The " Book It " thread! | Page 7 | Barking Hard

The " Book It " thread!

I showed up to work yesterday and my editor said, "Can I see you in my office? It isn't good."

He ripped the bandage off and told me that without events and businesses closing, our advertising revenue had already dried up and he had to let about half the staff go - including me.

Two journalists will be kept on - the most experienced ones - to try and write four weekly papers between them. Half the advertising staff is gone. Editor dropped his title and demoted himself to advertising. Newsroom is empty. No proof-reader, journalists now proof each other's work exclusively, and half of the company cars might have to go.

He said he's hoping it doesn't last too long, then he can try to bring us back if we haven't found anything else - first, part-time. Then, hopefully, back to our full-time jobs.

Frankly, given current projections, I see the newspaper folding. People aren't following social distancing and self-isolation, way too many people want to carry on as normal, so I think this fiasco will carry on until next year. My mother in law said he financial advisor told her their current projections are collapse until June at the earliest - assuming our Federal and State governments go ahead with stage three lockdowns this weekend (Shutting everything down).

The situation is crazy. It was only Feruary this seemed laughable. The newspapers I was writing, in just three weeks, went from a minor mention of panic buying, to the shutting down of events, to interviewing people who had lost their job/business. Just that fucking quickly.

I posted on Facebook that I got fired and had quite a few people read out who had been laid off too - and the economic turmoil has only just begun, really.

Crazy times man.

Not sure why this is happening in Australia. Australia has not been hit hard by the virus yet. With winter coming, one might expect the cases in the southern hemisphere to start showing a seasonal increase similar to the flu, but the cases anywhere in the southern hemisphere so far are minimal (3050 total cases and 13 deaths in Australia) according to the website I consulted. Of course, any deaths at all are too many. But that holds for the flu and other diseases as well as traffic fatalities and other causes of death we accept without question. Is this just a case of world wide panic?

EDIT: If 3050 cases and 13 deaths sound significant, just consider that the flu results in about 250,000 to 500,000 yearly deaths worldwide. The typical number of deaths per year in the United States is about 36,000 with a yearly range of is 23,000 to 59,000 per the CDC.
 
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BDU,
I’m sorry to hear of your situation and hope it gets turned around
soon.
Similar situation for a family member who builds furniture for a
living in Ohio, he worked fifty five hours a week, then forty and
thirty two hrs.
Then he and his fellow employees were told either work at there
own risk or go on unemployment and you won’t be coming back
and consider it your severance.
Employees can go hungry but the owners need to keep there cushy
bailouts.
This is uncharted territory for the human race since 1918 and it has really brought
out the very worst impulses we as human beings have.
Greed, profiteering, hoarding, selfish, ignorant and uncaring of anyone
but themselves.
I won’t get into leadership or the lack of it...
Hopefully as this subsides and everyday life returns we remember this point in
time and are more prepared for events like this because I have heard in many
interviews that this will happen more frequently in the years to come.
Respect others, wash your hands and do what you have to do just don’t panic
to the point of getting lost in fear, stay safe...
 
So...while specific hospitals may be strained, the likelihood of ALL of them having the issue is slim at best.
Dawg, says who?

I mean this is a straight up appeal to your own authority. I'm certainly NOT an authority, so perhaps you are in a position to just make statements like this, but you'll forgive me if I'm asking for sourcing.
 
To everyone who have lost their jobs or are in danger of doing so...I am so sorry for you all. This is exactly the kind of thing I had been talking about in previous posts. The cure, which isn't even really a cure but a delay/evening out, of COVID is looking like it is going to be far worse for far more people than the actual virus.

The 'alarmist' mentality tries to tell you that it is for your own good...but never tells you the cost. I mean, who can complain if you just have to work from home....but there are BILLIONS of people who CAN'T work from home and will lose their job and everything else. It sucks.

Grey...in every single country there have been hot spots...but they have all become isolated pretty quickly by government action if not by human nature of avoidance. It just is. Data? That kind of data is not being shared by CNN or our other supposed news sources. I saw the same NYC nurse at least a dozen times yesterday...but not one interview from any hospitals outside of that region. Ask yourself why? It is because there is NO STORY THERE. If the surrounding hospitals were getting hit as hard, that would be all over the news as well.

In times like these, it is as important to look at what is NOT being reported as it is to look at what IS being reported.

I am not saying this isn't going to infect millions...it will...just like the flu does every year. What I am saying is that when the final data comes in, it will be very much in line with the flu in infection rates and death rates...and when compared to 1918...vastly less.

