you believe it, Jerry.”

Gump-tion

CBS, God love them, has decided to make “Sunday Night At The Movies” a thing again, and this past Sunday they aired Forrest Gump. Now if they’ll just take my advice and air the original All In The Family, and have Rob Reiner introduce and discuss each episode a la Ben Mankiewicz on TCM.

Anyway, so we’re watching the final scene (man, how great was Tom Hanks in this film, by the way?), and there’s young Forrest Gump, living in Greenbow, Alabama, and look what he’s wearing: a red baseball cap. And at first you see it from behind and before he turns to his father to tell him he loves him, it was my greatest hope that when he did turn the front of that ap would have the words “Make America Great Again.” That not only would have appealed to CBS’ demo but it would’ve been the funniest stunt of the year.

Alas, no.

Why are we showing an aerial photo of Notre Dame Stadium? A) Because it’s the greatest place on Earth and B) because when full, like below, it seats a little more than 80,000 people, so this gives you a visual of the number of American lives that have been lost to coronavirus in the past 10 weeks. Of course, there are those who’d at least think, but not say out loud, that if all the casualties had been Notre Dame fans it wouldn’t have been such a tragic loss. Some people would think that. Not us. But some people.

“Fauci To Warn Of ‘Needles, Suffering and Death'”

Actually, JDub, it says “Needless Suffering and Death,” although, both, we suppose, are correct.

Dr. Fauci will testify before a Senate panel this morning that easing quarantine and social distancing prematurely is a bad idea. Which is kind of exactly the opposite of what President Trump is saying. But what does Fauci know? He’s only the nation’s most respected infectious disease expert who also has a medical degree. Did he ever make a tie, a steak, a luxury apartment building or a casino and put his name on it? No, he didn’t. So who you going to listen to?

The Way Outs

The year is 1965, Beatlemania is sweeping the land, and The Flintstones is a prime-time network cartoon whose conceit is “The Honeymooners in prehistoric times.” Someone comes up with the idea for a band, called The Way Outs, who are actually aliens from another planet, to visit Bedrock. But they’re friendly and they have good harmony.

For trivia’s sake, and this will never come in handy, the “band” consisted of three voices (even though there are four characters): Allan Melvin, Don Messick and John Stephenson.

Sure, we conjure the Beatles, but it was The Monkees, who one year later, would pilfer the idea of being a band with a theme song whose title is also the band’s name.

The Flintstones ran from 1960-1966 and was by far the most successful animated sitcom in TV history until Homer, Marge and the kids came along.

Sports Year 1890

The Rose Parade, known at the time as the Tournament of Roses, is held in Pasadena. The first Rose Bowl is still 14 years away.

***

Nellie Bly, a pioneering female journalist, circumnavigates the globe in 72 days, beating the fictitious record of one Phileas J. Fogg from Around The World In 80 Days.

***

In May, THE Ohio State University plays its first football game, beating Ohio Wesleyan 20-14. The team will play and lose three autumn games versus in-state competition, losing 64-0 to Wooster, 14-0 at Denison, and 18-10 to Kenyon.

***

After two years of labor tumult, some of the top talent in the National League form their own league, The Players League. The eight-team league, which features a franchise called the Cleveland Infants, will only last one year and the Boston Reds (yes, not a typo) win the championship.

New York, New York

On May 12 the New York Giants of the National League and the New York Giants of the Players League are each playing simultaneously in upper Manhattan, in fields that are both named the Polo Grounds that back up to one another. Mike Tiernan of the NL Giants hits a home run off future Hall of Famer Kid Nichols that travels so far that it lands in the outfield of the adjacent game. Fans from both games cheer as Tiernan rounds the bases.

***
In San Francisco, welterweights Danny Needham and Patsy Kerrigan fight for 100 rounds (6 hours, 39 minutes) and the bout is declared a draw. Both men survive, but barely.

***

George Dixon, a bantam weight fighter, becomes the first black boxing champ.

***

The Irish, for the only time, sweep Wimbledon, as Willoughby Hamilton and Lena Rice win the men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

***

John Ball (great name) becomes the first Englishman and first amateur to win the British Open.

***

In Washington D.C., John Owen becomes the first human to run the 100-yard dash in under 10 seconds. At least the first one timed. I’m sure there’s a guy in Africa who was trying to outrun a lion who did it first.

