MaxRedline

M-M-M-My Corona

That's all over what passes for news these days.

Thousands of passengers were ‘marooned’ on the MSC Meraviglia after it was refused permission to dock for three days on its tour of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Panicked passengers were filmed fighting, shoving, pushing, making threats and swearing at each other amid the coronavirus scare.

Well, that's pretty silly. North Korea handles things differently:

A North Korean official that went from China and returned to his country was executed and shot dead after being suspected with the viral disease of Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. 

The phrasing seems a bit nebulous; was he executed and subsequently shot for good measure? I guess we'll never really know.

Meanwhile, in Iran:

Iran’s deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, was pale and drenched in sweat during a press conference on Monday as he told reporters that the Islamic Republic had “almost stabilized” the country’s outbreak of coronavirus. He mopped his brow so often that an aide scurried to the lectern with a box of tissues. Harirchi dismissed as hype an Iranian lawmaker’s claim that fifty people had already died from COVID-19. “I will resign if the numbers are even half or a quarter of this,” he said, adding that Iran had only sixty-one confirmed cases, with twelve deaths. Iran opposed quarantines, he said, because they belonged to an era before the First World War—“to the plague, cholera, stuff like that.” The next day, Harirchi confirmed in a video—from quarantine—that he had contracted coronavirus.

As near as I can tell, the Iranians haven't executed and shot him at present. But then, their vice-president also has Covid-19, so shooting their deputy health minister would probably simply waste a perfectly good bullet.

Closer to home, you probably should stay away from Seattle for the time being:

A person in Washington state has died of the new coronavirus, President Trump confirmed Saturday. The fatality marks the first reported death from the virus in the United States.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first possible outbreak in a nursing facility, also in Washington state. This is unrelated to the patient who died. So far, two people at the facility — one health worker and one resident — have tested positive. More than 50 workers and residents are showing symptoms of respiratory infection. Some are being hospitalized, and all are currently being tested. None of the new presumptive cases were related to travel, which health officials say could be an indication of the virus spreading within the community.

For me, it doesn't seem to be much of an issue, although I live in the Pacific Northwest. Being quiet and reserved, I don't actually leave the house and yard very often, apart from walking the dog.

 

Killer Scum

PORTLAND — A jury has ruled that Jeremy Christian callously disregarded the lives of the three men he stabbed on a Portland light rail train, was fueled by racist and religious bigotry, poses a future danger and can’t be rehabilitated.

Jurors found Christian guilty last week of 12 crimes, including first-degree murder for the deaths of Taliesin Namkai-Meche and Best, attempted first-degree murder for the serious injury of Micah Fletcher and hate crimes against two teenage girls, one who was wearing a hijab, on a crowded train as it pulled into the Hollywood Transit Center in northeast Portland on May 26, 2017.

At least he won't be a problem any longer, as he'll be doing a minimum of 30 years in prison. "Freedom of speech!", he hollered.

I don't think knife attacks fall under the definition, but whatever.

 

 

There's a Big Downside

Abilify — also known by its generic name aripiprazole — is an antipsychotic drug used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is also prescribed to help with depression, tic disorders, and autism, among other medical conditions. But it also comes with some interesting side-effects that you've never been told about.

For one thing, a majority of users lose impulse control. So they spend like crazy, racking up credit card debt that they'll probably never be able to pay off.

 

It's Perfectly Fine To Grow Opium In India

There's one little problem, however - the local parrots have become addicted.

Farmers in India are fighting tooth and nail to keep a scourge of opium-addicted parrots at bay. The birds have been causing headaches for poppy cultivators in the state of Madhya Pradesh, NDTV reports, pillaging their crops and gorging themselves on the precious narcotic. And their daily raids are starting to have a significant impact on the locals’ livelihood, prompting many people to call on the authorities for assistance in staving off the drug-addled birds.

Hmm. Maybe they should try growing something else.

 

No Pooping In Japan

They're fresh out of toilet paper, in addition to masks.

