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A few sloppy news outlets quickly reported Tuesday, before correcting themselves, that our Board of Supervisors had moved unanimously to “re-open Orange County businesses!” The Supervisors probably meant to give that impression, to please the numb-nuts who’d been holding “Live Free And Die” protests across the county for the previous week, but no such thing happened. It wasn’t our Supervisors who closed non-essential businesses in California, and it’s not gonna be up to them to re-open them.
It is true that the two most Trumpy and immature of our Supervisors – Don Wagner and Shawn Steel’s Wife – sent out a press release after yesterday’s meeting that SOUNDED a lot like they were re-opening OC businesses. And it’s true that as usual they got no disagreement from Andrew Do, Lisa Bartlett, or Sleepy Dormouse.
Original Tea-Partier Wagner echoes his President in opining that we shouldn’t “trade in one problem [mass deaths] for a bigger problem [a bad economy].” And he takes the press release’s initial claim that OC has “effectively flattened the curve” on County CoVid a little farther, by boldly contending that the curve is “trending down.”
Who told Don Wagner that any “curve” – infections, deaths, or hospitalizations – was going down or even flattening? Way too much wishful thinking, at the White House and on Santa Ana’s Fifth Floor – we’re supposed to have TWO STRAIGHT WEEKS of CoVid-19 rates dropping before we consider opening up, and we haven’t even seen the beginning of a drop yet:
Up to Wed. April 29 – click for larger view
The authors of this press release look at that chart and others, from THEIR OWN WEBSITE, and write with a straight face that we’ve “effectively flattened the curve”? (Does “effectively” have some unknown magical meaning here?) Don Wagner looks at it and says with a straight face that it’s “trending down?” What sort of drugs are our County leaders on? I want some. What sort of drugs is their beloved President taking? I want some. Like last week’s numb-nuts protesters, they are “overgrown children with ADHD who just couldn’t hang for more than a month of helping our nation fight an invisible enemy.”
Two days earlier Board Chairwoman Shawn Steel’s Wife had claimed, in true Trump style, that the infamous April 25 Newport Beach Register photograph (below), which angered Governor Newsom so much, was somehow “fake news,” probably a photo from some other year. Well it wasn’t, and the Register even had to print a story this morning clarifying that.
People gather in Newport Beach to cool off on a hot day on Saturday, April 25, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Shawn Steel’s Wife went on, Monday, to insist that these folks depicted above on Newport Beach over the weekend “were following the six-foot physical distancing guidelines for the most part,” and that the County plans on leaving its beaches open. Probably the sort of magical wishful thinking that we DON’T want to send to Washington, just sayin’.
The bulk of Wagner’s and Steel’s press release was a list of common-sense “guidelines” for when OC businesses DO open. Yes, not so much “rules” as “guidelines,” as Bill Murray explained when tempted by the possessed Sigourney in Ghostbusters:
As these are “guidelines,” weasel words like “should,” “when feasbile,” “is encouraged,” “unless impractical,” are used dozens of times, in less than that many sentences. Six feet distancing SHOULD be observed. Face coverings SHOULD be supplied to employees. Physical barriers are PREFERRED, IF AVAILABLE.
This classic wisdumb has to be from faux-libertarian Wagner: “Physical barriers are preferred, if available, but are not required as the general public will make individualized decisions about which businesses to patronize.” Sounding exactly like dingbat Rand Paul when explaining why he would not have voted for the Civil Rights Act – just leave it up to white Southerners to slowly realize how terribly unfair Jim Crow was, and then they’ll gradually stop patronizing racist establishments! The Invisible Hand of the Market Guarantees It!
And as these are “guidelines,” a lot of employers and employees will observe them, and a lot of them WON’T cuz they don’t HAVE to. Far be it from OC’s faux-libertarian leaders to protect the rest of us by setting any RULES, however temporary.
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Well, it’s NOT up to the Supervisors, or the Child President, as to when OC businesses can re-open, as even Wagner and Steel are forced to admit a couple times. On one level, it’s up to OC business owners and customers themselves, MANY of whom are sane and informed. But on a larger level, it’s up to the Governor of the great state of California, and we are blessed here to have ADULT leadership in the State even if we lack it at the County or Federal levels. (Thank your lucky stars we’re not Georgia, Florida or South Dakota!)
Tuesday (same day as the silly Steel-Wagner release) Newsom released a sensible 4-stage plan for re-opening the state and its businesses, which will be “driven by science, data and public health,” NOT by “politics, protests, or political pressure.” Right now we’re in Stage 1 with stay-at-home orders in place.
