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Nobel prize-winning scientist: The Covid-19 epidemic was never exponential

Freddie Sayers
UnHerd
Sat, 02 May 2020 17:13 UTC
Michael Levitt, Freddie Sayers
As he is careful to point out, Professor Michael Levitt is not an epidemiologist. He's Professor of Structural Biology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for "the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems." He's a numbers guy — as he told us in our interview, his wife says he loves numbers more than her — but then, much of modern science is really about statistics (as his detractors never tire of pointing out, Professor Neil Ferguson is a theoretical physicist by training).

With a purely statistical perspective, he has been playing close attention to the Covid-19 pandemic since January, when most of us were not even aware of it. He first spoke out in early February, when through analysing the numbers of cases and deaths in Hubei province he predicted with remarkable accuracy that the epidemic in that province would top out at around 3,250 deaths.

His observation is a simple one: that in outbreak after outbreak of this disease, a similar mathematical pattern is observable regardless of government interventions. After around a two week exponential growth of cases (and, subsequently, deaths) some kind of break kicks in, and growth starts slowing down. The curve quickly becomes "sub-exponential".

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Handcuffs

Deputy gets prison for stealing from charity that helped kids of fallen military and cops

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Robert Simeone, a former Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy
Robert Simeone, a former Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy and U.S. military veteran, originally faced up to 175 years in prison for the 30 felony charges he pleaded guilty to this month. However, despite the long list of crimes, including stealing from a children's charity, Simeone will spend just five years behind bars thanks to a likely blue privilege-inspired plea deal given to him this month.

Simeone, 49, pleaded guilty to 30 felony charges for stealing $50,000 from a children's charity and paying kickbacks to lure patients into a drug treatment center he ran in West Palm Beach.

On Wednesday, this prior 'pillar of the community' stood before a judge and admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from children in a charity he set up to get rich in the name of dead cops and veterans.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, in 2017, Simeone became one of the first individuals ensnared by State Attorney Dave Aronberg's Sober Homes Task Force. It's a law enforcement push against abuses in the area's drug-recovery industry. There have been more than 100 arrests in three years.
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Blue Pill

Liberal insanity: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer allows gay swinger's club to operate while barber loses license

Megan Fox
PJ Media
Wed, 20 May 2020 11:40 UTC
Gretchen Whitmer
There is perhaps nothing more confusing than Democrat governors' orders during the Chinese WuFlu pandemic. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is by far the worst. That was made clear with the news that a gay swinger's club with "glory holes" is being allowed to operate under her nose in Lansing while she aims her business-killing death ray on 77-year-old barber Karl Manke for giving haircuts.


Comment: Too bad the author is falling into the anti-Chinese mindset calling the virus the WuFlu pandemic.


Gay swinger's club is essential.

But strangers servicing each other through holes in a basement wall in the state capitol is perfectly fine. I guess group sex is an "essential" activity in the Democrat-run state of Michigan. The underground private club, Club Tabu, has a website that describes what goes on there. (HT: Steve Gruber)
Tabu events are defined as "private party" lifestyle socials. There is no sexual activity permitted except in the privacy of your own accommodations.

Comment: If the above story doesn't prove that following much of the ultra-liberal mindset - especially demonstrated by politicians - amounts to losing one's mind, nothing will.

But here are a few more anyway:

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Attention

Suspect in beating of nursing home resident placed at facility after contracting coronavirus, father says

Emma Colton
Washington Examiner
Sun, 24 May 2020 12:30 UTC
nursing home assault
© Twitter video screenshot
A Michigan father said his 20-year-old son, who was seen beating a nursing home patient in a viral video, was placed in the facility after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

The man, who has not yet been publicly named, is suspected of beating a 75-year-old veteran at the home after footage of the incident surfaced last week, but his family is horrified by his actions and said he has mental issues.

"He has issues and for them to put him in a facility like that, nothing good was going to happen," the suspect's father told 7 Action News on Friday.

Comment: See the report on the original incident: Suspect arrested after video surfaces showing violent beating of elderly nursing home patient

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NPC

Put those authoritarian impulses to work! Consider becoming a "contact tracer"

Megan Cerullo
CBS News
Mon, 18 May 2020 14:36 UTC
contact tracing tracer
As U.S. unemployment soars to historic levels, the hottest job of the year could be a lifesaver: contact tracing. Containing the coronavirus as the economy gradually reopens has created an urgent need for hundreds of thousands of people trained to identify infected individuals and track down anyone and everyone they could have exposed to the virus.

In the absence of a federal plan, some city and state health departments are already seeking to fill thousands of these positions. Experts estimate that between 100,000 and 300,000 contact tracers — who can earn up to $65,000 per year — will be needed nationwide based on state populations and projected COVID-19 infection rates.

"I do think that it's a fantastic job for people who have been furloughed, and it's something that people can be trained to do," said Roger Shapiro, a professor of medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health. "It takes some training, but it's not impossible to train almost anybody with reasonable social skills, who can work off a script, begin a conversation with people, convey a few key messages and collect data," he said.

