Everybody: Watch Tucker tonight June 19 any way you can. The best open ever and his analysis is perfect for the nightmare we are living through right now; words fail...

RG: "Because the only reason I'm accepting of these extraordinary measures is the faith I have in Trump." Well amen friend!! Peter: You live in East Egg, cool! Lyle: Love your bodice-ripper re Cuomo! Porchlight: Spot on is your analysis of the silly TomR/GUS contretemps.

As to Gov Cuomo, it has occurred to me that he's so ugly... he's almost cute. That's his appeal.

Peter and those into lit: Oh the irony! From The Bowery Boys re: Queens history: "Outside of probably Hell, there is no literary landscape as forlorn and soul-crushing as the ash dumps of CORONA, Queens. “This is the valley of ashes,” writes Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms. . . of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” The Corona ash dump was a stain on Queens.

AB, thanks for your detailed response. You're right, rumors abound and hopeful therapies are underway. The person I quoted said “no one can predict what it [CV virus] will do," and from posts here last night I gather the word *novel* still applies in that regard. The need for ICU facilities for much longer periods than usual is one concerning example. The numbers themselves, as you point out, are more reassuring, so that’s where we are. BTW, my nephew’s wife is on the front lines in an emergency management center at St John’s county, Florida—director of public health. Just heard from my sister down in Martin County.

AB, What would those be as you see it. I'm all ears.

Saw this last night on Althouse cafe by Mockturtle: "Perhaps having studied both microbiology and epidemiology, my conclusions are that this virus in highly unusual and that no one can predict what it will do, whether any immunity is conferred with it or if people can be reinfected. And what has happened in Italy and NY should be proof enough that so many very sick people--many of whom are young, BTW--need ICU facilities at one time and for much longer periods than usual is causing a health care crisis for which we are sadly unprepared. . . . I would dearly love to be wrong."

This all makes sense to me: --Explanation of the coronavirus, posted by a nurse: “Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. It has to do with RNA sequencing.... i.e. genetics. Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot. Novel viruses come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1, birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity... the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so we can’t fight it off. Sometimes the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years its only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human. Once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, that's what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be. H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. Its RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too. Fast forward to Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability “slippery." This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity) took off like a rocket. And this was because humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it. And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus changed itself in such a way that it causes great damage to human lungs. That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery AF. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....whichmakes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine. We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu. Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him till the Black Plague passed.... Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation. And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will), who is to say what it will do next. Be smart folks... acting like you’re unafraid is so not sexy right now. #flattenthecurve."

Narciso, you've contributed brilliantly to the conversation on the Phillip Roth/WWII thread over at Althouse, am in awe.

Arthur Koestler's Darkness At Noon, from a long-ago Conservative book club.

CH, "I think his narrative style started bugging me” I have to agree with this, the little I’ve read. He did win a Pulitzer for one of the trilogy, so I’ll stick with it awhile. JMH, Yes so much less written about these campaigns in the war. We were in Italy couple of years ago and made a detour to Anzio out of curiosity. Lovely seaside town where we came across a small memorial to the fallen, near the water’s edge… touching.

For Iggy and those whose Dads fought in Tunisia, Algeria, Sicily, Italy, I’ve just begun reading The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944 by Rick Atkinson. Amazon says, "He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material.” It’s part of a trilogy that includes North Africa; maybe he would know about patches . . .

I was too kind, Lyle, and because the ponce was looking down at his script, his eyes did not pop (as much).

As for Schiff looking dignified and calm, you put a loser in an expensive navy blue suit and a bit of makeup, stand him in front of a classic marble backdrop in a chamber with not another soul in view, no messy reaction shots, he’s gonna look dignified reading the phone book. Every time I passed the TV there he was and I had the same reaction.

Henry, Thank you for the fascinating info on your grandfather’s impressive accomplishments in the war; we are indebted to great men like him and Gen. Eisenhower et al. I’m currently reading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, as my son-in-law is a WWII buff. Book mentions Hitler listening to Wagner over Christmas of 1940-’41. (Weird, except that I too like Wagner. 😊)

Jim, On Facebook that same disgusting picture was posted by a lovely friend, whose politics are completely off; I clicked hide this post, but that meme will persist this whole season I fear.

saw --Ig, thank goodness you are not a people.-- Reminds of an old Gracie Allen line: George Burns: Gracie, you’ve a big family, how many people are there in your family? Gracie thinks for a minute: “Oh, they’re all people!

Kev** So heartening to see you back, especially as a fellow Bay Area observer; your comments on the East Bay scene always elicit a "Yesss!" from this reader, and often LOLz. Take good care...

Narciso esta en fuego esta noche!

Thanks for the caring thoughts and prayers, RIP Frau. Did she have a dog CH?

TK and friends of Frau - I’ve received a gracious note from Mr. Frau, who's doing fine, but is still in shock that it is he and not she who has survived, as they’d planned for the reverse outcome. But his memory for those long ago times is awesome. He cited a few incidents even I did not recall, remembered the house where we lived, and much more. A quote from him: “[Frau] cherished her time on JOM and the friends she made there … I agreed with her that there was an unusually brilliant group of people that found each other on the internet … small world, isn't it?"

Gasp, Jim, don't do that, some of us aren't spring chickens!

Narciso Yes you did talk to Mr. Frau, thanks. I was reiterating condolences and let him know I was aware of your call to him, as well as reminiscing about the days we and spouses had known one another as students.

Thanks, henry!

Meant Cal Poly SLO