Coronavirus

[Jon Letendre]

4247

 

Link to New Q Drop

Q!!Hs1Jq13jV6 15 May 2020 - 10:29:26 AM

Why did [D]s push 'everything is fine' narrative early on [ex: Pelosi China town]?
Why did science board push [no need close China travel] narrative early on?
Why did [select] govs push COVID-19 positive elderly patients into nursing homes [most at risk_proven] when surplus of availability in hospitals [+ USNS_Comfort]?
Why are CDC numbers conflating COVID-19 deaths with influenza, pneumonia, other?
Why are influenza deaths at [all-time] historical low levels vs years past [outside of standard deviation]?
Why are COVID-19 tests returning positive results on pawpaw's and animals?
Why are [select] swing states undergoing heavy quarantine extensions?
Why are possible [treatments][cures] being prevented and attacked [USA]?
"Testing, Testing, Testing, Tracing, and Isolation." - [Pelosi]
Q

 

https://qmap.pub/

[Peter]

I watched the news conference today. I, President Trump and his staff, using reason and the scientific method, think these facts are true. May 15, 2020. U.S. fatalities from Coronavirus 86,607 from 1,450,136 cases. Which is 0.0597233639 or 6 percent are dying from the infection. In America. Off the top of his head El Presidente said the number of fatalities so far is "86,000."

This is my thought, but as the nation “opens up” and goes back to business I think there will be a lot of cases among working age people which may be why they are predicting a huge surge in cases in July and August. But, younger people have a much LOWER death rate . . . so older people MUST continue to self-isolate.   

[Peter]

I also wanted to mention, the "if . . . then . . . therefore" line of logic can be a fallacy. The exact facts during those timelines are not completely reliable.     

edit. From Wikipedia. Modus ponens[edit]

One valid argument form is known as modus ponens, not to be mistaken with modus tollens which is another valid argument form that has a like-sounding name and structure. Modus ponens (sometimes abbreviated as MP) says that if one thing is true, then another will be. It then states that the first is true. The conclusion is that the second thing is true.^[3] It is shown below in logical form.

If A, then B

A

Therefore B

Before being put into logical form the above statement could have been something like below.

If Kelly does not finish his homework, he will not go to class

Kelly did not finish his homework

Therefore, Kelly will not go to class

The first two statements are the premises while the third is the conclusion derived from them.

Disjunctive syllogism[edit]

 

Disjunctive syllogism (sometimes abbreviated DS) has one of the same characteristics as modus tollens in that it contains a premise, then in a second premise it denies a statement, leading to the conclusion. In Disjunctive Syllogism, the first premise establishes two options. The second takes one away, so the conclusion states that the remaining one must be true.^[3] It is shown below in logical form.

Either A or B

Not A

Therefore B

When used A and B are replaced with real life examples it looks like below.

Either you will see Joe in class today or he will oversleep

You did not see Joe in class today

Therefore Joe overslept

Disjunctive syllogism takes two options and narrows it down to one.

 

[Peter]

Delaware Governor John Carney is giving a briefing just now starting at 2:15.

Sussex County Delaware, which is right next to me, has had 3,565 cases and 108 deaths which is a death rate of 0.0302945302 or 3 percent. Many of those cases are in younger, working people and many worked in ‘chicken plants.’ So, working closely with others, even while wearing masks, is not a solution. But younger people don’t die like old folks. They just feel “off a bit” all the way up to “miserable.” They can handle that. Right? The general population has worked with colds and the flu for the lifetime of our species.    

Carney hopes we will not lose traction because of the more open, ‘new normal.” Easing will happen and guidelines will be issued though his staff have been taking a lot of flak from small businesses that want to open. Schools will remain closed. As an aside, an article I didn’t read, mentioned colleges that will not open in September though they will “try” to do distance learning.

For years there has been app’s that allow non English speaking students to learn English but that was one on one, teacher to student. Ironically, China was their biggest customer. So how will online lectures and perhaps tests lead to college degrees worth a darn? “I went to M.I.T., but it was online.” I dunno.

Carney is just saying UD may require testing and a thermometer to the forehead before entering a classroom. None of us want to go backwards. A Carney aide is saying no pool parties not even at private pools but they may open pools with occupancy guidelines. It is 81 degrees here today.  

