THAT MASKED MAN:

#allcomedyisconservative https://t.co/oYKb4u1Yej

— brothersjudd (@brothersjudd) May 26, 2020

WHAT FUTURE?:

[I]t is not hard to understand why some Russian citizens do not like Putin or approve of his rule. Real incomes in Russia have fallen in five of the last six years. That statistic points to a protracted stagnation. Indeed, since 2014 the average growth rate of the Russian economy has been 0.6%, a fifth of the global average. It should hardly be a surprise that more than half (53%) of 18-24-year-olds now want to leave the country.

Putin hoped to shore up his domestic support through propaganda based upon the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany - propaganda that was designed to enhance the patriotism and pride of Russians, and remind them of their need for a strong leader. The onset of the current pandemic not only removed this option, but continues to erode Putin's strength - and to lessen his elite's perception of it.

As the coronavirus, and the deaths associated with it, continue to spread, the Russian masses - previously rendered passive though propaganda - will understand that Putin lied to them about Russia's preparedness. The public has become acutely aware of the Kremlin's subpar federal response to the pandemic, embodied in "videos showing ambulances lined up for miles waiting to deposit patients in overcrowded Moscow hospitals." They also understand that their country's health system (primitive by Western standards) is failing them, and that their living standards are dropping while Putin's crowd steals and spends money in places such as Syria and Ukraine--but not at home.

Levada Center Deputy Director Denis Volkov sees this as Putin's biggest problem. As he put it earlier this month, "People are afraid of wage cuts, and they expect a fall in living standards. These fears are now the most important. In effect the government has a few months to try to normalize the situation before the discontent becomes serious."

Signs of discontent were already visible before the onset of the virus. In 2019 alone, hundreds of mass rallies, flash mobs and other demonstrations took place throughout the country. These gatherings focused on issues as diverse as trash sites, minority language rights, election falsification, Putin's political appointments in the regions, and assorted government decisions. But this dissatisfaction, and the intensity of longstanding grievances, is only likely to increase in the wake of the current crisis.

THERE IS NO CHINA:

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are pushing for a new bill that targets Chinese officials and banks in retaliation for Chinese moves against Hong Kong's autonomy.

The Chinese government had promised Hong Kong the ability to rule itself under the "one country, two systems" policy when Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997, but Beijing is now proposing a national security law as part of a crackdown on Hongkongers protesting for more autonomy.

The move could trigger sanctions under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, passed by U.S. Congress last year. Van Hollen and Toomey are proposing a bill to go even further, by targeting banks that do business with Chinese officials with economic sanctions.

"This is legislation we've been working on as we've watched China crack down on the autonomy of Hong Kong," Van Hollen said on a Tuesday conference call. "This is designed to hit the Chinese Communist Party and the individuals involved in these decisions where it hurts."

KNOWING YOUR ALLIES:

IT'S ALMOST LIKE HATING LATINOS ISN'T A WINNING AGENDA:

In a critical mark of the shifting political landscape, Democrats in November could secure a clean sweep of the Senate seats from the four key Southwestern states -- a milestone the party hasn't reached in nearly 80 years.

Democrats today are strongly positioned to oust Republican Sens. Martha McSally in Arizona and Cory Gardner in Colorado and hold their own open seat in New Mexico. If the party wins those three races, as most analysts today agree they are favored but not assured to do, it will control all eight Senate seats from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada for the first time since 1941, according to Senate records.

LIBERTY, NOT FREEDOM:

First, serology tests have shown that only fairly small numbers of people in Europe and the US have had Covid-19 (and nearly everyone who has had the virus seems to get antibodies against it). 

In the UK, a study reported by the Health Secretary indicated that about 5% of the population nationwide has had it, and about 17% of Londoners. A large serology study in Spain found antibodies in around 5% of the population, a study in Milan found antibodies in 4.4-10.8% of the population, and a recent Bayesian estimation of the IFR for US states using data from European countries found about 4% nationwide prevalence, and around 16.6% prevalence in New York.

Second, the number of deaths combined with those antibody test results are consistent with an infection fatality rate (IFR) in the order of 0.49-1.01%. This may be a conservative estimate, since not all deaths caused by Covid have been confirmed as such (for example, in the UK's care homes, which have had a hugely elevated death rate during the past few months).

Third, Covid-19 appears to kill people who still have a long life ahead of them. One study suggests that on average, men who die of Covid would have had another 13 years to live, and women another 11 years to live. These figures are already adjusted for comorbidities that would shorten their lives.

Attempts to downplay the severity of Covid-19 usually ignore or obfuscate one or more of the above factors. Some, even from experts, are just innumerate. The disease simply cannot have an infection fatality rate of one in ten thousand with at least 36,000 deaths in a population of 66 million, for example, despite the claims of one Oxford epidemiologist. 

All of these appear to weigh in favour of the lockdown having been the correct course of action, and against a rapid end to the lockdown -- until we have appropriate measures in place to ensure we do not get a second uncontrollable outbreak of the disease.

THE COMING PRODUCTIVITY BOOM:

The table stakes for any conversation around removing the office start with the average commute of an American, which last year hit over 27 minutes. I haven't met many people with a commute under 45 minutes, and a recent report said that commuters wait an average of 54 hours a year stalled in traffic. An estimated 128 million of the 150 million working Americans commute to work in a car, the rest predominantly using a lackluster public transport system. Intelligence firm Inrix showed a 30% or so drop in cars on the road in America from Covid-19 - with Italy showing a stunning 65% drop in traffic. This significant drop in transportation will likely have a part to play in the fight against global warming, and we now have a rare chance to take significant numbers of cars off the road by seeing the office for what it is - a paper tiger with assumed importance and effect on productivity.

The concept of face time is used to keep us in the office, with managers believing remote work dilutes people's work to numbers and documents - a sanitized and creativity-free wasteland. Ironically, that same appearance at the office is often used to evaluate people based on whether they're "nice" or "productive", which usually means someone looks busy or stressed out. An excellent piece by Michelle Ruiz of Vogue referred to Bill Gates's creation of the obsession around face time, citing a survey where employees at large American companies spent 54% of their time on email, meetings, administrative tasks and "interruptions". She calls face time "a mirage, the symbolic appearance of working (going to meetings, chatting with co-workers) but not actually getting much done".

LYNCHING IS SUPER ON-BRAND FOR TRUMPBOTS:

Local media reports that about 100 people attended a gun rights rally at the capitol that also turned into a protest against coronavirus restrictions enacted by Beshear. Video posted online shows a man stringing up a doll with a picture of Beshear's face on it and a noose around the neck, with others then posing for photos in front of the effigy as "God Bless the U.S.A." plays in the background.