Prickly City by Scott Stantis for May 02, 2020

I feel it.

After yesterday’s comments, I really feel it.

“I take no responsibility for any of it!”

“It’s all so depressingly familiar.”

“Coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan”

“Iraq is still making WMDs”

Day 9 of the Georgia Economic Recovery.

Think Carmen is correct.

But, Scott, of the three people in those signs, only one is actually in the White House.

And I guarantee, Obama wouldn’t be treating a pandemic as an opportunity to hold daily rallies and praise himself.

Oh… I’m not so sure about that, Carmen.

There may have been some changes….

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George W. Bush’s GOP – Coast to Coast demands from the GOP that Terri Schiavo, a woman in a persistent vegetative state whose husband wanted to remove her from life support…

…be kept ‘alive’ even though she had later been proven to be brain dead.

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The GOP then went on to “All Lives Matter!” in 2016 and 2017…

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Lately, however…

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on live television that “lots of grandparents” are willing to “take a chance” on their survival for the good of the economy.

Brit Hume of Fox News said it’s “entirely reasonable” to let family members die for the stock market.

“We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know. “—Dick Kovacevich, former CEO of Wells Fargo.

“The damages of keeping the economy closed as it is could be worse than losing a few more people.” —Tom Golisano, the founder and chairman of payroll processor Paychex Inc.

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Now that I think about it…

Carmen is right.

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The GOP had no actual responsibility in the first two cases…

and now…

Trump: “No, I Don’t Take Responsibility at All”

Any of those signs could have been recycled from the 2016 campaign.

At least the GOP can be counted on not to change their stance about “Civility”.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned on Monday that the battle for control of the Senate in the November election will be a “dogfight,” with neither party currently having a “lock” on winning the majority.

“I think it’s a tough fight. We don’t have a lock on it, nor do they. It’s going to be a fight to the finish. Sort of like a knife fight in an alley,” McConnell said.

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Ahh… Such a peaceful call for coming together to work out our differences during what may be a time of “unpresidented” national disaster…

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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/494940-mcconnell-battle-for-control-of-the-senate-will-be-a-dog-fight

Everyone’s an Epidemiologist

https://xkcd.com/2300/

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Or (if you’re like me and don’t believe you actually know everything.)

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“Explain xkcd: It’s ‘cause you’re dumb.”

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2300:Everyone%27s_anEpidemiologist

The evil of the FDA efficacy requirement, from WSJ:

“Remdesivir is a case in point. Gilead’s scientists determined more than a decade ago that the drug would be an effective antiviral, and tested its effects on various viruses. Research on remdesivir as a treatment for childhood respiratory diseases began in 2010. Though the drug ultimately failed in that purpose, Gilead continued to research its potential. Several years later the company discovered that the drug might work against Ebola. But after several remarkable individual success stories, the drug again failed to live up to its promise….

Despite this setback, Gilead continued its research. Its scientists uncovered evidence that remdesivir might work against two coronaviruses, those behind SARS and MERS. But with the major outbreaks of those diseases having passed, there weren’t enough patients for pivotal human trials.

When the novel coronavirus was identified a few months ago, Gilead immediately began working with the FDA, along with other health agencies in the U.S. and world-wide, to expedite human trials of remdesivir. Meanwhile, the FDA approved compassionate-use access [only] to the drug for more than 2,000 gravely ill patients.

Thus the FDA’s emergency approval of remdesivir comes after more than a decade of dedicated research, overcoming failures and making costly investments. The long development time, unexpected setbacks and mounting costs are the norm in drug development. "

More from the WSJ essay:

Progressive politicians and critics of the pharmaceutical industry have proposed a national price-control policy as part of a government-controlled health-care system. They seize on the difference between the price companies charge for a drug and the cost of producing it, which can be substantial, to claim that pharmaceutical companies are profiteering at the expense of patients. The critics misunderstand drug development, ignoring the R&D cost behind the drug and, more important, the costs of all the company’s other drugs that never made it through the discovery process.

By eliminating the profits that fund discovery, price controls would stifle the innovation drug developers have sustained for more than a century. The eventual outcome would be fewer lifesaving drugs. If industry critics and progressive politicians had their way years ago, remdesivir likely would not be available today.

Funny WSJ line about one of the Nazis:

They had fun, fun, fun, ’til their governor took their beaches away. Local officials in Orange County last weekend opened beaches amid a heat wave, drawing inland residents from Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. But Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday overruled the county, claiming that surfers and sun worshipers weren’t respecting social-distance rules.

“It is my rule never to take a side in any part in the quarrels of others, nor to inquire into them. I generally presume them to flow from the indulgence of too much passion on both sides, & always find that each party thinks all the wrong was in his adversary. These bickerings, which are always useless, embitter human life more than any other cause…”

Thomas Jefferson

I’m going to hold out hope we learn something from this. Mainly that I’m always right and y’all should just do what I say…

I am amused at the number of leftists who were outraged that some senators sold stock in January that the conspiracy-minded affirm was based on inside information, but they ignore the number of democrat senators who said nothing based on the same inside information?

https://www.gocomics.com/laloenespanol/2020/04/21?comments=visible

Sometimes, others say it so much better than I can…

It’s almost like we’re marinating in our conflict juices.