New York Times Publishes Names of People Who Died of COVID-19 on Entire Front Page

Saved themselves the embarrassment of filling the front page with stories they'd have to retract in a day or two, I guess!

At the risk of being accused of "whataboutism", I don't recall the NYT filling the front page of their Sunday paper with the names of H1N1 victims? But it reminded me of something else, towards the end of the Bush Administration. The NYT published the names of all the soldiers who had died in Iraq...in Bush's war! It was a terrible thing, the media decried!~ All those soldiers' lives lost! Nightline did a special edition of nothing but Ted Koppel reading the names of those who had died in Iraq.

"Ted Koppel solemnly read aloud the names of 721 U.S. servicemen and women killed in the Iraq war during an unusual edition of "Nightline" Friday. Koppel's recitation - illustrated with corresponding photo, military branch, rank and age of each of the fallen since March 19, 2003 - occupied the expanded 40-minute program. There was no music, no graphic flourishes. Name followed name, photo followed photo..."

Doonesbury in the "funny papers", printed the list of soldiers killed in the Iraqi war. The "anti-war" movement was flourishing. Cindy Shehan camped outside of Bush's ranch in Texas. The media declared the ultimate right of a woman who had lost a son to combat to protest the war! These anti-war types were the genuine article! And really, really concerned about this...

...up until 2009. A new president...a Democrat president was inaugurated, and like the morning mists burned away by the blazing noonday sun...the anti-war liberals all disappeared! Well, Cindy Sheehan tried to extend her 15 minutes of fame by running for office in California, but no one wanted to interview her anymore, and her brief candidacy was swept away by a tsunami of apathy towards the plight of the U.S. soldier.

Obama ramped up activity in Afghanistan, yet saddled the military with near impossible Rules of Engagement, and the casualty count in Afghanistan started to rise precipitously. All with nary a peep from the anti-war Left. It was as if, liberals used the deaths of Americans to try to score points against their political opponents, but as a rule, just didn't give a damn otherwise!

It appears that the exact same thing is happening here. If somehow Trump can be associated with all these deaths, the liberals hope to score points in November. The "Paper of Record" never ran a front page of H1N1 deaths, or mounting casualties in Afghanistan or calling them "grim milestones" because a liberal was in office. Wouldn't want to embarrass him, don'tcha know?

But "Trump is Hitler", so all's fair!

Encouragement Helps Get Us Across The Finish Line

The greatest generation, our WWII Veterans, love to wear their veteran hat. They taught us that perseverance and its twin, courage, are the most important of all collective virtues.

They bequeathed a far safer, more prosperous, bounteous and leisured society through their valiant sacrifice.  The generations which followed have largely taken these things for granted.

The Chinese Lung Rot pandemic has scared the hell out of the American people.  We’ve lost 17 million jobs and more are projected for the month of April.  Its put a major dent in our economy.  We closed down our schools and shuttered the churches.  There is panic and pandemonium.  Rather than proclaiming, “Let’s Roll!” like we did after 9/11 the unhinged media and punditry recommend we roll up in a ball and hide under the bed.  That’s not the way America works!

I may not have a DD-214 but I believe encouragement helps get us across the finish line and that is why I purchased the Coronavirus Veteran Hat.  It features an array of four ribbons:  Maintaining Wi-Fi Connection, Corona Survival, Hand Sanitization and Toilet Paper Shortage Survival.

When I saw a tweet featuring the hat it made me chuckle.  Admit it.  Somebody has one helluva sense of humor.  Was it coincidence that we had a severe storm that took out my internet connection the day after I ordered the hat?  Is it not true that Amazon, Walmart and all the janitorial products websites are all declaring they are out of stock on hand sanitizer, disinfecting sprays and wipes?  I ordered ear loop face masks well before the CDC and the White House Coronavirus Task Force strongly recommended we wear them when we leave our homes only to have Amazon notify me the “shipment may have been lost”.  Come on, really?

So, while our president tears journalists limb from limb in his daily coronavirus briefings and the left is wringing their sweaty little hands trying to blame him for this unprecedented calamity, I will wear my Coronavirus Veteran Morale Hat knowing I have stayed at home to slow the spread and we are one day closer to life returning to normal.

Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.

I'm nearing 68 years old. I ordered one of these. When it arrives in about a week or so I will wear it with pride. This Chinese Lung Rot pandemic has been the pits. pic.twitter.com/ORWCSMMlBI

— PoliticalClownParade (@PoliticalClownP) April 13, 2020

Love in the Time of Covid 19

Oh Sweetie, Save Your Outrage For Another Day

Weijia Jiang, a CBS News correspondent accused an unnamed White House official of calling COVID-19 the “Kung Flu” this morning in a tweet and Brandon Morse, Senior Editor at the website RedStates, lowered the boom on her:

Shouldn't it be a good thing that everyone is kung-flu fighting. That the task force is fast as lightning despite this virus being a little bit frightening? https://t.co/Cs1XN6UQoy

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) March 17, 2020

Morse’s reference may be lost to the younger set.  It comes from the single released in 1974 by Bus Stop during the chop-socky film craze that featured martial arts and kung fu films made in Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The song has been featured in films like Rush Hour 3, Beverly Hills Ninja and Kung Fu Panda 3.

It’s an indisputable fact that the Wuhan Virus, known to all of us as coronavirus or COVID-19, originated in Wuhan, China, the capital of Hubei Province. Every documentable piece of evidence demonstrates this to us.

