COVID-19: When does "Reporting" morph into "Rooting"?

Oh my GAWD it's a Doomsday Variant.

A Doomsday COVID Variant Worse Than Delta and Lambda May Be Coming, Scientists Say

The article under the bold headline goes on to offer a ton of scary predictions.

"COVID might be with us FOREVER!!!!"

"We've UNDERESTIMATED this virus every step of the way!!!"

and finally......

"Is there a variant coming that's going to be like HIV and kill us ALL???"

Let's stop, take a break and look at how these things have gone in the past.

First things first, there are a LOT of respiratory viruses hanging out in the world. The Common Cold, Flu, SARS, MERS, viral pneumonia.  All of them have been around a long time, they are impossible to fully eradicate, and we go about our lives living with them, and coping with them as a society without flipping the freak out every time a new variant comes along. 

The annual flu shot is basically an inoculation against a different strain of flu every year. Eventually, the goal should be to get our response to SARS-CoV-2 to a similar level to seasonal flu. Yes, we are at the beginning of this process and those mean pharmaceutical companies have done yeoman's work getting us to this point: A vaccine that works remarkably well given the time crunch for developing it, and a greater understanding of methods of transmission.

What has NOT changed is the breathless way the media is reporting on it, or how the ruling class is responding.  These are problems.

For the ruling class the problem is that we're still looking at solutions that do not work. Lockdowns, utterly useless, are being contemplated again, as are mask mandates (which might work some) and a renewal of capacity restraints and social distancing requirements (which probably DO work) but the we're getting perilously close to a time where we're going to start locking down parks again, against all common sense, and we're hearing rumors of a 2nd lockdown, which I've said before might be ruinous to the economy and what we (just) remember of our free society.

For the media this is morphing into sheer boosterism. Reporters WANT suffering, they WANT death, and now they are openly rooting for it. Why is this? Clicks and sales. It's no mystery that the media is suffering financially of late, and what better to spur sales than a good old fashioned extinction level event? So what if some freedoms have to be sacrificed in the meantime? We've even had media come out against the First Amendment, as it applies to you, not to them. This is not too terribly surprising since many of them truly feel the FA only really applied to them in the first place, and they're not afraid to carry the ruling classes water to ensure it does.

For now the only advice I can give is to mask up, maintain social distancing, maintain proper hygiene and, if you are so inclined, get vaccinated. Then hope like hell some common sense makes it into this World.

Because, if it does not, we're going to be dealing with this mess for years.  And it's only going to get worse and more restrictive.

Finally, take all of this reporting with a huge grain of salt. Even within the "OH MY GAWD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!" histrionics of the above article this author has to admit that the DOOMSDAY scenario Newsweek is pimping here is extremely unlikely because well....science.

In short, what he's writing is science fiction. A fever dream of something really bad that he saw in the movie Contagion.

Keep that in mind.

Las Vegas: The Masks are Back on, will Increased Cancellations Follow?

 Last Friday marked the first day of Gov. Sisolak's new mandatory indoor mask order. By all accounts compliance is fairly high. (Which is good) But there are signs that this order could lead to people just not coming. Such is the dance that Governor Pickleball is trying to accomplish, slow the spread of COVID-19 in the State while keeping the life-blood pumping. Results from May and June showed record gambling hauls, which is good for the budget, but rumors and tales of %40+ cancellation rates at some casinos have some worried.

What Vegas does not want, and I'm not sure it can handle, is another lockdown. In fact, I'm not sure that a second wide-spread American lockdown results in the same country coming out as we had coming in. These are perilous times for the City, the State and the Country. How our elected ruling class chooses to handle this is very important.

