Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
61 Lower Cross Road, which expired on December 3, unsold at $7.9 million, is back today at $5.9
Owners started off at $11.9 million back in May 2016; the years have not been kind to this home’s prospects since.
Never let a serious crisis interfere with an election
UPDATE: Even the NYT is blaming the Democrats for this. The market futures are plummeting as I write this and by 9:30, when there’s another vote scheduled, we should be in full financial meltdown. Will that move the Democrats? Stay tuned.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked action on an emerging deal to prop up an economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, paralyzing the progress of a nearly $2 trillion government rescue package they said failed to adequately protect workers or impose strict enough restrictions on bailed-out businesses.
The party-line vote was a stunning setback after three days of fast-paced negotiations between senators and administration officials to reach a bipartisan compromise on legislation that is expected to be the largest economic stimulus package in American history — now expected to cost $1.8 trillion or more. In a 47-to-47 vote, the Senate fell short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to advance the measure, even as talks continued between behind the scenes between Democrats and the White House to salvage a compromise.
The failure to move forward shook financial markets and threatened an ambitious timeline set by the Trump administration and leading Republicans to move the rescue package through the Senate on Monday and enact it within days.
In voting to block action, Democrats risked a political backlash if they are seen as obstructing progress on a measure that is widely regarded as crucial to aid desperate Americans and prop up a flagging economy.
UPDATE: The NYT’s Propaganda Department was apparently asleep at the wheel when its first headline was composed. Over at Red State there’s a collection of the ever-changing headline, culminating, at least by 9:30 last night, with one that properly presented the situation.:
Eventually I’m sure they’ll get it right and make it more succinct: ORANGE MAN BAD!
toxic rare earth mining waste, (former) Lake Baotou, Mongolia
New Hampshire bans reusable bags as coronavirus cases spread (h/t, Hankster)
“Our grocery store workers are on the front lines of COVID-19, working around the clock to keep New Hampshire families fed,” Sununu said in a statement. “With identified community transmission, it is important that shoppers keep their reusable bags at home given the potential risk to baggers, grocers and customers. This Emergency Order directs all grocers and retail stores in the state to temporarily transition to only use new paper or plastic grocery bags provided by stores as soon as feasibly possible.”
Pal Nancy and I were speaking to each other from our separate, secure locations, and we recalled this gem from Firesign Theatre.
The Art of War
Selective battle against the flu vs. all-out war. From the NYT, but no cash wall. Worth reading in its entirety, in my opinion, but here’s a small bit of it:
Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?
There may be more targeted ways to beat the pandemic.
By David L. Katz
Dr. Katz is the founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.
….
The data from South Korea, where tracking the coronavirus has been by far the best to date, indicate that as much as 99 percent of active cases in the general population are “mild” and do not require specific medical treatment. The small percentage of cases that do require such services are highly concentrated among those age 60 and older, and further so the older people are. Other things being equal, those over age 70 appear at three times the mortality risk as those age 60 to 69, and those over age 80 at nearly twice the mortality risk of those age 70 to 79.
These conclusions are corroborated by the data from Wuhan, China, which show a higher death rate, but an almost identical distribution. The higher death rate in China may be real, but is perhaps a result of less widespread testing. South Korea promptly, and uniquely, started testing the apparently healthy population at large, finding the mild and asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 other countries are overlooking. The experience of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which houses a contained, older population, proves the point. The death rate among that insular and uniformly exposed population is roughly 1 percent.
We have, to date, fewer than 200 deaths from the coronavirus in the United States — a small data set from which to draw big conclusions. Still, it is entirely aligned with the data from other countries. The deaths have been mainly clustered among the elderly, those with significant chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, and those in both groups.
This is not true of infectious scourges such as influenza. The flu hits the elderly and chronically ill hard, too, but it also kills children. Trying to create herd immunity among those most likely to recover from infection while also isolating the young and the old is daunting, to say the least. How does one allow exposure and immunity to develop in parents, without exposing their young children?
The clustering of complications and death from Covid-19 among the elderly and chronically ill, but not children (there have been only very rare deaths in children), suggests that we could achieve the crucial goals of social distancing — saving lives and not overwhelming our medical system — by preferentially protecting the medically frail and those over age 60, and in particular those over 70 and 80, from exposure.
Why does this matter?
I am deeply concerned that the social, economic and public health consequences of this near total meltdown of normal life — schools and businesses closed, gatherings banned — will be long lasting and calamitous, possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself. The stock market will bounce back in time, but many businesses never will. The unemployment, impoverishment and despair likely to result will be public health scourges of the first order.