This is the line for people hoping to purchase masks:

Earlier this week, toilet paper was widely available nearly everywhere in Japan. Now, it’s selling out at stores throughout the country because of coronavirus. 

"Tissues and paper towels were also vanishing from store shelves. Near where I live in Osaka, all the toilet paper is already gone."

This toilet paper panic is not a first for Japan. After the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, hoarding caused shortages. But even before that, back in 1973, there were even toilet paper riots in Japan.

I don't get it. It's an island. So there's plenty of water around there to wash their butts.

 

 

Birth Control?

SUPERMUM Sue Radford who’s expecting her 22nd baby has hit back at social media trolls who've slammed her daughter Millie, 18, for falling pregnant. The 44-year-old revealed she was to become a grandma for the fourth time on Wednesday, saying it will be an "exciting year" with Sue also set to give birth to a little girl within weeks.

Good grief - they all need to be neutered.

 

 

Virulent

Update (0940ET): FARS news agency reports that for former Iranian Ambassador to The Vatican has died from Covid-19. AND: Iranian state media reported that the country's vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar has tested positive for the virus.

In other news:

FIFTEEN teenagers in a rural Moroccan town have been treated for rabies after reportedly raping an infected local donkey, according to reports.

The youths, from Sidi Al Kamel spent a week in hospital being treated after the animal transmitted the disease to them, Morocco World News reported, citing the Moroccan daily Al Akhbar newspaper.

They were training up for their upcoming migration to Europe. I hate to think what they infected the donkey with.

 

More Portland BS

While Portland is a renowned climate action leader, the extreme weather events of the recent past in Oregon and around the world have made it clear that more action – and more intensive action – is required to ensure that we curb carbon emissions now.

 

Here's Hoping They're Not Printed In English

Billboards in Guatemala and El Salvador, and advertising panels on bus stops in Honduras, are being unveiled this week warning would-be migrants about the dangers of illegally traveling to the U.S., Fox News reported. “The road to the USA has become more dangerous. Don’t put your children at risk. Give them the security they deserve,” the billboards read.

“Things have changed in the United States. If you get to the border, we have stronger border security there,” the State Department official told Fox News. “The likelihood of being turned away and returned to your country of origin or to somewhere else is a lot greater.”

    It's long overdue, but better late than never. Want to come here? Great! Do it legally.

 

 

Japanese Idiocy

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave - the proportion of crimes committed by people over the age of 65 has been steadily increasing for 20 years.

69-year-old Toshio Takata tells me he broke the law because he was poor. He wanted somewhere to live free of charge, even if it was behind bars. "I reached pension age and then I ran out of money. So it occurred to me - perhaps I could live for free if I lived in jail," he says. 

 Toshio represents a striking trend in Japanese crime. In a remarkably law-abiding society, a rapidly growing proportion of crimes is carried about by over-65s. Theft, principally shoplifting, is overwhelmingly the biggest crime committed by elderly offenders.

"The pensioners don't want to be a burden to their children, and feel that if they can't survive on the state pension then pretty much the only way not to be a burden is to shuffle themselves away into prison."

Toshio's story about being driven to crime as a result of poverty is just an "excuse", Kanichi Yamada suggests. The core of the problem is his loneliness. And one factor that may have prompted him to reoffend, he speculates, was the promise of company in jail.

It's true that Toshio is alone in the world. His parents are dead, and he has lost contact with two older brothers, who don't answer his calls. He has also lost contact with his two ex-wives, both of whom he divorced, and his three children.

I ask him if he thinks things would have turned out differently if he'd had a wife and family. He says they would.

"If they had been around to support me I wouldn't have done this," he says.

Okay...this guy divorced two wives, and so that's why he commits crimes today? Right, got it.

Maybe, just maybe, the guy's a screwball. His own brothers don't speak to him, nor do his three kids. Add it all up, and a reasonable guess is that he belongs in an asylum.

What the heck is up with that If they had been around to support me I wouldn't have done this baloney? Boo-hoo! Cry me a river.

It is, however, nice to know that idiocy exists somewhere outside of the U.S. Congress.