This is a blog that focuses mainly on gaming, Las Vegas hotel/casinos and sports. But I do realize that there is a political undercurrent to everything and I will address these issues without being partisan. In this case, there are many within the Vegas community that are just starting to regain their financial footing and ripping the floor out beneath of them in the form of a second shutdown would be catastrophic. Couple this with Congress' inability to address the evection issue and a settling of the market seems imminent. For all of those screaming at Biden, I don't see how he's really at fault on this one given that the SCOTUS has all but tied his hands. The bad guys here are the people who made the decisions that lockdowns were the way to go initially, and that shuttering businesses, throttling travel and pretty much decimating the service industry were the way to curb the pandemic, despite these options never being in America's pandemic toolkit before.

In short, we looked at what China did and said "Hey, that might be a good idea" forgetting that America's government works much differently than Chinas and, despite what Professor Doctor Hotez thinks, we cannot deploy the military to enforce a National lockdown where people are being welded into their apartments.

While masks might provide some protection (to be perfectly honest, the jury is still out on that) what we know does work, social distancing and capacity restraints, are something the casinos want to avoid as well. I can guarantee you that the last thing they want to do is shut down 1/2 of the slot machines and be forced to put the Plexiglass dividers back up.

Then there is the problem of the shows. Packed arenas create super-spreader opportunities due to a large amount of contact time and tight spaces. But, as we've seen, the shows are not profitable at 50% capacity and some shows cannot operate with guests wearing masks.

What does all of this mean?

For one, our hopes that the availability of the vaccines meant that this whole mess was over was probably a little over optimistic and naive. There was always going to be a large portion of the population who was vaccine resistant to one degree or another, and it seems that "victory" in this war has been falsely defined by the ruling class as "zero COVID" which was always a bad metric.

The goal here should be to manage COVID-19 to where it becomes a danger on par with seasonal flu. The only way to get there is through a combination of contact immunity and vaccinations. At that point, when herd "immunity*" is reached, then all restrictions should come to an end.

My worry however, is that they won't. COVID has become a political animal and several in the ruling class have realized that they can use their new-found power to advance political goals, move society unwillingly in directions they think it should go and punish unfavored industries. This is a political problem that's not going away, and it might radically alter the future of Las Vegas.

To what extent is the question we're all asking now. 

Public Health and the Future of Travel: How do we Solve a Problem like COVID-19

News out today that Clark County, NV is considering a new mask mandate for everyone indoors in public places regardless of vaccinated status makes me wonder what the point of getting the vaccine was? Couple that with Dr. Anthony "I'm lying because my lips are moving" Fauci calling for EVERYONE over 2 years of age to wear a mask, vaccinated or not, and it's becoming pretty clear that COVID-19 is going to be with us for quite some time. 

As much as we wanted it to go away, it won't. At least not anytime soon.

Never-you-mind that the media is STILL continually getting it wrong, acting as if the vaccinated cannot catch COVID-19 instead of recognizing that the vaccine makes you far less likely to get seriously ill should you be exposed and that you're most likely to be either asymptomatic or just feel like you have a cold.

When it comes to COVID-19 misinformation, the mainstream media is potentially the biggest offender of all. I'm assuming the Twitter suspension for those reporters is not forthcoming.

This is a big problem for you if you have travel plans in the future (as I do).

Planning for your casino trips just got a lot more difficult because it's hard to know what is going to be open, what, if any, capacity limitations are going to be in place and whether or not you're going to eventually have to provide some proof of vaccination to do much of anything?

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't.

In a perfect world the clear answer would be "Get vaccinated and you should be fine" and the promises that we were given that if we got vaccinated we could return to something resembling normality would be borne out.

My feeling however is that was never really in the cards.

Our ruling class had to know that there was going to be a healthy level of vaccine hesitancy among the general populace and they HAD to know that this was going to cause COVID-19 to continue it's spread. Given that they never seriously looked at vaccine passports or something along those lines they also had to know that keeping restrictions in place, and limiting business and people, was always going to be a long-term strategy. While I do not think that mass lock-downs will ever be back on the table (they were wrong-headed, never before contemplated in pandemic response and utterly ineffective, often causing worse consequences than the virus itself) I do think that there is no small portion of the ruling class that LIKES wielding this new-found power and doesn't want it to go away all that quickly.