[Jon Letendre]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

I watched the news conference today. I, President Trump and his staff, using reason and the scientific method, think these facts are true. May 15, 2020. U.S. fatalities from Coronavirus 86,607 from 1,450,136 cases. Which is 0.0597233639 or 6 percent are dying from the infection. In America. Off the top of his head El Presidente said the number of fatalities so far is "86,000."

This is my thought, but as the nation “opens up” and goes back to business I think there will be a lot of cases among working age people which may be why they are predicting a huge surge in cases in July and August. But, younger people have a much LOWER death rate . . . so older people MUST continue to self-isolate.   

 

The President does not think 86,000 is true. Let alone did he say anything near that he used reason or the scientific method to arrive at 86,000.

Reporter: "[inaudible] the current death toll is about 86,000?"

Trump: "At current, it's about 86,000, yes."

Reporter: "Do you think that's accurate or do you think it's higher than that?"

Trump: "Or lower, I don't know. I don't know. Those are the numbers that are being reported …"

Also Trump:

 

[Jon Letendre]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

I also wanted to mention, the "if . . . then . . . therefore" line of logic can be a fallacy. The exact facts during those timelines are not completely reliable.     

edit. From Wikipedia. Modus ponens[edit]

One valid argument form is known as modus ponens, not to be mistaken with modus tollens which is another valid argument form that has a like-sounding name and structure. Modus ponens (sometimes abbreviated as MP) says that if one thing is true, then another will be. It then states that the first is true. The conclusion is that the second thing is true.^[3] It is shown below in logical form.

If A, then B

A

Therefore B

Before being put into logical form the above statement could have been something like below.

If Kelly does not finish his homework, he will not go to class

Kelly did not finish his homework

Therefore, Kelly will not go to class

The first two statements are the premises while the third is the conclusion derived from them.

Disjunctive syllogism[edit]

 

Disjunctive syllogism (sometimes abbreviated DS) has one of the same characteristics as modus tollens in that it contains a premise, then in a second premise it denies a statement, leading to the conclusion. In Disjunctive Syllogism, the first premise establishes two options. The second takes one away, so the conclusion states that the remaining one must be true.^[3] It is shown below in logical form.

Either A or B

Not A

Therefore B

When used A and B are replaced with real life examples it looks like below.

Either you will see Joe in class today or he will oversleep

You did not see Joe in class today

Therefore Joe overslept

Disjunctive syllogism takes two options and narrows it down to one.

 

You say watch out for fallacies, then you present two forms of valid argument.

You said, "I also wanted to mention, the "if . . . then . . . therefore" line of logic can be a fallacy."

So, are you going to show us a fallacy?

[Peter]

One more fun fact that Carney just mentioned. During the early stages of the outbreak, Pennsylvania closed its liquor stores but its next door neighbor Delaware did not and Delaware liquor stores posted record profits up on the border. Hah!  

edit. 

Hold the applause! After a huge demand I will make one more observation. Delaware Governor Carney’s sign language translator looks like Courtney Cox from the TV show “Friends.” To me anyway. Though the camera must be 30 feet from here. Carney is now off the air and Rachael Ray without makeup is cooking something. She looks so different.  

Who was also famous and on the TV show “Friends?”  David Arquette, Brad Pitt, Tom Selleck, Elliot Gould, Anna Faris from “Mom,” Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Christina Applegate, Morgan Fairchild, Hank Azaria, Bruce Willis, Kathleen Turner, Winona Ryder, Marlo Thomas, Charlie Sheen, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ella Macpherson, Brooke Shields, and yadda, yadda, yadda. 

[Peter]

Did ya know there was a really smart lawmaker from Mississippi named “Soggy” Sweat? Or as John the Baptist famously said, “Let us not get serious, with the post ad hoc fallacy” If, then, therefore.

From Wikipedia. The canonical fallacy is: If A, then B. B. Therefore, A. In this case, that translates to: If one is doing something useful, one will piss people off. I am pissing people off. Therefore, I am doing something useful.