Worse, I fear our efforts will do little to contain the virus, because we have a resource-constrained, fragmented, perennially underfunded public health system. Distributing such limited resources so widely, so shallowly and so haphazardly is a formula for failure. How certain are you of the best ways to protect your most vulnerable loved ones? How readily can you get tested?
We have already failed to respond as decisively as China or South Korea, and lack the means to respond like Singapore. We are following in Italy’s wake, at risk of seeing our medical system overwhelmed twice: First when people rush to get tested for the coronavirus, and again when the especially vulnerable succumb to severe infection and require hospital beds.
Yes, in more and more places we are limiting gatherings uniformly, a tactic I call “horizontal interdiction” — when containment policies are applied to the entire population without consideration of their risk for severe infection.
But as the work force is laid off en masse (our family has one adult child home for that reason already), and colleges close (we have another two young adults back home for this reason), young people of indeterminate infectious status are being sent home to huddle with their families nationwide. And because we lack widespread testing, they may be carrying the virus and transmitting it to their 50-something parents, and 70- or 80-something grandparents. If there are any clear guidelines for behavior within families — what I call “vertical interdiction” — I have not seen them.
No possessions, too, except for iPhones — don’t wanna hurt no Chinee
Coronavirus mysteriously disappears after celebrities band together to sing “Imagine”.
WORLD—The coronavirus pandemic miraculously ended today after celebrities digitally joined together to sing John Lennon's "Imagine" in a universally loved viral video.
….
"As soon as the virus saw the celebrities singing about a communist utopia, it seems to have admitted defeat," said one amazed public health official. "And to think we wasted so many resources on trying to stop this thing when the clear solution was simply to sing about no heaven, no hell, no religion, and no possessions. The celebs didn't even have to give up their possessions, either -- they just had to sing about it, and the virus went away without any further harm."
Celebrities say they will be singing "We are the World" from their luxury jets to end climate change next.
Snowflakes pass as John Harvard weeps
And their affirmative action students go one better: all A’s or A+
Some students went further — they only want grades of “A” or “A-minus” to be given for coursework. A group dubbed “Harvard for All” started a petition in favor of this model, called “Double A,” on Wednesday, and quickly got over 500 signatures.
Those in favor of “Double A” said they “need [letter] grades for certain classes” and “rely on grades to show how they have improved academically.”
Student Denisse Carrizales argued for “Double A” and against pass/fail because first-generation and low income students have “a hard time adjusting to Harvard their freshman year or their first semester.”
“A lot of these students still want to attend a competitive graduate school or a professional school,” she said, adding that a pass/fail model doesn’t help this situation.
Pray that that alumni system’s reach doesn’t extend as far as medical school admission boards.
Here’s to success!
Apologies to Hillary, other Democrat politicians, and their scribes for referring to Kung Flu as anything but the Chinese Communist Party’s official, approved name, COVID-19 — we’re awaiting their approval to substitute “CCP Virus” instead, but until then, our name warehouse is limited to “Chinese Virus”, Kung Flu, General Tso’s Sicken” and that old pearl, “Yellow Peril”. Your editors regret their failure to properly stock sufficient inventory.
UPDATE: You could reclassify instead of declassifying, and do what Russia’s doing: “pneumonia” cases soar, while Kung Flu cases dwindle. And don’t worry, CNN will have your back.
FDA approves rapid testing system
FDA approved the test on Friday and it was announced by Cepheid, the company working with the White House to develop the test that takes less than an hour to process
The authorization was made Friday and tests will begin shipping next week, according to a statement from California-based Cepheid, the company manufacturing the tests.
“During this time of increased demand for hospital services, Clinicians urgently need an on-demand diagnostic test for real-time management of patients being evaluated for admission to health-care facilities,” said Dr. David Persing, MD, Ph.D., chief medical and technology officer at Cepheid.
“An accurate test delivered close to the patient can be transformative — and help alleviate the pressure that the emergence of the 2019-nCoV outbreak has put on healthcare facilities that need to properly allocate their respiratory isolation resources,” Persing added.
The manufacturer Cephid is a Silicon Valley biotech company, based in Sunnyvale and not, say, Peking.
BTW, I lifted the image above from an MNBC news show, aired today. Check out the MNBC flack who (beginning 44 seconds in) states that “this administration’s not taking that WHO test was the, well they’ve made so many mistakes, but the biggest single mistake the administration has made so far. When every other country in the world is using that test, is just shocking”. That tale has been debunked, thoroughly, by countless sources: even the Washington Post retracted its story, days ago. The fact that this woman asserts it is proof that she is an ignorant fool, unfit for being seen in public, let alone on television. Or she’s a liar, or both. I’ll take both, Alex.
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