No, that's not a conspiracy theory, it's human nature. The missing village idiots who are in charge of things really only want to be both loved and feared as smart and powerful. Sure, they will mask their edicts in the language of "for the children (or helpless)" but it's really about exerting more control over those that can help themselves.

So, what are we going to do about COVID-19?

For now, we're probably going to have to put the masks back on, regardless of how idiotic this is for people who have 2 doses of vaccine flowing through their veins. The alternative is to refuse to wear a mask and risk arrest. A rather ironic false-choice being given to us by people who often call for the decriminalization of non-victimless crimes. Hey, if that's your thing, go for it. I, for one, would like to stay out of jail.

Depending on your feelings toward vaccination getting two jabs probably really is your best defense for the time being. Not perfect by any means, but better than nothing, assuming you have not previously caught it and have contact immunity that is. I have been fully vaccinated but have many friends who, for one reason or another (not all of them conspiracy theorist stuff) have chosen to not. So, we have to suck it up and wear masks, and listen to people screaming that they're useless. Another good idea would be a re-emphasis on social distancing. Hopefully you're all washing your hands, practicing good hygiene and covering your mouths when you cough/sneeze.

None of these things are perfect, but they do seem to help.

My biggest fear is that some local dictator types are going to try and reinstate lock downs.

They were not terribly effective the first time around and there's little reason to believe they will be the 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th, depending on where you live). Unless you are insane. Which, given the actions of the ruling class is a definite possibility.

Stay safe.

2020: Our Rulers have no Clothes (or Clues)

As we roll into month six of our never-ending partial lock downs it's becoming increasingly apparent that those we unfortunately elected to rule us have little clue as to what they are doing, or what they're going to do, going forward to get us out of this mess.

Unfortunately, because the entire country views things through a partisan lens and scored via zero sum, whether or not you think your ruling class is doing a good job is directly related to which party you pledge fealty to.

Granted, few people rise to the rank partisanship of Paul Krugman (who is, without a doubt, one of the worst thinker/writers in the US) there are writers across the political spectrum who are using this ongoing public health disaster as nothing more than a chance to try and amass political power and shame their political opposites into the dustbin of history.

Ironically, Democratic thinkers are ignorantly starting to parrot Karl Rove, dreaming of "permanent majorities" due to the self-immolation of the Republicans. Of course, no majority is permanent and eventually a ruling party will begin to eat itself from within. Look no further than the Republican Party in Texas, or what's going on right now with the Democrats in California.

My feeling is that Texas will not "flip" in 2020, but it's going to be close.  I'm not even sure in 2022 or 24 that will happen, but many so-called pundits will continue gaining paychecks assuring us that it will.

The real issue is going to be a potential Biden Presidency, which could prove catastrophic for long-term Democratic plans. Biden is low-functioning at this point, and that's as big of a concern as is the ego of Donald Trump.

America could use a firm hand on the tiller right now, but there are no adults in the room that seem capable of guiding this listing ship.  The rocks are getting closer, and we seem intent on sailing directly toward them waiting for them to move out of our way.

This is not a Democrat/Republican issue, it's a Ruled/Ruler one. The Ruled are getting destroyed on every level, economically, health-wise, freedom-wise, and in public safety. The Rulers are continuing to find creative ways to do nothing while trying to look like they're doing something in desperate attempts to draw your eyes away from their utter incompetence in handling both the pandemic and the issue of systemic racism.

Years from now historians are going to look back at 2020 and wonder just how it was a country with so many advantages squandered them so quickly and elected such a low-functioning, vile, group of people to rule them.

I used to think that, at some point, the populace will wake up, take a good hard look at the situation and come to the realization that we've made a complete hash of this. Instead we've got a group of rulers who cater the the Twitter mobs, who have no idea what an average citizen looks like or feels, and is more comfortable mingling at a DC cocktail party dining on lightly braised swan than they are shopping for groceries in their old neighborhood.