***

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms and Pittsburgh Alleghenys work overtime—on Labor Day. The first-place Bridegrooms sweep a triple-header from cellar-dweller Pittsburgh (remember, this is before lights and thus, night games).

At West Point, Navy and Army meet in football for the first time. The Middies win, 24-0.

by John Walters

Before, or instead of, reading today’s post, we encourage you to read the column filed here yesterday by Wendell Barnhouse (“Remember The A La Mode”). You can find it by clicking on it just to your right.

Zoom-bie Apocalypse

Before March of 2020, had you ever taken part in a Zoom meeting (no)? In the past two and a half months, have you (yes)? Which is not to say that this is the first we’ve heard of Zoom. If you are of a certain age (middle), you may recall Zoom as a kids’ show that aired on PBS in the Seventies.

Trying to catch hold of the magic that other PBS shows such as Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street had managed to make, Boston’s PBS affiliate put together the most Woke cast you can imagine but it never quite took hold. Perhaps the best that might be said about it is that we still remember the theme song nearly 50 years later and that it was like a poor man’s Electric Company. It felt like a show conceived and entirely written by over-earnest Cancel Culture libs without sense of humor. As opposed to Sesame Street, which had a sense of humor…to wit:

Anyone caught watching Zoom in my New Jersey neighborhood at the time would be given at least three purple nurples and one wedgie the next time he dared step out his front door.

Vampire Diaries

The New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd drew a pretty neat metaphor between vampires, Covid-19 and the current administration in a weekend column, using the fact that a bat likely started the coronavirus as her jumping-off point. V is for more than just Victory and Virus.

Good news. On Sunday, for the first time since March, the U.S. recorded fewer than 1,000 coronavirus deaths. So instead of each day being like seven to 10 commercial airline disasters, in terms of fatalities, there were only about the equivalent of three to four (750 deaths).

Let’s look at the rest of the past week in the USA, in terms of coronavirus fatalities:

May 9: 1,422 deaths

May 8: 1,687 deaths

May 7: 2,129 deaths

May 6: 2,528 deaths

May 5: 2,350 deaths

Have we hit the peak of the curve? And if so, what will reopening the country do to alter whatever downward trajectory the parabola was on? Should be interesting.

This weekend in our store a customer asked me if any of our employees had tested positive. Not that I know of, I replied, not thinking to add, “I doubt any of us have been tested.”

He then went on a jag about how he visits other big stores in the Valley of the Sun and hasn’t heard anyone else coming down with it. Uh-oh, I think I know where this is going. Makes me wonder if the whole thing isn’t a hoax.

I asked him how that explains the 80,000 dead in the USA and the 160,000 more dead all over the planet. “It’s just a matter of where you get your facts,” he said.

And then I just turned and walked away. While I missed the chance to ask why the president is being tested every day for a hoax illness while most of us can’t get tested if we wanted to be.

Man Who Sings ’40’ (and ‘One’) Turns 60

U2 lead singer Bono turned 60 years old this weekend. To celebrate, he’s doing something very much in character: releasing a play list of 60 songs “that saved my life” and writing a thank-you note to each artist (or offspring of artist if they have passed) and posting them at U2.com. I wonder if he was inspired by Jimmy Fallon’s “Thank You” bit?

Anyway, the first six thank you notes have been posted, for songs such as “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk and “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie.

Wiig-ing Out

SNL‘s season finale aired Saturday, with alumna Kristen Wiig as host. Here’s her opening monologue. Stay until the end.

Sports Year 1889

The inaugural Football League (presently Premier League season) ends with an unbeaten squad, Preston North End. A mere 115 years will pass before the feat is duplicated, by Arsenal, in 2004.

***

In the last, and we do mean LAST, major bareknuckle boxing match, John L. Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds in “the vanished hamlet of Richburg, Mississippi.” The bout took place on July 8th, which if you’ve ever been in Mississippi in July (we have), well, never mind the opposing fighter, you’ve already got problems. Here’s a tremendous account from Paul Beston, titled “Boxing’s Longest Day.”

****

William Renshaw wins the last of his seven Wimbledon’s men’s singles titles (only Roger Federer has won more), defeating twin brother and defending champion Ernest. It was Ernest’s third defeat in the final against his womb-mate, with no victories against him.