Here’s a good one! And you thought the Greeks were the best comedians. “If-by-whiskey” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In political discourse, if-by-whiskey is a relativist fallacy in which the speaker's position is contingent on the listener's opinion. An if-by-whiskey argument implemented through doublespeak appears to affirm both sides of an issue, and agrees with whichever side the listener supports, in effect taking a position without taking a position.^[1] The statement typically uses words with strongly positive or negative connotations (e.g., terrorist as negative and freedom fighter as positive).^[2]

Origin[edit] The label if-by-whiskey refers to a 1952 speech by Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr., a young lawmaker from the U.S. state of Mississippi, on the subject of whether Mississippi should continue to prohibit (which it did until 1966) or finally legalize alcoholic beverages:^[3]

My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey:

If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

But, if when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it. This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise.

The American columnist William Safire popularized the term in his column in The New York Times, but wrongly attributed it to Florida Governor Fuller Warren.^[4] He corrected this reference in his book Safire's Political Dictionary, on page 337.^[1]

[Jon Letendre]

Wiki really sucks, those examples are weak.

"The canonical fallacy" (If A, then B. B. Therefore, A)  is a new name for me, it was "affirming the consequent" when I earned my A in logic class.

The example given - doing sometg useful and pissing people off is as bad as the previous examples offered.

Much better is: if you swallow poison, you will die. You are dead. Therefore you must have swallowed poison.

It is a fallacy because anything else could have killed you, not just poison.

Did someone commit that fallacy, Peter?

[Peter]

Yahoo News: “Trump sets goal of coronavirus vaccine by year's end, but 'vaccine or no vaccine, we're back.”

Headline in The New York Times: “Coronavirus Cases Slow in U.S., but the Big Picture Remains Tenuous.”

Let me get my calculator out. US cases 1,473,415 divided by World-wide cases 4,563,458 0.32287248 or 32.2 percent. The US has 32 percent of the world’s cases which is almost one third. Accurate testing and reporting could be factors. I saw on the net that President Trump also said we may not have a vaccine until 2021. Hmmm, all you hypochondriacs? Does your forehead feel hot to the touch? Maybe you have been reading next to a hot lamp.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

This recent video interview between Patrick Howley and Dr. Judy Miklovits was just banned on YouTube.

Dr. Judy Miklovits is the author of the current bestselling Plague of Corruption that has the elitist authoritarians wound up in a pile of emotional spaghetti.

Both of these people are huge thorns in the side of the current mainstream "control the narrative" elitists.

Just click on the image below and it will take you to the BitChute copy of the video where all you have to do is click the play button to see it.

There are many disturbing things in this interview. I don't know enough to make claims with certainty, but there is a lot that makes sense to me in this interview.

The most disturbing thing of all, though, is that the fake news mainstream culture wants these voices shut down, not just debated or debunked.

If the authoritarians were so sure these people are kooks, why don't they trust the general public to hear their ideas?

Hmmmmmm?...

Free speech and all...

Maybe it's because the general public may not be so attuned to scientific jargon, but most people are pretty good at spotting a con, especially once it has been pointed out to them, and even more especially by credentialed people who are attuned to scientific jargon.

Michael

[tmj]

I didn't watch this interview yet, but in one I have seen of Dr Judy one the things that stood out , and one I don't quite understand, is the idea of patenting and licensing of vaccines by federal employees. It seems individuals can patent and license products of tax payer funded R&D? 

[Peter]

I know that if you send kids to schools in Maryland they must be vaccinated, so I guess that counts as "forced vaccination," but this is the first time I have heard of "forced coronavirus vaccinations." I watched the first part of the interview and then I got tired of her voice. I wonder if her "supposition" that this vaccine will make things worse for 40 million people who suffered from those forced "school vaccines" is true. I know a percent of home schoolers keep their kids out of public schools to avoid the vaccinations but some local kids I heard of demanded to go to "regular high school" when they came of age. Now just imagine if you were someone like Dr. Facci  and you ordered forced coronavirus vaccinations and 40 million people got very sick or died? He would be lynched.  

[tmj]

Not remembering particulars, but having watched a few of the interviews Dr Judy has been doing, her main contention , I think, is that vaccines are known to be contaminated but used anyhows. That whistleblowers to problems with vaccs are routinely brushed aside by the powers that be.