Finally, your elected officials are habitual liars. For all of her fawning media coverage AOC's voting record is fairly in-line with Nancy Pelosi's diktats, except in issues where a bill's fate is certain and the parties allow representatives to "bet their conscious" (shouldn't they do that on every bill?) Ted Cruz talks a good game, but he rarely votes against what the party heads say. He just talks a lot to be perfectly honest.

There's no governor that understands what they have done or what they are doing, and don't throw Cuomo in my face, his order to nursing homes requiring them to admit elderly COVID-19 patients likely killed hundreds, if not thousands, and our Mayors are even worse. (fining the poor $250 for mask non-compliance is the most Sylvester Turner of all Sylvester Turner's moves to date)

The reality is the USA is currently a rudderless ship where the crew is drunkenly scrambling around the ship looking for the Captain.  Unfortunately, the captain has already abandoned ship.

Grab the braces, set the sails, and steer your own damn ship away from the rocks.  We can find calmer waters, but we're going to have to do it ourselves, the old fashioned way, relying on our communities to band together, give the ruling class a strong middle finger and dealing with this mess ourselves.

One last note:  Carolyn Goodman got her "Las Vegas experiment" and it has not gone well 

To be fair though, very little has gone well in regards to COVID-19 primarily because the ruling class has squandered every bit of their credibility and continue to do so.

Social distance, wear a mask, practice good personal hygiene and take care of your self. What we've learned during this mess is that the ruling class will not do so. They're to busy getting fitted for invisible clothes.

Winners (and losers) and the destruction of wealth 'in these times'

As we roll into the dog days of Summer there's still much concern about COVID-19 (rightly so) but we're starting to see our ruling class increasingly pivot to crocodile tears for the majority of folks that are going to be casting votes come November.

In-between made-for-TV accusations against one's political enemies of incompetence, corruption, stupidity and down-right evil is a sudden, manufactured concern for those who have lost their jobs due to forced closures, fear-mongering and general ham-handedness by the very same rulers.  Suddenly people being out of work, broke, and holding no hopes for the future is less a reality brought on by shuttering the economy, and more the result of......something the other tribe has done because they don't care sufficiently about the poor and suffering.

It's never about policy, it's about "feels".

The battle lines here have always been simple: It's the ruling class against the middle-class, and the rulers have all of the power over the ruled and there's little the latter can actually do about it.

Oh sure, you're told you can vote, but what is the difference between voting for a Corporatist party and voting for a Socialist party?  Both want to remove the largest amount of money from you that they can, to distribute to their political patrons, the only difference is where they want the money to go.

There will always be winners and losers, even in a so-called "fair and just" Socialist system. The ruling class in Soviet Russia had dachas while the ruled waited in long-lines for bread. At least straight-out strong men were honest about what they were doing. The only difference between a Bolivarian "revolutionist" and an African strong-man was one of marketing.

As such, the only difference between a Republican and a Democrat is one of messaging. Republicans have not, in recent times, done a very good job of conveying their message. Democrats have done a very good job convincing the ruled that removing their money and freedom from their control is in their best interests. The ruled have lapped up their message because of the unending drum-beat of government competence, this despite the fact that we see constant reminders of just how incompetent our government truly is.

Yet, time after time, we see the government cause a problem and we're told, in the media and by the ruling class, that the solution to the problem is MORE government.  Look as schools for example, America's education system is a cesspool of poor administration and corrupt unions. It has as little to do with education children as "climate-justice" has to do with stopping climate change. Yet we're told over and over that the "solution" to the problem is more money, more putting children into failing schools, and more funding.  Funding, by the way, that will not, in most cases, go to the actual education of children, but into the coffers of political connected organizations whose goal is increasing the bottom line.

