[American Consequences] Returning to a world where a global plague isn’t killing people by the million, sickening millions more, and endangering practically everyone will be a great improvement on dying or having a ventilator thrust down one’s throat. But what will this post-COVID world be like?
Some of the most common predictions are that work-from-home setups will replace the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of Dunder Mifflin in the reboot of The Office... in-person retail shopping is dead as disco... cities will de-gentrify because millennials are fleeing from their confinement in yoga-mat-sized apartments stinking of kombacha to the spacious fresh air of suburbia... and the size and scope of government will grow faster than you can say "$900 billion coronavirus stimulus plan."
The last prediction will certainly come true. Government loves an emergency. And in this current emergency, government discovered that it has all sorts of emergency powers that no one had ever thought of before. Government will be itching to exercise those powers again. Expect bars and restaurants to be closed and lockdowns to be ordered next time there’s an outbreak of toenail fungus. (Also, gatherings of more than 10 barefoot people will be banned.)
Working from home turns out to be... work. A question that could have been shouted over the top of a cubicle divider and answered in 10 seconds turns into an e-mail thread as long as the works of Proust. Reply All. There’s no going "out" for lunch — which should be good for our waistline if we weren’t "in" all day raiding the refrigerator.
One of these days, consumers are going to realize that Amazon is just a Sears and Roebuck catalogue that can’t be repurposed in the outhouse.
The whole household is underfoot. The kitchen sink is the water cooler, but the kids don’t have any good gossip and flirting with the dog is pathetic. Furthermore, there’s no 9 to 5... Coworkers are scattered around time zones and across the International Date Line. When it’s time for an after-work drink in New York, it’s already tomorrow morning in Singapore. Plus, drinking alone is also pathetic. Which brings me to the one upside of working remotely — no one can smell your breath in a Zoom meeting, so I fill my entire coffee mug with scotch.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2020 07:46 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Another one: American unionized public schoolteachers will demand remote learning whenever they can gin up an excuse. It's even less work than their 9-month schedules require.
And low-achieving American school kids will be even more ignorant, clueless, anxious and dysfunctional.
OTOH that 10-12% of American families who push their kids to excel (including um, reading books) will continue to pull away from the rest. Btw this cohort is about 98% native-born white, Asian, or East European immigrant. Educationally speaking, their kids are literally 4-5 years ahead of their peers.
So another certainty is that the US underclass will get larger and even more racially skewed, which of course will even more demands for reparations, more violent crime, more Darwin Awards given to more Floyd-Shahids and of course more Peaceful Protests.
#2
work-from-home setups will replace the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of Dunder Mifflin in the reboot of The Office...
Trailing daughter #2 works for Toyota in Dallas, and has been informed they will continue working from home through at least next June. Mr. Daughter, who is an accountant in a family firm, will be working from home “permanently“.
#3
Thus will mean two tiers of management-level employees. Those who work from home and never meet execs F2F will be de facto on the organization's slow track as regards promotions power and pay. You can't build trust if you never meet in person
#4
You have to wonder, if somebody were trying to crash the global system through a combination of forced poverty and debt what would they do differently.
#5
One of these days, consumers are going to realize that Amazon is just a Sears and Roebuck catalogue that can’t be repurposed in the outhouse.
Yep. And Amazon would probably not have survived to put Sears out of business if they had not had a 9% net price advantage (no sales tax) for a number of years.
#6
Nah, Sears was doomed when the 'bread and butter' store gave up their approach to a 'brick and mortar' strategy in the 80s. Their management suits never grasp the coming impact of the PC and on line commerce. Structurally it should have been one of the more easier shifts from the analog catalogue to a digital one. They totally blew it. When they finally got the message, it was too late.
#8
WRT comment #1: Innit funny that the left religion of universal free exucation has morphed - devolved may be more correct - into universal ignorance as a platform for unionist iron rice bowls.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2020 15:21 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Left Sears when Craftsman tools left 'Murica
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2020 16:20 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I still have a lot of old Craftsman tools. Wouldn't touch the new ones. Funny, though, when Sears started having their tools made in China was about the same time they started declining into bankruptcy. And just think, if they had put their catalogue online to actually compete with Amazon the way Walmart has, if Sears wasn't run by a bunch of greedy morons and maintained the quality of their products, they could still be in business today.