***

In the first all-New York World Series, the Giants defeat the Brooklyn Bridegrooms 6 games to 4 in a best-of-11 series. The Giants had played the first half of their home schedule at a cricket grounds on Staten Island until the Polo Grounds opened on July 8th (same day as the above fight). That same season the Bridegrooms set a Major League attendance record with 350,000 fans even though most of the seating at their home venue, Washington Park (on the corner of 3rd Street and 4th Ave) is destroyed by fire and it takes a month to rebuild it.

by Wendell Barnhouse

RICHARDSON, Texas – One of this week’s distractions from the death count came in Texas, where there’s no state tax, limited regulation of businesses and an apparent disregard for the law. So, ya know, on brand.

Shelley Luther owns Salon a la Mode, which is a hair salon and not an ice cream parlor. She decided to defy the orders of Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins and Gov. Greg Abbott and reopened for business two weeks ago.

As her business continued to operate, Luther ignored a city citation, a cease-and-desist order (which she tore up on camera at a local protest) and a temporary restraining order. This week, she appeared in court. A state district judge asked her to apologize for three acts of law breaking and pledge to follow the law (like most of her competitors). She refused. The judge cited Luther for contempt and sentenced her to seven days in jail.

Well, that’s not how we restart the country’s financial engines in the wake of a pandemic that’s cost over 78,000 lives. Hair needs to trim, styled and dyed; nails must be clipped, buffed and painted. By God, this is Murica.

First, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (who was indicted for three felonies in 2015 but has been slow-playing the process) said the judge was wrong with his ruling. Then Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who wants everyone over 70 to just go ahead and die, said he would pay Luther’s fine. Then Governor Greg Abott (who on tape said it was a fact that reopening businesses too soon would increase COVID-19 infections and deaths) back-dated his original order regarding closings. Then the Texas Supreme Court overturned Luther’s conviction and she walked out of jail Thursday after serving two days. Friday, Ted Cruz needed a haircut, so he flew in from Houston to get a trim at Luther’s shop.

I’m this many years old when I remembered the GOP standing for the rule of law. Those four men and the Texas Supreme Court judges are proving to be the hackiest of partisan hacks.

Marquette Wolf is president of the Dallas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and he wrote about the ruling in the Dallas Morning News.

“As for the ruling, Judge Eric Moye rightly ensured that the rule of law prevailed even under the emergency circumstances and enormous challenges of the pandemic. The orders issued by Judge Jenkins and Gov. Abbott have caused pain to everyone. But those orders are and remain the law. As Judge Moye rightly noted, if any citizen or business could violate those orders, or for that matter, any law as they saw fit, then no rule of law would exist, and anarchy would prevail.”

Your Humble Correspondent has been stewing about this all week. Luther is exhibiting the white privilege by ignoring the rule of law, going unpunished and then gaining her 15 minutes of fame. A GoFundMe account has raised $500,000. Damn, I need legal advice. I need a way to break the law, skate prosecution and profit. (And, hell no, I’m not going to work for Trump.)

Thursday afternoon I made a sign. On one side – Boycott – Criminal Owner and on the other side White Privilege Shelley. Friday I picketed at Salon a la Mode but unfortunately I showed up after Cruz staged his dog and pony show.

I’ve spent years taking potshots on Twitter at all the MAGA mouth breathers. This was an opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the belly of the beast.

The salon occupies a corner of a courtyard in a strip shopping mall. It didn’t take long before I met up with a Trump trooper. A man, probably my age, was in a wheeled walker with a seat. He was wearing a MAGA hat. I don’t mean to judge (yes, I do) but his clothes were filthy, and he had smudges of dirt on both arms.

“You’re the devil. Shame on you.”

He then rolled up the salon door. One of the women opened the door and she started to talk with the man, making eye contact with me.

“He doesn’t have anything better to do while the rest of us work. I bet he never even served his country.”

Well, yes, but … WTF?

They then prayed together for my lost soul. The man then said, “the blood of Jesus was spilled for you and may the angels descend and strike you dead.”

Mixed messaging, but whatever.

On one side of the salon, the workers lowered the shades so they couldn’t see me. 

One male customer walked up. “Fucking asshole.” Another male customer. “Fucking idiot.” A woman left wearing an “I (Heart) Trump” shirt. 

A man showed up and told the greeter he wanted to give Shelley a donation. He had to wait until she showed up. When Luther arrived, he went inside and I stood outside the doorway to make sure she could see my sign.