As COVID-19 continues to work its way through the population, and a communicable virus continues to do what a communicable virus is going to do, we're now being force-fed a happy myth of bailouts and stimulus checks and the horrific lie of universal basic income, the idea that the government should provide everyone with just enough money to scrape by, the central premise of this being that the only thing worse than being poor is having the temerity to believe that one can make a living income without the benevolence of the ruling class.

How to pay for all of this?  The scourge of the moment is the "ultra-rich". They seemingly have an endless bag of money that could be distributed to the masses if only the government had the will to tax them until their eyes bleed.  Just don't pay attention and realize that the entire combined wealth of the hated ultra-rich couldn't fund Medicaid for a year, much less in perpetuity. 

What we're left with is an angry populace that's wondering when they're going to get theirs, when the rich are going to be placed in the public square and be forced to answer for their crimes of success while being pelted by organically sourced, non GMO tomatoes.

Ah well, at least we still have our freedoms......oh...wait.

COVID: The Slow, Gradual re-opening of our souls

Over the weekend we started to see some very public signs that the world was coming out of its State-mandated slumber.

In Germany, soccer was played, albeit without fans, but real, live soccer was played. Here in the State's there was some golf. Granted, not the PGA style golf that we're used to, but players lugging around their own bags, being miked up, and only one guy touching the flags, while another one carried around a rake, was at least something. NASCAR held a race, again without fans, and for the first time in six weeks we had to be nervous for the driver when watching a wreck.

Some, not all, States are allowing some businesses to open. Here in Texas restaurants can once again welcome some customers inside to dine, nail salons and barbers can paint nails and cut hair again. Little signs of normalcy. (Side note: get that hair cut folks, some of you are looking a little rough)

Since this was, and might be again, a gambling blog, it's important here to discuss casinos beginning to slowly reopen. Louisiana, my 'local' allowed casinos to open today, and they have, at 25% occupancy and with strict protocols in place. I am not going to be one to rush out of visit.  As it stands now I'm planning in the 2nd half of June for my first foray. I'm looking forward to it. A nice long video poker session coupled with a Tito's and soda (or three, or four) is just what this writer needs.

The point is that people need interaction, we're social creatures after all, for the most part anyway. As this went on and on and drug out there was evidence that people were finding creative ways to get out and do things. This seemed to be working out pretty well in most places but, in a few States (California & New York for example) we saw that the worst crime in the world was defying the rulers. Governors who emptied the prisons of criminals were fining and locking up people who had the temerity to question authority. 

Maybe it's not a coincidence that the States suffering from the worst outbreaks, also have some of the worst elected officials, who were wrongly given glowing coverage by the media before the true stories started coming out?

The long and short of this is that no reopening plan, even the most thoughtfully crafted ones, will be successful without you.

I don't mean in terms of getting out. That decisions is up to you and entirely dependent on your circumstances. What I mean is that IF you decide to go out, the success of this plan is going to depend on you practicing social distancing, wearing PPE effectively, and continuing to practice good hygiene.

Until we get an effective vaccine this is going to be the new reality for all of us and I don't think that's going to change soon.  We're going to have to adjust and get the economy moving, and get people's jobs back so that they can care for their families.

Doing this the correct way should determine whether or not we have to shelter in place again.  I say SHOULD because I'm not sure that it WILL based on what we're seeing from our rulers today.

COVID: How to navigate the partisan waters.

Trump is either the worst President in the history of the United States of America, OR he's the best we've ever seen. There can be no middle ground.

You must either shelter-in-place in your home, ordering delivery and staying 20 feet away from every other human lest you die, OR you march on State Capitols in protest, bearing guns and try your best to not be associated with the grimy creep hoisting Nazi symbolism. There can be no middle ground.

Either we're all going to die, OR we're doing an unprecedented job. There can be no middle ground.

You've seen the stories, you've watched the news, you see the breathless missives on social media and, if you're like me you think: "What a load of crap!"