Fauci is one of those powers that be, she contends he brushed her  off when she claimed to have found ongoing potentially damaging consequences from using certain vaccines. It doesn't feel like anything worse than him being fired will ever happen to Fauci, unless there really is a storm upon us, wouldn't that be nice ?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

58 minutes ago, Peter said:

I watched the first part of the interview and then I got tired of her voice.

Peter,

Actually, I believe you got tired of looking at her. 

That's not a quip (although it is kinda funny  ).

Scott Adams mentioned that when Plague of Corruption came out (or maybe it was the documentary, Plandemic), he watched her on video and was not convinced by her at all, but he couldn't figure out why. He was trying to peg her reasoning to Loserthink or something like that. His wife (or girlfriend, I'm not sure), Cynthia, was around when he was watching it, but she was doing something else and only listening.

Later that night when they were talking and this subject came up, he mentioned that Dr. Judy was unconvincing and Cynthia told him that she made a lot of sense. Since Cynthia thinks a lot like Scott, he began to wonder if the visual had anything to do with it. 

The times I have seen Dr. Judy talk, I know it is the visual. The way she keeps her eyes wide open and mostly without blinking, the rest of her face in a poker face expression, and a rather mono-rhythmic, monotone delivery, caused me to feel she was in an area animators and people who work in robotics call the uncanny valley.

When something like a stick figure or 2D animation is presented to represent a human, we know humans are not really like that, even though they are like that enough to know the creation means a human. If we get a human representation that is totally perfect (like in modern artificial intelligence composites of people), we accept them as real people. However, if a creation gets too close to human, but not enough to be 100% normal human, there is an area where we get creeped out. And this feeling is visceral. We don't control it. This happens even if the character in the story is presented as the most lovable person in the world.

This uncanny valley effect also applies to real humans. Freak shows have always been popular throughout history. Nowadays, we have zombies and vampires. And impostors are always good fare for villains in storytelling, especially when their demeanor turns slightly robotic at the big reveal where they get busted and then, dazed, explain what they were really after all along.

Dr. Judy's public delivery unfortunately makes her a good candidate for a sci-fi film where aliens invade the bodies of real humans and go about trying to make them behave normally.  

If you ever get curious enough to do this, listen to her without seeing her and see if she is more interesting and less irritating.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

So far, YouTube is still allowing this to stay up.

Bill Gates is turning out to be one of freedom's worst Trojan Horses.

Storytelling-wise, Corbett shows cartoons aired on cartoon channels depicting Bill Gates as a superhero. By the end, he shows how Bill Gates, in reality, is a hell of a lot closer to a comic book super-villain.

How about Gate's idea of implanting semi-permanent tracking devices under your skin, not through a hypodermic needle, but through a little patch with a grid of super-tiny needles you painlessly and quickly press on the skin, immediately throw away, and they leave the needle tips behind? He's already doing this in India. It's all under the guise of concerns about health and population control. And, of course, he is funding a massive swarm of new satellites to track everyone so implanted the world over.

In this nightmare that is now a reality, you can literally livestock-tag an unsuspecting person in their sleep, or by putting a grid patch on something they have to bump up against or grab, and they won't even know it happened.

Michael

[Ellen Stuttle]

3 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

How about Gate's idea of implanting semi-permanent tracking devices under your skin, not through a hypodermic needle, but through a little patch with a grid of super-tiny needles you painlessly and quickly press on the skin, immediately throw away, and they leave the needle tips behind? He's already doing this in India. It's all under the guise of concerns about health and population control. And, of course, he is funding a massive swarm of new satellites to track everyone so implanted the world over.

Devices like that could be used for other purposes besides tracking people.

Ellen

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Ellen Stuttle said:

Devices like that could be used for other purposes besides tracking people.

Ellen

Ellen,

I didn't mention it earlier, but one of Dr. Judy's claims is that the Big Vaxxers (including Dr. Fauci) have a huge problem. It's called that trail of side-effect oopsies they left all over the world with their vaccine experiments on unwitting humans (especially vaccines made with animal tissues, aborted human embryos, etc.). So they are looking for a way to kill off the evidence--meaning the trail of defective humans they caused--before things really get out of hand.

And, of course, I think it's reasonable to presume they don't want to get caught. So the killing would have to take enough time between infection and death to not raise alarm until the infection job was finished.