As for commuting, do it once or twice a week if you must. Companies could rotate commuting days among their employees and save big bucks on office space. If they can't tell who's getting their work done and who isn't when employees work from home, how can they tell when they're all sitting in cubicles? They can't.
The problem is that not just Sears but a whole lot of companies are run by greedy morons.
Long before covid, I advocated telecommuting because slogging to work every day on jammed up freeways is for the birds.
Too bad, honey, the kids and the dog don't appreciate how hot you look in those office clothes, you can't flirt with the guys in the office and you can't gossip with your friends at lunch time. Do your work and think how much money you're saving on gas, car insurance and maintenance. Smile. You're doing your part for gerbil worming.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2020 16:46 Comments ||
Top||
#11
In one way it is sad to see the demise of two department store icons, Sears & J.C. Penney; but on the other hand, they deserve every bit of their respective demise. Penney's got way into too much debt. No excuse with Sears. Sounds like greedy morons who thought they could ride prior laurels and live off of the brand name. Not too bright in the computer age.
#12
The old catelog stores bear some of the fault, but it is hard to see how their catalog units could be competitive against Amazon when their customers had to pay sales tax of +/- 9% while Amazon did not, in an industry with about a 10% margin at best. I would like to see what politicians were invested in the internet business model that put them in a different tax environment than their competition.
It's Kurt [Townhall] Power is wasted if you don't use it, especially when exercising your power will protect your friends and hamstring your enemies. The Democrats get that. The last four years have demonstrated that they get how to use power via their obnoxious and evil witch hunts targeting the associates of the president, not least of all General Mike Flynn. Trump used his power and pardoned Flynn. That's a good start. Trump should now pardon everybody.
By which I mean everybody.
People who are accused of something right now.
People who aren't accused of anything yet.
People who worked for Trump.
People who didn't.
Even his opponents.
Pardon everybody.
Oh, the libs and their yipping media poodles will get mad. They'll foam at the mouth and howl at outrage at the way President Trump has spirited away their intended prey. Good. Their pain makes it all the better.
It is just.
It is right.
And it is necessary to stymie the Democrat Establishment's attempt to make examples of anyone opposing them.
Is this yet another norm that mean old Trump is overturning? Hardly. Instead, it is a woke recognition of the new rules, new rules the Democrats imposed and which they should now experience, suppository-like, good and hard. How many innocent people went bankrupt after being caught up in the Russia hoax? Did they care? So why should we about depriving them of their jollies? There might have been a time when we were all playing by the rules that said that the feds would only investigate bad people and bring them to justice, where the innocent were not punished through process. Those were good times. But they are not these times.
The Flynn travesty put the lie to the idea that the Department of Justice was anything more than just the Department. The Democrats weaponized law enforcement exactly like it weaponized the IRS, leveraging its power to attack and destroy their political enemies, and the Establishment shrugged as the media cheered. Now, there's no justice to be had, except in pulling the intended victims from the jaws of these monsters. Continues at link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/19/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
"People who are accused of something right now." so is Kurt suggesting pardoning those that stole the election?
#13
Pardon me, boy, is the Chattanooga choochoo?
That was a rayciss stanza I uttered.
I need a presidential pardon, stat!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2020 15:54 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Remember - Now, the key is to explain to the American people why he must do all this, because the lesson this courageous step will teach is as important as the action itself. He needs to tell the American people that these pardons are designed not to excuse the guilty but to protect the innocent.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/19/2020 16:40 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Don't pardon Joe Bastard.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
12/19/2020 19:05 Comments ||
Top||
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] If President-elect Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Candidate for president in 2020. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... rejoins the Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... nuclear deal, he will likely suspend some sanctions on Tehran while keeping in place sanctions on non-nuclear activity. Biden should beware: Tehran has no problem with this arrangement, which will allow it to fund its militia proxies through oil revenue.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Must be a lot of 8 year old girl's hair there that haven't been sniffed yet right Joe?
#3
If the Democrats cannot see that this trade takes away US leverage to combat Iran’s troublemaking behavior, both nuclear and non-nuclear, then they either know little about global affairs or are simply biased in favor of Iranian mullahs
Or are taking a sizable cut off of their pallets bearing billions in euros and greenbacks that they airlifted to Tehran. Kerry is linked by marriage to Zarif. They're pals.
Did Hunter and his cronies ever communicate with the mullahs or their proxies? Does the Revloutionary Guard have anything on Hunny and The Big Guy?