I've had discussions with people who, with a straight face and without a hint of irony, suggested that people can go outside provided they be willing to forego healthcare services. For the good of society. I've also had people suggest I want people to die because I'm starting to side against the lock down model of Coronavirus prevention, leaning more toward opening up with social distancing while working hard to isolate the more vulnerable among us.

The problem, today, is that this is now considered to be "radical" by some. With the media constantly feeding us a steady diet of panic, turning otherwise harmless interactions into psuedo-racist assaults, with the health experts lumping in ANY COVID-19 symptom into the Novel Coronavirus buckets, and with government generally doing a terrible job providing meaningful virus data, it's getting real hard to try and remain a calm, measured realist in an increasingly freaked out world.  What am I on about?  Think about this. When you see a statistic that says "[insert your State here] has had a grim day with the highest count of New COVID-19 cases EVER!!!!" it really means nothing absent more information about the number of tests performed.

More tests, means more cases, not necessarily that the pandemic is getting worse. Nor is it clear, yet, that this soft-reopening is leading to a so-called "second wave" as breathless young J-school grads are implying.  In fact, in a cruel twist of irony, medical providers are LOSING money, and in some cases filing for bankruptcy during a PANDEMIC.  That's just insane when you think about it.

Are some of the protests occurring the master-plan of "far right activists"?  At some level that is possible, but the more likely scenario is that people without work, and without means of feeding their kids, are getting sick and tired of having parks closed, not being able to get their hair cut, and not being able to provide.

On the other side the conspiracy theory du jour is that those mean, evil Democrats are intentionally killing the economy to damage The Bronzed Ego which would put Captain Creepy Confusion into the White House.  Possible?  Yes, but if you've been around any politicians for any period of time you'd soon realize that they couldn't conspire to open a can of beans, much less pull off something this complex.

The more likely scenarios are this:  We have allowed ourselves to be ruled by low-functioning idiots. They type of people who, as in the Biblical tale, are more likely to bury their wealth in the Earth rather than invest it. They are a risk-averse lot who's worst fear is not "having people die" but instead being "blamed for having people die" on their watch.  It's bad for being re-elected you see.  Yes, there is an element of Torquemada in some of these mini-despots, they crave the power, need the power to assuage their egos. But, and this is important, for the most part their Poly-Sci degrees don't give them the intellectual bandwidth to have a full concept of what they are really doing. So, they're playing it safe.

As for the protesters?  Most of these people just want to get back to work. Most people on the beaches are practicing social distancing, but are being made to look like their not through dishonest camera angles. Most adults with an even half-functioning brain understand, and will comply, with social distancing and will wear PPE if the local Pinochet's will just stop with the overreach and the rule by angry diktat.

If there has been any bad actor in this crisis it's the media. America's so called "5th Estate" has long abdicated their role of being America's watchdog, and has devolved into America's fear-monger. That's a problem, and I don't think there's an easy fix because the Emperor is completely unaware that he is sans clothes.

The United States are facing a mess of issues right now, and partisanship, plain laziness, institutional incompetence and downright dishonesty, have made it damn near impossible to get any semblance of the straight story.

And this is where it falls on you.  Because, in these United States since, oh the 1970's, we've fallen down on our responsibilities as citizens. We have handed over the administration and resolution of all things to an increasingly all-powerful government, asking them to deal with issues that they were never constructed to handle. We look at media stories uncritically, demanding that J-school grads with no real-world experience on the items on which they are reporting convey truths with 100% accuracy. We expect companies to be our gate-keepers for bad things.

Every step of modern life now is about having someone else do things for us, for relying on others to be the holders of our common sense. Then, when things go pear shaped, we look at those to whom we've outsourced our security for recompense.

The only way to resolve this is if enough people start taking control of their own lives, to stop screaming at our institutions every time something goes wrong, to force ourselves to spend time doing the important things rather than creating Tik-Tok videos.

Will it be hard?  Yes.  Does this mean that we're totally on our own?