While that is a step too far for me conspiracy-theory-wise, I don't put it past many people among the Big Vaxxers to consider this as a serious proposal. So I do think it is plausible that some preliminary work is being done by some people to set up this possibility.

Such genocide would be one of the other purposes of the needle grid patch I can see. If they set it up carefully, they can zap everybody the world over before they know what hit them. All under a different name and purpose on the surface, of course. Something like universal health care for all for free. Or whatever.

The governing principle is that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

And the corollary. It is better to ask forgiveness for one big-ass oopsie than a whole lot of little ones produced over decades.

These people are evil.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Hell yeah!

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

I'm a sell out. I'm for sale.

--Brant

[william.scherk]

20 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

How about Gate's idea of implanting semi-permanent tracking devices under your skin, not through a hypodermic needle, but through a little patch with a grid of super-tiny needles you painlessly and quickly press on the skin, immediately throw away, and they leave the needle tips behind? He's already doing this in India. It's all under the guise of concerns about health and population control. And, of course, he is funding a massive swarm of new satellites to track everyone so implanted the world over.

In this nightmare that is now a reality, you can literally livestock-tag an unsuspecting person in their sleep, or by putting a grid patch on something they have to bump up against or grab, and they won't even know it happened.

Is any of this verified?

[tmj]

Verified is a funny word , nowadays, perhaps always, but definitely nowadays.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

23 minutes ago, william.scherk said:

Is any of this verified?

William,

I'll see if the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation press department has anything.

Seriously, you can find the transcriptions of Corbett's reports on Gates here: Who Is Bill Gates?

These transcriptions include lots of links to his sources.

I'll correct my comment on Gates already doing needle patches in India to "I believe Gates is already doing needle patches in India." Here is my basis.

In Corbett's video (and transcription--all this starts about 13:38), he talked about the Indian company Khushi Baby and their communication chip necklaces for babies, then talked about Robert Langer and MIT (and other Universities) developing Gates-funded needle patches (called a "microneedle array patches"), then talked about India's Aadhaar project and Nandan Nilekani (who registered over a billion people). Corbett actually said the microneedle array patches are slated for the coronavirus vaccine Gates is gearing up to supply, but, to me, it's a short step to thinking Gate's many paid friends and colleagues are already using this in India. After all, Gates has a history of experimenting on human beings without their knowledge and he undoubtedly needs a good pool of unsuspecting humans for case studies to make sure his enforced vaccination plans with this device come off without a hitch throughout the world when the time comes.

As for verification, hell, you could watch the video and see footage of the actual people involved telling you all this.

Or you could go back to thinking about Q.

 

Michael

[turkeyfoot]

Gates fancies himself a crusader. His work is squarely aimed at winning the narrative.

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/2018/09/16/cochrane-a-sinking-ship/

"Gøtzsche is well-known for his blunt criticisms over the harms of breast cancer screening programs, the overuse of psychiatric drugs, and has referred to the drug industry as ‘organised crime’.  But his most recent article, with co-authors Lars Jørgensen and Tom Jefferson, was a stinging critique of the quality and methodology of Cochrane’s HPV vaccines review." 

Mikovits: 

"On October 29, 2018, pharmaceutical interests, led by Bill Gates, finally succeeded in ousting Professor Gøtzsche. A stacked board controlled by Gates fired Gøtzsche from the Cochrane Collaboration after he published a well-founded criticism of the HPV vaccine."

The article at bmj.com:

"Cochrane has become too sensitive to criticism of the pharmaceutical industry”, says one board member. Insiders say a ‘possible concern’ might be that Cochrane fears that Gøtzsche’s criticism of the HPV vaccines review would negatively impact its sponsorship from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here are some quotes from Atlas Shrugged that are relevant today.

First, let's hear from Wesley Mouch. He's presenting Directive Number 10-289 for consideration.

Quote

... our sole objective must now be to hold the line. To stand still in order to catch our stride. To achieve total stability. Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it.” He paused, picked up the sheet of paper, then added in a less formal tone of voice, “Hell, what it comes down to is that we can manage to exist as and where we are, but we can’t afford to move! So we’ve got to stand still. We’ve got to stand still. We’ve got to make those bastards stand still!”