What would William of Occam say?
Posted by: Black Charlie Black2468 ||
12/19/2020 9:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
That image reminds me of the Secret Service/Navy stories about no female agents or enlisted sailors at the Vice Presidential residence at the Naval Observatory. Seems Biden got in a confrontation with a a SS agent over familiarity with the man's wife, and that the VeepCreep had a habit of walking around the pool area nude. Just imagine the WH stories if he is allowed to steal the title. He will never be the actual President but will pretend he is.
Posted by: Big Wheash5811 ||
12/19/2020 18:30 Comments ||
Top||
[WND] A University of Pennsylvania expert in health policy says older people should not necessarily be on a priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations because they tend to be white.
And making them a lower priority will "level the playing field a bit."
The expert, Harald Schmidt was quoted in a New York Times article titled "Who should get the coronavirus vaccine first?"
"Older populations are whiter," he said. "Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer. Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit."
#2
Let it be so. Serious long term effects have not been established. Gates involvement to me means reduced population. I never suffer flu viruses. Bacterial however is another weak point as yet for myself.
#4
Let’s have the GIVERnment force people to take a rushed vaccine but exclude old white people. Hmmm. Is Harald trying make non-whites think twice about getting to the front of the line? I remember when people use to say AIDS was created to eliminate black people (maybe Harald was part of that crowd in the 80s).
#5
Also, all those old, privileged white people who built the greatest nation on earth will be gone and their progeny will consume the seed corn they left behind on exciting projects like social justice, reparations and avocado toast.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2020 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Getting to sound more like Zimbabwe each and every day.
#7
Before it is over M&M, we all may have an opportunity to become a Jam Zabinski of sorts. I am anxiously awaiting my opportunity to help the animals.
#11
One thing is for sure, since he is a policy wonk at a university he is completely non-essential and useless so he should get the vaccine last if at all.
#15
Schmidt's comments are made a bit more worrisome by Biden's choice of HHS Secretary Xavier Bacerra who is just radical enough to take them to heart and who will be responsible for the vaccine distribution.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2020 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
#16
One theory is they want to kill off the elderly before there is a breakthrough in telomere restoration that would crank the elderly back to younger years. They would then vote to hang Democrats.
#17
So someone in the media finds some dumbass willing to spew hate for the record. Now everyone is fighting over who gets the shots first. The sewing of division continues and we, the dumbass sheep with an ego are fighting amongst ourselves over nothing. Who cares who gets it first. Give it to the blacks first! Then some professor will accuse us of testing an unproven vaccine on the poor blacks. I say let them have it. I'm not taking it anyway.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/19/2020 14:51 Comments ||
Top||
#18
^ heads: they win
tails: we lose
Posted by: Butch Dark Lord of the Hemps8271 ||
12/19/2020 14:58 Comments ||
Top||
#19
So lets see, old white people die and that levels the playing field?
* Lower numbers mean nursing homes cut staff who are majority people of color in many areas
* Dead old white people savings goes to their children who are now closing in on their golden years and thus more likely to vote GOP
* Less people in nursing homes means less DEM voter theft.
Not really leveled out the way I think this guy guesses.
#21
and who will be responsible for the vaccine distribution.
Most people don’t get sick from it, or not sick enough to matter. Of those who do get sick enough to need treatment, most can be treated by some combination of the many things now available in addition to the hydroxychloroquine/azithromax/zinc combination that frontline doctors have been using in increasing numbers since that Orthodox Jewish doctor in New Jersey (or wherever he was in the greater New York City area, anyway) announced it and was driven out of his practice as a result. So, the vaccine will get us to herd immunity more quickly, which will shut up all the lockdown enforcers, and help those working on the frontlines and the elderly trapped in retirement homes.
Bottom line for most of us here, whether we get the vaccine first or a few weeks later, after others expose the side effects the hard way, doesn’t matter. I’ll primarily be taking the vaccine so that Mr. Wife, trailing daughter #1, and final daughter will finally calm down about the situation, and in the hope that, like the flu shot, when I do catch Covid-19 later, it won’t make me as sick as it would have otherwise.
#22
Ivermectin seems to be effective at preventing hospitalization and death, so how long will they suppress that, like that have done Vit D zinc Bvits and HCQ or other meds with anti inflammatory like the -mab arthritis drugs?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.