Of course not.  because government does have a role and serve a purpose, corporations do have a role and they serve a purpose. The media has a crucial role and serve a vital purpose to the proper functioning of the Republic.

And we have a purpose as well. A critical one, a vital one. One that we've refused to perform for quite some time now.

Let's use this pandemic to change that.

COVID Lockdown: What if? The Experts got it wrong.

Did we need to lock down the economy?

Increasingly, it appears that the answer is 'no'.

This is a big problem because IF the economy was locked down based almost entirely on faulty data from the Imperial College Model, and IF the model was as wonky as many are now suggesting, and IF when the underlying models were finally released to the public they were altered from their original form then it's possible that some level of fraud took place. Not likely mind you, but possible.

Even more discouraging is that the politicians, some medical professionals, and media are still using the numbers from this faulty model to drive current and future policy.

The problem is that we're told to "believe in the science".  But what happens when the science is just flat-out wrong?

That's a problem.  "Science" as it's now known, is highly model driven. In many cases the models take over actual empirical data as the gold standard of proof. That's what's happened here and it's what's happening in many cases in current times.

This used to be limited to the social sciences, unfortunately now it's creeping into actual science, with actual real-world consequences. It's led to the rise of political demogogues allowed to spew forth platitudes backed by J-school grads who have only a passing understanding of the actual scientific model.

The worry is that this leads to inane comments such as "the science is settled", which, as we know, is a lie. Science is never "settled", it's never finalized, it's always evolving and changing as new data points are collected and analyzed*.

We truly live in crazy times where too much gravity is given to people who really should not have it. Politicians are not, contrary to their beliefs, experts in infectious diseases. Media members are not experts in public policy. (If you don't believe me on this try this experiment: Find an article written on something you know a lot about. See how many errors it contains. Then ask yourself why you believe, without question, their writing on other subjects).  Front line medical workers, as honorably as they've toiled during this mess, are not experts on national health policy, response, etc.

Just like me, as an accountant, am not an expert on government budgets.  I may have opinions on them, and that's fine, but it doesn't mean that I've got some great insight into the process.

In the best of times there is a ton of noise in the system that you have to try and drown out. This is especially true in the age of social media where no one uses their real name and anyone can type pretty much anything.

We have to start doing better at determining the real from the jabber, and it's going to take all of us working together and actually applying ourselves rather than waiting for a media that's long abdicated that job to do it for us.

Fun times.













*Note: The above is NOT an argument against climate change, which I believe is real. Instead it is a jab against how our politicians and the media report on it. As if what's come before is infallible despite us now knowing it is not (Mann's hockey stick for example, or Gore's 'movie' that contained at least 10 items that were patently incorrect)

Fear and Loathing in the Time of COVID-19: Keep your Head Up.

Times have become a bit shit. I understand that.

From silly cries of "we're all in this together" coming from celebs who are Tik-toking in their posh mansions to politicians who have no experience with losing a job, or taking a pay cut, telling us that we all need to "share sacrifice" together, not meaning them obviously, they mean you.

In times like these I suggest you tune out that noise, tune out the hysterical media, the partisans, the so-called "experts' who put us into lock down based on what we now know to be shoddy evidence and focus instead on your friends, your neighbors, your loved ones.

Eventually, either the governments are going to relent and re-open, hopefully with a focus on social distancing, protecting the vulnerable and encouraging PPE use, which is what we should have done in the first place.  And when they do this it's going to be vital that people actually get out and do this.

I don't mean that you need to book that flight to Rome right now, or immediately head to Las Vegas or Santa Barbara, but what we do need to do is start living life again. Go to your favorite restaurant and grab dinner, maybe take a weekend and go for a small road trip. Do something that gets you out and interacting and putting some amount of money back in the economy.

There are discussions to be had, honest discussions, about what our institutions did right and wrong during this mess. Believe it or not, there are some good things that were accomplished. But there were many bad as well. In fact, the media, government, and medical community has done more to exacerbate this problem than they have to help it.  Leaving out the front-line workers obviously.