- Stage 2, “weeks away,” will see “lower-risk workplaces like retail, manufacturing, offices, schools and childcare facilities” re-opening WITH “ADAPTATIONS.”
- Stage 3, “months away,” will see “higher-risk businesses and gatherings that include close contact – like salons, gyms, theaters, religious services, weddings and sporting events WITHOUT live audiences…” again with “adapations and limits on the size of gatherings.”
- The final Stage 4 would require coronavirus treatments that have not yet been developed, and that’s when we’d finally see the return of “concerts, live-audience sports and other large events, venues and mass gatherings deemed the highest risk” – presumably including Disneyland and Knott’s, so vital to our local North OC economies.
The Register printed this under the title, “Disneyland and Other Theme Parks Can’t Re-open For Months Under State Plan.” Although not Anaheim’s biggest Disneyland fan, I responded “Disney has such celebrated ‘imagineers’ … could they imagineer themselves into a social-distancing theme park temporarily so they can qualify under Gov. Newsom’s ‘stage 3’ and re-open in ‘mere months’ rather than after a vaccine & cure are available?” Maybe THAT would be a worthwhile imagineering project for our $7 million brain trust at VISIT ANAHEIM to put their minds to!
As I wrote this piece, suffering through countless interruptions, Governor Newsom responded to the OC Lemming Beach Rushes by closing down all OC beaches till further notice. Now I hear the Numb-Nuts are praying that President Trump and his filthy AG Barr will come and save them from the Mean Governor. HAHA NUMB-NUTS!
They missed their downward trend in mid-April. And that, then, would have been embarrassing later. These people just don’t know how to shut the Hell up.
Now Michelle Steel (Shawn Steel’s Wife, running for Congress against the very decent Rouda) is having a shit-fit over the Governor’s beach closures, AND REPEATING the lie that “Orange County has been successful in flattening the curve… and hospitalizations are decreasing.”
As the fish rots from the head down, so loyal members of Trump’s Party have found Truth to be a quaint 20th-century notion.
Again, here’s the latest hospitalizations, from the County’s own site – https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc — now here’s the latest counting yesterday. Going down, you said?
We are all going to die.
I just want to see the idiot deniers die first to make it OK
That’s why a lot of folks are saying, contrary to Greg, “Stop telling people not to inject disinfectants! Let’s just let this one play itself out.”
That such a story would lead to such reactance among Trumpers, far more than any exhortation to do so, was I suppose buried a little too deeply in the subtext.
Which idiot wrote this article? Where are the deaths you moron??
This idiot did. Maybe it was hard for you to understand the byline. “Written By Vern Nelson” means written by Vern Nelson.
Let me guess your world view. 63,000+ US covid deaths fake. Moon landing fake. Climate change fake. Bigfoot and Area 51 real. Chemtrails a serious problem.
I think that the day after this comment was posted was the day that the total domestic deaths from Covid XIX exceeded the total number of troops killed in the Vietnam.War (We still have quite a ways to go before we exceed the number of *Vietnamese* killed in that war.)
They say 5 MILLION Vietnamese died in the war but I did not know any so it did not happen? I did not know any American soldiers that died in Vietnam or their friends or families also so it did not happen?
If you’re going to rant incomprehensibly and without apparent basis, you’re going to have to do it from a name that does not tarnish the great Emile Zola. Maybe try “E. Litella.” Or “E. Coli.” Hmmm, I like that last one.
And yes, both of those things happened, although the number of Vietnamese deaths is tragically a loose estimate, starkly contrasting with the precisely stated number of U.S. deaths.
As a Flat Earther and follower of my messiah Trump I must say your are a silly guy Vern.
We hold these truths to be evident, that all writers were not created equally, that they MIGHT be endowed by their Creator with certain alien like Rights, that among these are smartness, writeness and the pursuit of literary genius. — But to secure these rights, writers are institutionalized, and then derive their super powers from the consent of the Governer, hopefully.
So now we’ve got another complaint to make about the TrumPlague: you can no longer tell people trying and failing to be funny “Don’t quit your day job!”
Sleepy Dormouse
This is the point where I have to chime in and remind everyone that the police associations endorsed Tim Shaw rather than Doug Chaffee in the Supervisor’s race, taking away whatever moral high ground Shaw might have held.
(My usual practice, when undecided, is to vote against the police-endorsed candidate to counter the vote of someone who supports them uncritically — but in this case I cast a write-in vote.)