Does this sound like certain governors these days?

Next, let's go bowling.

Quote

The only business boom, that winter, came to the amusement industry. People wrenched their pennies out of the quicksands of their food and heat budgets, and went without meals in order to crowd into movie theaters, in order to escape for a few hours the state of animals reduced to the single concern of terror over their crudest needs. In January, all movie theaters, night clubs and bowling alleys were closed by order of Wesley Mouch, for the purpose of conserving fuel. “Pleasure is not an essential of existence,” wrote Bertram Scudder.

Think about governors and mayors closing down jogging, beaches, and so on.

btw - Are bowling alleys open during the coronavirus shut down? I'm pretty sure they are.

How about "essential need," exceptions for favoritism, and New York? Granted, it is not winter right now, but imagine if it were.

Quote

In the second week of February, for the purpose of conserving copper wire and electric power, a directive forbade the running of elevators above the twenty-fifth floor. The upper floors of the buildings had to be vacated, and partitions of unpainted boards went up to cut off the stairways. By special permit, exceptions were granted—on the grounds of “essential need”—to a few of the larger business enterprises and the more fashionable hotels. The tops of the cities were cut down.

The inhabitants of New York had never had to be aware of the weather. Storms had been only a nuisance that slowed the traffic and made puddles in the doorways of brightly lighted shops. Stepping against the wind, dressed in raincoats, furs and evening slippers, people had felt that a storm was an intruder within the city. Now, facing the gusts of snow that came sweeping down the narrow streets, people felt in dim terror that they were the temporary intruders and that the wind had the right-of-way.

How about the three trillion dollar boondoggle the House just passed? The following excerpt does not just apply to that, it applies to government "pork" in general.

Quote

But thirty million dollars of subsidy money from Washington had been plowed into Project Soybean—an enormous acreage in Louisiana, where a harvest of soybeans was ripening, as advocated and organized by Emma Chalmers, for the purpose of reconditioning the dietary habits of the nation. Emma Chalmers, better known as Kip’s Ma, was an old sociologist who had hung about Washington for years, as other women of her age and type hang about barrooms. For some reason which nobody could define, the death of her son in the tunnel catastrophe had given her in Washington an aura of martyrdom, heightened by her recent conversion to Buddhism. “The soybean is a much more sturdy, nutritious and economical plant than all the extravagant foods which our wasteful, self-indulgent diet has conditioned us to expect,” Kip’s Ma had said over the radio; her voice always sounded as if it were falling in drops, not of water, but of mayonnaise. “Soybeans make an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee—and if all of us were compelled to adopt soybeans as our staple diet, it would solve the national food crisis and make it possible to feed more people. The greatest food for the greatest number—that’s my slogan. At a time of desperate public need, it’s our duty to sacrifice our luxurious tastes and eat our way back to prosperity by adapting ourselves to the simple, wholesome foodstuff on which the peoples of the Orient have so nobly subsisted for centuries. There’s a great deal that we could learn from the peoples of the Orient.”

. . .

But five million dollars was being spent by the office of Morale Conditioning on the People’s Opera Company, which traveled through the country, giving free performances to people who, on one meal a day, could not afford the energy to walk to the opera house. Seven million dollars had been granted to a psychologist in charge of a project to solve the world crisis by research into the nature of brother-love. Ten million dollars had been granted to the manufacturer of a new electronic cigarette lighter—but there were no cigarettes in the shops of the country. There were flashlights on the market, but no batteries; there were radios, but no tubes; there were cameras, but no film. The production of airplanes had been declared “temporarily suspended.” Air travel for private purposes had been forbidden, and reserved exclusively for missions of “public need.” An industrialist traveling to save his factory was not considered as publicly needed and could not get aboard a plane; an official traveling to collect taxes was and could.

. . .

But a super-color-four-foot-screen television set was being erected for tourists in a People’s Park in Washington—and a super-cyclotron for the study of cosmic rays was being erected at the State Science Institute, to be completed in ten years.

I am sure Atlas Shrugged is full of other images that are relevant. But these passages have been floating around in my head ever since the shutdown happened, so I looked them up and here they are.

Anybody remember any other passages?

Michael