Comment: One wonders if the Gestapo had similar advertising campaigns. Not to come down on those who need to take any job they can get in the current employment landscape, but in an ideal world, this lockdown never would have been instituted and this type of work would be completely unnecessary.

See also: "Contact Tracer" and "Disease Investigator" jobs spring up across the country

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Bacon n Eggs

April grocery prices jumped the most in 46 years

Jordan Davidson
Eco Watch
Wed, 13 May 2020 12:31 UTC
masked grocery shopping
Not since 1974 have grocery store prices surged 2.6 percent in just one month. That just happened in April, according to new data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday, as CNBC reported.

Prices Americans paid for eggs, meat, cereal and milk all went higher in April as people flocked to grocery stores to stock up on food amid government lockdowns designed to slow the spread of Covid-19, according to CNBC.

The largest increases were for meat and eggs. Consumers paid 4.3 percent more in April for meats, poultry, fish and eggs, 1.5 percent more for fruits and vegetables, and 2.9 percent more for cereals and bakery products, as well as nonalcoholic beverages, the Labor Department said, as The Washington Post reported.

Comment: See also:

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Quenelle

Facebook's dangerously fake "fact checking"

Sharyl Attkisson
sharylattkisson.com
Tue, 05 May 2020 00:01 UTC
coronavirus epoch times
I've been drawing attention to the increasingly aggressive efforts by political and corporate interests to control the information you get on the news and online. I have often spoken of disingenuous "fact checking" efforts conducted by conflicted third parties who are actually trying to shape public opinion and control the information the public can access.

One chilling example comes in the form of Facebook's fake "science fact checks." The social media company has improperly been censoring and flagging material as "false."

A recent example is a popular documentary by Epoch Times about the possible link between Covid-19 and a research lab in Wuhan, China.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

Manhunt in Moscow after GUN BATTLE with KALASHNIKOV rifles & pistols erupts in broad daylight


RT
Sun, 24 May 2020 17:37 UTC
gun battle moscow
Deafening volleys of gunfire startled residents of a sleepy residential area in south Moscow, on Sunday. They witnessed video-game-like scenes of men firing AK-47s and other guns in broad daylight below their windows.

Police have yet to comment on what prompted the violence, but several sources speculate that it was related to a conflict within the lucrative funeral business in the Russian capital.

Witnesses told reporters that it initially looked like a road rage incident. One car refused to let another pass on the narrow road, with the drivers and passengers getting out and starting to argue. The row then moved to the parking lot, where it escalated and shots were fired.
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X

Ohio judge deems state's coronavirus lockdown illegal

Alana Mastrangelo
Breitbart
Sun, 24 May 2020 06:26 UTC
Amy Acton
© AP Photo/Tony Dejak
An Ohio judge deemed the state's lockdown in response to the Chinese coronavirus illegal, and stated that the state's top health director "acted in an impermissibly arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive manner."

Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene Lucci ruled that Amy Acton, the director of the Ohio Department of Health, is prohibited from punishing nonessential businesses that defy Ohio's orders to stay closed in response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Cleveland 19 News reported.

The report added that the Lake County General Health District, police officers, prosecutors, and the Ohio Attorney General are also prohibited from punishing so-called "nonessential" businesses, as the companies already operate in compliance with standard safety regulations.

Moreover, Lucci declared that Acton "has acted in an impermissibly arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive manner," reported the Columbus Dispatch.

Comment: See also:

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People 2

'Relapses are through the roof, overdoses are through the roof': How the pandemic Is upping substance abuse

Emily Jashinsky
The Federalist
Tue, 19 May 2020 00:00 UTC
alcoholism
You take rehab.com — our website traffic is up 382 percent in the past 30 days with people looking for treatment for either substance abuse or mental health.'

This is a "pandemic within a pandemic," according to addiction expert Tim Ryan, who's watched the coronavirus outbreak exacerbate the preexistent opioid and mental health crises with devastating effect. Ryan, the star of A&E's 2017 "Dope Man" special, is the founder of "A Man In Recovery Foundation," which partners with Rehab.com. A former heroin addict, his mission is to assist others struggling with substance abuse.

In a Friday interview, Ryan explained how the stresses of isolation and financial trouble brought on by the pandemic are worsening addiction, both by pushing new users to abuse substances and making it more difficult for recovering addicts to stay sober. Rehab facilities are struggling to cope with the challenges of a viral outbreak, according to Ryan, who also said alcohol and fentanyl abuse seem to be especially prevalent as the nation stays home.

"What's happening is people need purpose, they need connection, they need fellowship," he told me. "Now they're all alone."

Ryan also shared compelling advice for concerned loved ones and anyone personally struggling to stay sober during this painful and unusual time. A transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, is below.

Comment: See also:

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