A cruel idiot can still do considerable damage

I think my last scheduled event outside the house was two weeks ago yesterday. I feel a bit bored because my choice of activities is limited and I don’t have a lot of other kinds things that I can do. So even though I have plenty to do in each of my projects and each project is interesting I have a feeling of oh, isn’t there something else to do? …



Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen created a video, 14 minutes long, demonstrating how to safely bring groceries and takeout into the home while avoiding possible virus contamination. I’ll remark on a few things he said. I strongly recommend you watch and share.

* I’m at an age where I really should let someone else shop for me. However, right now shopping is the only thing that gets me out of the house.

* Ideally groceries should be left outside for three days. As the weather warms up that may not be so feasible.

* He washed his fruit – apples and oranges in this case – by dumping them into sudsy water in the sink then washing each one as thoroughly as one should wash hands.

* Heat kills the virus (so maybe get hot takeout food and microwave it). Freezing only preserves the virus for later.



The gov’t reported the number of new applications for unemployment in the past week. The previous high was a little less than 700K in a week. That record was set back in 1982. In the last week new applications were close to 3.3 million. Which puts a really big spike in the graph. Some state unemployment systems crashed from the load.



The NRA is in a snit because in states that have shelter-in-place orders gun stores are considered “non essential” and are closed.



Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reports that the nasty guy looks prepared to actually do something. And, what a surprise, it doesn’t look good. He’s sent a letter to state governors saying he’ll take over protecting the people of their state, right down to the county level. And like every mafioso there is the underlying threat you do it my way … or else.

A portion of the letter was tweeted here. It does say more testing is coming (no breath being held). It suggests categorizing counties as high-, medium-, and low risk (for what purpose?). It doesn’t mention masks and ventilators.



The news has a sense of I’ve seen that already, which makes for less to report to you. That’s good, because I’d rather talk of something else now. I suppose any long term crisis will eventually be like that.



With not much in the news I read the transcript of another Gaslit Nation episode with hosts Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. This one is titled Jared Kushner is a National Emergency. A lot of this episode is, at least for me, stuff I’ve read before. So not a lot I want to share. You could get a lot from listening or reading.
https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2020/3/21/jared-kushner-is-a-national-emergency

The hosts do talk about the nasty prince … a bit. Mostly they say he’s an idiot and he’s cruel, like his father-in-law. But a cruel idiot, especially one with with a lot of backing from a cruel party and cruel billionaires, can still do considerable damage. Somebody in the background is using incompetence to cover the malice.

The discussion turns to religious extremism and the wide variety of it around the world. Kendzior said:

I mean, what I'm basically saying here is that in one sense it's a matter of religion but it's usually a matter of religion as a pretext for chaos and death, and destruction.

The episode eventually turns to the Supreme Court. There is such a thing as the Supreme Court Bar, which is judges and lawyers who have been qualified to argue cases before the Court. One of them is James Dannenberg, who is also a retired state judge in Hawaii. Dannenberg resigned is membership in the Bar in protest and wrote a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts explaining his reasoning. Here’s a bit of it:

I can no longer say with any confidence that you are doing far more and far worse than calling balls and strikes. You're allowing the court to become an errand boy for an administration that has little respect for the rule of law.

This evening’s opera is Siegfried, chapter 3 in the Ring cycle by Wagner. Again, it is long. I think there are several “explanation” conversations that could have been left out. The character of Siegfried is rather appealing. He’s the hero that was foretold in the previous opera. As a hero he doesn’t know fear. And when there is a prophesy concerning one who knows no fear, his guardian, Mime tries to explain and teach fear. The lessons don’t work, which, given Siegfried’s innocence, is appealing. I won’t watch all of it. Once Siegfried gets the girl they spend 45 minute singing about it.



A little fun to distract from the day’s strangeness.

The Slo-Mo Guys take video of unusual things at 12,000 frames per second. I first enjoyed them pouring paint on a (protected) speaker cone and watching the paint dance when the speaker is turned on (scroll to the bottom of this post). Then I watched them drop a blob of rainbow colored gelatin and whack it with a tennis racket. Both look really cool in slow motion. They have more videos I could watch.