Well, sometimes people can’t HELP who endorses them. I never did find out why they prefered Shaw, Chaffee was always such a kiss-ass to the FPD.
I never heard Shaw complain about it — did you?
I don’t know what point you’re making. I wasn’t enthusiastic about either choice. I finally picked Shaw because at least he says what he means, and has less record of broken promises.
Just that the fair principle that you’ve outlined in the Iglesias case also prescribed abstaining in the Supes’ race. The police wanted Shaw in. One should wonder why.
I love this article Vern!!! You made my night and gave me a great laugh! You could not have been more on point than this. Great job! I bow to you!!!!
Thanks for brilliant writing and what’s behind it! You have reassured me that OC isn’t
the tunnel to nowhere! Kudos and continue to shine!
*Sassbarilla and Prune Juice. Yep, that should cure just about anything..eh? The Covid-19 is very selective….it kills everyone….old, young, stupid and smart. If you look at the numbers that Senator Moorlach releases every day you will see that the smallest number of Super Carriers are the young 1-19. Now is that because they are the age group that has gotten more vaccines than any other generation? The the 19-49 group which makes up about 46% of those infected and those that die. Then you have the combined group of folks 49 to 65 and 65 and over….which make up just about the same 46% of those affected. Nursing homes are a real bad place to be, along with prisons, ships at sea, military folks that live communally and masses of folks broaching social distancing at the beach. It would only take ONE Super Carrier of the Covid-19 to visit Huntington Beach, and infect maybe 50 or more folks, then you extrapolate those numbers and pretty soon…..may Huntington Beach is responsible for the deaths or infections of thousands. Ah, but we are just probably over-reacting. How bad is it,
The Mercy and the Comfort Hosptial Ship both have been moved out of their Recuse Missions…because their Medical Staff got infected by so-called NON-Covid-19 patients.
Hawaii allows surfers in the water…but no one on their beaches or parks. Their numbers are tiny for all of the Hawaiian Islands. They have locked down their borders and not letting anyone in or out…..the same as Denmark. Oddly, both societies have been doing business as usual….along with Norway and Sweden….who are taking their lumps but not closing down businesses. Here in the US we failed to close down ALL the borders….not just the ones from China. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 can reside on lots of inanimate objects for 14-25 days. So, who knows what we are still buying from the original source? Yeah, The OC, needs a two week stay off the beaches and see how the numbers rise or fall based on last week-end social interactions.
“Sarsaparilla,” for those who want to search it.
Saying that surfers can stay in the water but have to stay off of the beaches leaves them in an awkward position when they’re done surfing for the day. Do they head for oil rigs for the night?
It’s in that spirit that I tell my enemies to take a short walk down a long pier.
*You guys need to listen to old surf music. You might catch on to what “the Haps” are! Believe us, Finding off the beach is the least of the problems here.
I would guess that Vern, like me, did grow up listening to old surf music. It was pretty hard to avoid when you’re being raised in Huntington Beach in the 60s and 70s..
Not really. By the time I started listening to popular music in the mid-70’s, Jimi Hendrix had already issued his edict that “You’ll never hear surf-rock again!”
Still, I just spent an hour listening to The Ventures and Dick Dale – for research purposes – and I still don’t understand how surfers could surf while staying off the beach. Or what sort of “recuse mission” those Navy ships could have been on.
Yesterday May 1, highest day for OC coronavirus hospitalizations – we finally cracked the 200 mark! (And that means 202 CURRENTLY hospitalized, smartasses, it’s not CUMULATIVE.) Two OC people died yesterday.
And our FOX News / Trumpy friends are still claiming that we’ve “flattened the curve” and it’s actually “trending down.” May 1. 15 days after the first big HB Live Free And Die rally. 13 days after San Clemente, 11 days after Newport, 4 days after Orange, same day as both the GLORIOUS DOWNTOWN HB REBELLION and the Governor’s closing our beaches.
Discuss. At a safe distance.
Arguing with these people this past week finally had a real good outcome – I suddenly remembered this song that I hadn’t even thought of since like 1976, from Neil Innes, who was kind of a semi-member of Monty Python (not really a member but you saw him as Sir Robin’s minstrel in the Holy Grail, and he and Eric Idle formed “The Rutles.”)
HOW SWEET, TO BE AN IDIOT. Beautiful song.
*We much prefer music from the music from “Life of Brian”!
Eric wrote “Always Look at the Bright Side of Life” by himself. But that was always an irritating tune to me.
Ah, the simple days (a month ago) when OC’s Covid hospitalizations were below 200. Today they’re at 492.