After about five minutes, Luther came out. 

“You can’t block the doorway.” 

“I’m not, I’m at least 10 feet from the door, social distancing.” 

“I’ll call the police.”

Allow me to pause here and point out that a business owner who defied three different legal documents and was charged with contempt of court wanted the law on her side.

Allow me to pause again and virtually slap myself for not thinking of point that out at the time.

On one of the windows was several sheets of paper where people had written messages of encouragement. One of the signs read, “Shelley Luther, American hero.”

I picked up a Magic Marker and crossed out “hero” and was writing “criminal” when Luther came charging out. “That’s private property.”

“It’s also free speech. Everyone else expressed an opinion; I’m expressing mine.”

I moved to put the marker back on the windowsill and she blocked me. 

“I’m just putting it back where it was.”

“Drop it.”

She kept walking toward me and I kept backing away.

Her husband came out. 

“Don’t touch my wife.” (It was apparent that they were seeking a physical confrontation; I’m a talker, not a fighter.)

She told him to go back inside and he did.

“You think I’m a horrible person?” she asked.

“Yes, you broke the law that everyone else was abiding. You should still be in jail. But I notice that this is making you a bunch of money.”

“I donated $18,000 to a black barbershop not far from here.”

“Well, that’s great. Good for you. You’ve still got almost half a million.”

“The cops are on their way.”

“OK, whatever, I’m leaving but I’ll be back.”

“I can’t wait.”

I walked back to my car and decided to wait for the Richardson police to show. They never did; I suppose she could have canceled the call or that she was bluffing.

I decided to walk back to the courtyard with my sign. An elderly man approached me. 

“I don’t mind you walking around here but you can’t with that sign.”

“Uh, really? I’m expressing my First Amendment rights.”

“I own this property. You can walk around and spend money, but you can’t carry that sign.”

“Well, I’m not a lawyer or anything but I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.”

He got in his car and left. I continued picketing.

A woman came out of the salon.

“You should be ashamed. You don’t know anything about the Constitution.”

“I believe freedom of speech is the First Amendment.”

“Shelley and her employees are exercising their right to assemble, that’s in the First Amendment.”

“Uh, I think it’s ‘lawful’ assembly … and working isn’t considered assembly, especially if it violates legal orders.”

She walked away, probably to consult her pocket edition of the Constitution.

Another man walked up with the “fucking idiot” salutation.

“What’s the deal with the white privilege shit,” he asked. “Are you a racist?”

He then went on a rant about that included “slavery” and “against the law” and “Democrats were slave owners” before going into the salon. He soon returned. “Hey, I’ll pay for your haircut and tip all the workers.”

“I don’t need a haircut. Just give ‘em your money.”

About that time, a cameraman had showed up and started to set up his equipment. We exchanged hellos.

“Look, I’m outta here. I have no desire to be on TV. I know I’d make a good visual but, sorry. Good luck with the interview.”

On the way home I stopped at a print shop to get a professional version of my hand-printed sign. In a week, Shelley Luther and Salon a la Mode will likely to have faded to the background as other bright, shiny objects gain the attention of the media kittens. 

My one-man stand did nothing but stir up some adrenaline and satisfy my curiosity about the COVIDidiots I encountered. I can’t fathom a President* that accepts over 1,000 deaths a day and rejects expert advice. His supporters have blind faith. My fervent hope and belief is that there are more of us than them.

by John Walters

Starting Five

Let It Bleed

–The latest job report (today’s) shows that 20.5 million jobs were lost in April (worst month ever).

–The unemployment rate is at 14.7%, the highest since The Great Depression.

–Since early April, at least 1,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 every day and on at least 14 days, more than 2,000 died.

–The stock market is up big, again, today, for the fourth consecutive day.

What’s going on?

The President and his cronies, many of whom appear on CNBC in the mornings as “guests,” have decided to “move on” from the pandemic and “focus on the economy.” Hmm. America is going back to work and they’re all betting, and assuring Americans, that the worst is behind us.

Not so fast, my fiend.

What’s Really Going On

The President and Vice-President are being tested daily (just yesterday Trump flashed his most recent display of shocking ignorance by calling testing an “imperfect art” because you can test negative one day and positive the next) so they’re not worried. We imagine Steve Mnuchin and those types also have access to tests.