Panic is destroying lives...and yes, the MSM has a lot to do with that...picking and choosing who they will give interviews to...when I have seen tons of on-line reputable experts saying caution but not panic, but all I see on MSM is panic inciting diatribes...I really can't come to any other conclusion than MSM has become click bait OPED's...not real news.
 
The MSM as you put it I don’t trust to be fare but to play
on peoples emotions and is not where you should get your news.
I’m digging honest no BS political posturing that I have viewed
on YouTube similar to the one I already put up.
Although with our current approach we have surpassed China
in both infection and deaths and Italy as well.
We have known about this since November or December but it
didn’t get recognized till people started dying in America in
March.
 
Although with our current approach we have surpassed China
in both infection and deaths and Italy as well.

We have surpassed both in number of cases, but not number of deaths.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

The reasons(s) this may be occurring is/are not clear. Some possible reasons are:

  • Better reporting
  • Earlier part of the curve
  • Different strain
  • Better care
  • Unknown reason
 
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China is a communist country. They locked down Wuhan and basically sacrificed the population. They also have not reported a single infection and/or death in months...I highly doubt that is accurate.

Try locking down NY and telling everyone they have to stay, and nobody allowed in. You can't.
 
Dawg, just more appeals to your own authority. Sorry bro, I just can't buy that. Your tone reflects a high likelihood of bias.

While you may end up being right, it certainly won't be because you've made a strong scientific case. It appears to be more of a coin flip.

Me? I'm waiting more data before declaring this thing an overreaction or hoax.
 
China is a communist country. They locked down Wuhan and basically sacrificed the population. They also have not reported a single infection and/or death in months...I highly doubt that is accurate.

Try locking down NY and telling everyone they have to stay, and nobody allowed in. You can't.

Dawg, I am confused. According the "Worldometer" (the site you linked a few days ago):

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

China reported 67 new cases and 6 new deaths yesterday and have reported another 55 new cases and 5 new deaths so far today.

Those are very low numbers and either very hopeful or suspect (I would guess suspect), but they are not zero.
 
yeah...that was a bit of hyperbole....but do you really think that the epicenter of this pandemic is that far ahead of the rest of the world in shutting this down?

If they had a vaccine, they would be selling it.
If they had a sure fire way to stop it, they would be selling that too.

They are not reporting
 
Regarding the shaming of young people who may cause the death of Grandma or Grandpa:

Before you criticize what I am about to say, consider that I am Grandpa.

So what is important?

Is it more important that DK and BDU have jobs if it makes it more likely that Grandpa or Grandma may die this year instead of a few years from now? Is protecting the lives of Grandpa and Grandma at all cost worth the cost to society at large? More, specifically, is an all out attempt to prevent possible exposure to a virus that may kill me at the age of 78 more important than the wellbeing of millions of people who may lose their jobs and livelihood in the attempt?

I say no.
 
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Dawg, just more appeals to your own authority. Sorry bro, I just can't buy that. Your tone reflects a high likelihood of bias.

While you may end up being right, it certainly won't be because you've made a strong scientific case. It appears to be more of a coin flip.

Me? I'm waiting more data before declaring this thing an overreaction or hoax.

Grey, in case you missed Dr. Birx's discussion on the scare models I posted earlier, here it is again:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very important point from Dr. Birx ��<br><br>Models with zero controls lead to inaccurate projections and unnecessary fear<br><br>"That is nowhere close to the numbers you see people putting out there. I think it has frightened the American people." <a href="https://t.co/nZdM5fSpeW">pic.twitter.com/nZdM5fSpeW</a></p>— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) <a href="https://twitter.com/LizRNC/status/1242952507778912257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While the virus itself is not a hoax, the scare models of what the virus may do certainly represent a hoax. Precautions are needed in view of the fact that we have no vaccine and also no proven treatment. The virus can be deadly, particularly to older people. But the flu is just as deadly and kills many more people every year. We need to put things in perspective. Some things are more important than other things. The well being of society at large is more important than this diversion into insanity.
 
The thing is, they are talking the precautions are to 'blunt the spike', and in the long run may actually prolong the spread or even cause a second round...they can't even say it is going to save grandma and grandpa.

The entire point of it, as Grey said before, is to lesson the burden of the spike on our health system. It MIGHT save lives, but that is not really the end game.

So I agree...the cure seems to be worse than the disease. Millions of people are heading towards hardship, some to the point they will not recover, and some to the point it will adversely affect their health. Keep this up and watch the spike in suicides, mental illness, and crime.

I am not saying dump all precautions, I am saying to a monitored draw back from certain mandates in less affected areas. Let people work!!!
 