But that's a long discussion for another day.

Right now you need to focus on you. Your mental health, your physical health, your financial health. These are things that the government, and the media, cannot help you with. Yes, unemployment and SBA loans can provide bridge support, but your long-term health and wealth is, and should be, your own concern.

I might suggest that you take this opportunity to re-evaluate what you're doing in your career. How can you improve your lot in life?

We're at the beginning of what is going to be a long, bumpy road to recovery and whatever comes beyond. Given the rather pathetic state of leadership in the world today I've a bad feeling there are going to be more missteps than steps-forward as we do. During all of this it will be vital that you keep your eyes on you and yours, not on the Bronzed Ego or Nancy Ice Cream.

When it comes to politicians and other institutions: Eff 'em.  Let them scoop their ice cream and argue amongst themselves and continue to play-pretend that they're somehow "fighting".

For the more serious among us, let's look out for each other.  And if you wake up in the morning and find yourself feeling down, don't be afraid to ask for help. There's nothing weak about needing a helping hand, or a shoulder to cry on or just a friendly person to vent to.

Keep your head up, with a mask on and 6 feet away from the other person who is trying to keep their head up as well.

But let's get our heads up out THERE, where things are happening and we need to be a part of them.

A COVID Revival

On Dec 31st 2019 I wrote what I thought would be my last post on this, or any, blog.  I was done, finished, and I really wasn't regretting the decision, nor did I have any reason to write about anything in long form (except the book on business management I'm working on) so I really didn't miss it.

Then strange times hit. The world locked down (apparently on the advice of some very dodgy (false) modeling) and we've all been confined to our homes, "essential" trips only kids, and forced to tele-commute, work from home, and in many cases, lose our jobs, be forced to take cuts in pay etc.

Tens of thousands have died and Millions have been infected. In a year where I was fully planning on reducing my social media use drastically, circumstances have required that more time is spent on various mediums, for no other reason than to keep some kind of interaction going.

I've started fiddling with YouTube, working on videos that I fully intend to keep going. I've been active on Twitter, less snarky and more supportive to folks, I've been watching friend's YouTube videos and greatly enjoying them.

Unlike some in the media, I'm not apprehensive. I don't have "angst" about venturing into public, I'm not having an existential moment, I'm just working and taking walks and eating healthy, I've actually lost some weight during this mess.  Mentally I'm just fine. I have my wife, my dogs and my family for support.

Yes, if you follow along on Twitter and YouTube you know that Mom recently passed. But I'm at peace with that because now she is no longer in pain.

So, overall, I'm good.  What I have found out during this time is what I instinctively knew from years of writing blogs.  I'm not a born entertainer, I'm not someone who's ever going to have 50 gazillion followers and subscribers.  Others are celebrating their 2, 3 or 10 thousandth YouTube subscriber, I was ecstatic to break 50. c'est la vie to be honest.  I've been off for a bit but I'll start back soon.  There's only so many videos you can make of yourself sitting and talking with a brown curtain in the background.

As for Vegas, that's not happening for a while. Not because I'm scared of traveling, I'm not, but because I simply cannot afford it given work realities right now.  Maybe October? Maybe not. Probably not until the job situation changes.

What I am planning on is returning to a casino in June. My local casino, which gets authorization from the State to re-open May 18th.  Currently I'm planning a trip in late June. I'm hoping I can record some play and show you all what the new "new" is.

Until then I'm going to temporarily revive this wheezing relic, to provide some thoughts, insights and all of the other junk you used to know and love. I'll probably keep it going throughout the pandemic, but I'm not sure after that.  It might stay around as an extension of the brand, it may not.

But you at least have around 3-4 months of ignoring it, and that's a healthy hunk of reality right there.

Be healthy.

(In a nod to interaction I'm going to try and reinstate comments on here. We'll see how it goes)