Meanwhile, at the current rates of mortality in the U.S., you have about a 1 in 215,000 chance daily of dying from the coronavirus. Of course, if you are elderly and/or in a nursing home, or live in New York City, or are black, the odds for your survival are much worse. If you’re not any of those things, the odds for your survival are much better. Is this beginning to become clearer as to why MAGA is not all that concerned about the virus? (in fact, many actually welcome it ‘cuz it’s “culling the herd“).

What Will Happen

As the country “reopens” without any vaccine in sight, people will continue to die at a rate of at least 1,500 per day. But don’t worry, nobody that you know. That number will probably escalate, though, and it should increase among those who aren’t careful about masks and social distancing, which is to say Trump-ers, which will somewhat level the playing field.

Meanwhile, doctors and nurses and physician’s assistants and lab technicians and the like—Remember them? The people for whom you bang pots and pans every night at 7 p.m. in large metro areas?—will continue to be overworked and exhausted and far more susceptible to the disease than anyone else in their age and income demographic. And maybe they’ll begin to wonder as to why they’re not being supported by their government, are in fact being thrown to the wolves.

Is it worth dying for, many (more) will begin to ask themselves?

The pandemic isn’t serious to millionaires and billionaires of the Trump Elite because it isn’t affecting them. Like this writer, they are safely ensconced in some nice location and Zoom’ing those who need to be Zoom’ed and still able to follow the markets on CNBC or play golf. It’s an inconvenience, at worst.

Kinda like how health care and education is terrible for the majority of the nation, but not for them, so what’s the problem? That’s how they feel about the pandemic.

But of course, their behavior here will only exacerbate the situation. Meaning way more deaths than there might have been and eventually the peeps who work in meat-processing plants or hospitals or other types of vulnerable spots will go all Dee Snyder on the White House and cry, “We’re not gonna take it! No, we’re not gonna take it! We’re not gonna take it… any MORRRRRE!”

And that will be that.

The markets are up? The markets will crash again.

Elon Musk said Tesla stock is overvalued and yet it’s risen 7% since he said that? I’d listen to Elon Musk, myself.

We’re going to have 100,000 dead Americans by the end of May, basically a three-month span. It could wind up being half a million between March 1, 2020 and March 1, 2021, which would put it right behind heart disease (650,00 per annum) and cancer (600,000), which each are at least three times as deadly as the next major cause of death in the U.S. Who knows, Covid-19 could top both of those. It will definitely be in their class.

And yet the stock market continues to soar. You have to, in a perverse way, admire the utter callousness of the big Wall Street investors. Not even massive death totals will sway their lust for green.

The bills will come due. Here’s hoping we’re all alive to see it.

This is the part of The Big Short where the two d-bag asshole mortgage lender bros are telling an incredulous Steve Carell and his colleagues (“They’re not confessing; they’re bragging“) that they keep on making bad-faith loans with no consequences because the housing market always goes up.

And there’s little ol’ Michael Burry in his office continuing to short the housing market as his investors demand their money back and he just ignores them because Burry understands nature (and economic realities) and understands that just because the plane is nosediving you can’t keep telling the passengers that the good news is “that we’ll be arriving early.” Eventually the plane actually crashes and someone notices that while, yes, you made good time, the plane didn’t actually arrive at the airport and everyone aboard is dead. Soooooo…..

Umm, What The F***

The Justice Dept. headed by William Barr has decided to not pursue any legal action against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who only pleaded guilty—twice.

America is broken. The rules are being broken right in front of us now. They don’t care.

Sports Year 1888

Realizing that friendly fixtures do not draw crowds, especially those held at neutral sites, which means that it is more difficult to pay pros, a dozen teams agree to play home and away matches and form an English Football League. The 12 teams: Accrington F.C., Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers (teams in bold are currently in the Premier League).

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In football, tackling below the waist is legalized. In baseball, it is established that four balls will be a walk and three strikes a strikeout.

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The Welterweight division (140-147 lbs) is established and the first world champ is yet another mick, Paddy Duffy (not to be confused with Paddy Ryan).

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In Deadwood, Dakota Territory, on July 4th, the Great Hub-and-Hub Race is staged between two Chinese Hose Teams. Don’t ask. Oh, but you wanna know? Something about pulling fire carriages through the streets.