She tow’s the party line and is full of shit.
There is know “scare” boards just a dose of
What is and where it could go.
I was at the grocery store this morning and it
was just surreal, shelf’s cleared meat cases empty
People wearing masks and gloves ,sneeze shields
at the registers, my pharmacist only does curb
service!
People are scared and nobody is doing anything
to calm down this mass hysteria, there is a clear
lack of leadership to calm Americans.
Trump comes out between four and five and reads
from cue cards full of statistics and drones in a monotone voice
without ever looking into the camera and actually saying anything
of substance to calm the fears of people who want to know there
going to be ok and we are ALL working towards the eradication
of this virus.
I have heard over one hundred thirty plus nurses have contracted
this while treating the sick,that’s unbelievable courage and self
sacrifice,I stand in awe of people doing that...
Lastly,
Testing is pretty pointless right now isn’t it?
you get yourself a negative test and go to
a store,bank whatever and the fear begins
all over again because you just don’t know
because people don’t even know there afflicted.

I’m in a quarantine status for the next few weeks
and we’ll see what we see...
Dammit I forgot to go buy guns today!
 
She tow’s the party line and is full of shit.
There is know “scare” boards just a dose of
What is and where it could go...

People are scared and nobody is doing anything
to calm down this mass hysteria, there is a clear
lack of leadership to calm Americans.

All I can say to this is that people who have the gall to try to calm the mass hysteria, as Dr. Birx did, had best be prepared to be attacked unmercifully for said attempts.

https://www.nytimes.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...h-heavy-criticism/ar-BB11OyWI?ocid=spartanntp

If you want to read said hatchet job and have a subscription to the New York Times, you can read the Times version. If not, it is available courtesy of MSN (with advertisements--how nice of them).

Here is one of the key points the article attempts to make:

Dr. Birx’s comments, especially those dismissing ventilator shortages, startled some health experts. While most hospitals might have sufficient supplies at the moment, many worry about a crush of patients in the very near future.

So basically, they admit that she is right that the government is meeting the immediate need, but charge her with the possibility of not being able to do it in the future. In addition, they didn't like it when she countered some of their scare stories, like for example:

But on Thursday, that delicate balance appeared to tip. After talking to New York officials, Dr. Birx said she had been told that there were still intensive care beds and “over 1,000 or 2,000” ventilators still available. She also dismissed news stories of hospitals drafting blanket do-not-resuscitate orders for critically ill Covid-19 patients.

But you can read it all.
 
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I would also mention a final paragraph from the NYT article:

Among Mr. Trump’s frustrations with Dr. Fauci has been his unwillingness to embrace the malaria drugs that Mr. Trump has celebrated, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Dr. Fauci has been much more vocal about their risks, and dismissed potential evidence of their success in treating the coronavirus as anecdotal.

All I can say about this is that in watching the briefings, I have not detected a frustration by Trump with Dr. Fauci. Nor have I detected a disagreement that scientific double blind testing is desirable in establishing effectiveness of a drug. However, the drugs in question have already been shown to be safe and has had long use for other diseases. Dr. Fauci has not been vocal about their risks, only that they have not yet been proven to be effective in scientific testing.

So today, Trump announced in the briefing that the FDA has provided New York with a thousand doses of the drugs in question for testing of current patients. As Trump said, it is like "right to try." Obviously, it won't be double blind testing to eliminate the placebo effect, but if the drugs truly are effective, this testing should show benefit. If these drugs are not effective, we need to know it so that we can go on to other drugs that may be effective.
 
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BF, you hit it. It is a case that MSM is so entrenched in the scary version that they feel it is required to attack anyone or ignore anything that points to a different narrative.

BTW Grey....I think Dr. Birx comment about available ventilators supports my statement of surrounding availability.
 
Your turning a pandemic into a political game!
3-3-20 America reported its first nine deaths from
this virus.
3-8-20 Trump had a rally!!!
China isn’t going to give true numbers just like Russia
who seem immune to the virus!
I’m not speaking from panic cause I don’t really care if
I become infected but if I inadvertently passed it onto
my wife I would be devastated.
The scenario of grandma and grandpa check out for the
sake of little Johnny who runs down to Florida for spring
break amidst tens of thousands of young people who are
immune to disease except the clap/ herpes and so on.
Gramps doesn’t deserve to go out for any form of stupidity
by others.
Calling out Governor’s with name calling is unbecoming and
spiteful and this current “vaccine” has no evidence of a cure
even China has said its ineffective but again I don’t believe
Russia or China on anything.
For that matter I don’t trust anything Trump says anymore.
I know a staunch Republican who lives in Florida and brags
of going to church the movies and ignoring the entire thing.
Until everyone accepts the reality of this and quarantine
themselves we have zero chance of ridding ourselves of this
wonderful new world we live in.
 
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