China is doing exactly what you would expect a communist nation to do—manipulate public opinion via the woke leftism of a complicit Democrat Media Complex. The idea that we can’t label the virus by its place of origin without being xenophobic is laughable when, in fact, the media was calling it exactly that recently.

On March 8, the People’s Republic of China’s state-run rag Xinhua threatened to impose pharmaceutical export controls after which America would be “plunged into the mighty sea of coronavirus.”

The article goes on to imply China would be justified in taking such a step. It would simply be retaliating against “unkind” U.S. measures taken after COVID-19’s emergence, such as restricting entry to the U.S. by Chinese and foreigners who had visited China.

Inside China, a raft of conspiracy stories has appeared online, including that the contagion was spread by the U.S. military. This bile was spewed by Lijian Zhao, Deputy Director General for Red China’s Foreign Ministry who tweeted, “It might be the US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data!  US owe us an explanation!”

Can any one of you imagine Germany, Japan or other responsible nations performing such a dark passive aggressive threat disguised as hurt feelings?

The pull quotes from one of my favorite columnists, Victor Davis Hanson, hits the nail on the head:

“In a reductionist sense, it is not surprising that a China, systematically lying to and cheating its trading partners, cannot be trusted to tell the world how a virus was born on its own soil, spread among its population, and hopped oceans into other nations.” 

“When the virus peters out and the panic fades, China may be permanently rebranded and recalibrated by the world at large. Its trading partners will trust it far less to honor any commitments or to abide by any international agreements. Supply chains will be diversified. Tourism will be reduced in fears another such coronavirus will follow SARS and COVID-19—and be hushed up. Countries that had particular close commercial and cultural ties with China—Iran, South Korea, and Italy—were hurt most during the epidemic by Chinese silence and duplicity.”

I guess I’ll have to own up to a willingness to stigmatize the culture a of people who dine in disgusting “wet markets” that feature bamboo rats, civets, pangolin, bats, snakes, wriggling grubworms, live snakes, turtle, cicadas, guinea pigs, badgers, hedgehogs, otters and even wolf cubs.  So yeah, people in this country will get a little rude when you start a pandemic that destroys people’s lives. 

The Great Toilet Paper Crisis Of 2020

Toilet paper was purportedly sold out at most major grocery stores, pharmacies and other outlets across the country.  There are videos showing panic-stricken people actually resorting to fisticuffs over the last pack of TP. It’s not only happening here, its happening in Europe and Australia as well. Shoppers are clearing shelves as the number of COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases grow.

Will the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020 last?  Not if Georgia-Pacific and Procter & Gamble can help it. Both companies have noticed the spike in demand and are working to keep store shelves stocked according to Forbes.

If we make it through this pandemic together, let’s all have a day where we wrap ourselves in our unused toilet paper and go outside pretending we’re all mummies.

When you need to clean your ass, but idiots bought all the damn toilet paper #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/b0B41OZ4mX

— OP4 (@E4_Maf_E_Ya) March 14, 2020

Publix is straight up trolling now, these people done put a toilet paper cake on display just to mock people! pic.twitter.com/IQIXEWPONd

— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) March 14, 2020

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Pirate’s Cove.  We are grateful to Admiral Teach for linking to this post. 

Just Wait Until November

In his historic Oval Office address to the nation on the coronavirus outbreak President Trump said, “We are responding with great speed and professionalism. To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.”

The President also announced he will take “emergency action” to give financial relief to impacted workers.

“Using emergency authority, I will be instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments without interest or penalty for certain individuals or businesses negatively impacted,” he said. “Finally, I am calling on Congress to provide Americans with immediate payroll tax relief.”

That, however, was not the story on CNN when Jim “Dear Diary” Acosta and Fredo Cuomo were worried about how the President worded his statement.

On CNN, Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta says President @realDonaldTrump referring to the coronavirus as a "foreign virus" "smacks of xenophobia." pic.twitter.com/1aibFjZp5R

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 12, 2020

Even before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus a pandemic on Wednesday, the Democrat Media Complex discovered “Wuhan virus” and “Chinese coronavirus” served as racist dog whistles just in time to attack Republicans during the 2020 election cycle.

COVID-19 originated in China, in Wuhan specifically.  That’s an indisputable FACT.  It spread across the globe due to the Chinese Communist Party's ridiculous, self-serving reluctance to admit error, provide other nations with the DNA and RNA codes to help develop an effective vaccine as well as its seemingly bottomless capacity for arrogance, incompetence and opacity.  Those are FACTS as well.

It is unfathomable to think, in a moment of crisis, the douchebags at CNN are more concerned with something sounding xenophobic than they are about what the President actually said.

I thought it only fitting to have Acosta pictured in a Communist Chinese jersey with his trusty microphone while policing the President’s very somber address to a justifiably worried nation.

Later on in the Fake News evening lineup at CNN, the meltdown continued unabated.  See for yourself. 

Oh man!

You gotta check out this back-and-forth between Don Lemon and John Kasich in which Lemon straight-up admonishes Kasich for thinking Trump's address was fine.

"Can I finish now?"

"No, you can't, John!" pic.twitter.com/a4TaAN0qcX

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 12, 2020

If you think this shit was just a teensy bit unhinged, just wait until November when Orange Man Bad wins in a landslide.