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Elliott Erwitt/Magnum PhotosNew York City, 1953

The only person I have touched in a week is my two-year-old daughter. Every selfie I take of us is a photograph of me trying to inhale her. The streets outside are empty, the ambulance sirens constant, the sunshine an insult. Beyond our windows, the city is running out of ventilators. Stores have signs in their windows that look lifted from the apocalypse films I loved back when I thought they were metaphor rather than prophecy: due to the spread of COVID-19 we are indefinitely closed. My daughter and I havent left the apartment in four days, ever since I became symptomatic.

Thats a lie. I left once, to take the trash down. I couldnt smell it, because I cant smell anythingthe ability vanished suddenly, along with my sense of taste; the newest symptom in the newsbut when the pile of banana peels and mashed zucchini pieces became impossible to push back into the bin, I knew it was time. In the mail vestibule downstairs, I saw a man in a blue mask whod come to pick up someone elses laundry. When he pulled the mask from his mouth to speak, I shrank away from him. Im sure he thought I was afraid of what Id get from him, when really I was afraid of what hed get from me. I was afraid to speak. I imagined the virus traveling on particles of my spit. I imagined nothing. It was all plain fact. Why couldnt I just tell him, I have the virus? It got caught in my throat. I had a vectors shame.

The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. Its as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now Ive lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. Ive made a schedule so I wont go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tigeras if wed see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

They say the quarantine is tough on parents. The quarantine. As if it werent plural. As if we werent all living our own. Being a single parent is like being a parent except youre always alone. Being a single parent in quarantine is like being a parent except the inside of your mind has become an insane asylum echoing with the sound of your own voice reading the same picture books over and over again: Mr. Rabbit, I want help. The Dark was not hard to find. Hello, Stripes. Hello, Spots. Hello, wonder. Hello, WHOA. Whats that? Its a RUNAWAY PEA. Puffins sit on muffins. Snakes sit on cakes. Lambs sit on jams. Bees sit on keys. Little girl, you really do want help. You must do something to make the world more beautiful.

Right, yes. Today. In this doomed world. Something beautiful, for her. On our schedule, Ive thought of many possible stimulating games, all of which are harder to imagine playing with the virus in my blood: tea party, dance party, tearing-up-tissue-paper party. I can still imagine watching the live feed from the zoo, but its hit-and-miss. Sometimes its just a koala with his eyes closed who looks ill, like the rest of us. It hardly matters what I put on the schedule anyway. My daughter knows what she likes. Her favorite game is leaping headfirst from the laundry onto the hardwood. Her second-favorite game is stuffing my bras in the garbage. Her third-favorite game is squirting diaper cream onto the floor and then handing me one of her wipes and saying, Wipe. When I give her A Look, she smiles slyly. Wipe, please. She knows the drill.

The only way I can write any of this is to sit with her on the floor and give her a pen and notebook of her own, so she can scribble beside me.

When I wake with my heart pounding in the middle of the night, my sheets are soaked with sweat that must be full of virus. The virus is my new partner, our third companion in the apartment, wetly draped across my body in the night. When I get up for water I have to sit on the floor, halfway to the sink, so I dont faint.

From my window one afternoon, I see four high-school students walking arm-in-arm.Theres something pointed about their joviality, their casual touch, like, fuck you for telling us we cant. I want to yell down at them, You cant! Getting righteous about other peoples inadequate social distancing is how we manage our fear and justify our sacrifices. If I had to give this up, you should have to give it up, too. I havent touched another adult in nine days, but whos counting. The day I realized I was sick, I posted a sign for my neighbors downstairs warning them Ive got the plague. Im still up at night with the vectors guilt. Everyone who is sick is someone elses patient zero. There is something beautifully grotesque about that phrase, shedding virus, as if with a black light you could see the sloughed-off sickness like curling snakeskins all over my apartment, crumbling to dust.

These days I usually dream about nice dinner parties I wasnt invited to. Romanticizing other peoples quarantines is just the latest update of an ancient habit. So what if I signed divorce papers a month before the city went on lockdown? Ive got my blankets. Ive got my toddler pouring shards of pita chips down the neck of her rainbow llama pajamas, right here in the epicenter of the epidemic. Sure, I sometimes wish my quarantine was another quarantine, and I sometimes wish my marriage had been another marriage, but when have I ever lived inside my own life without that restlessness? Its an ache in the muscles that makes it hard to lie still. Quarantine teaches me whatIve already been taught, but Ill never learnthat there are so many other ways to be lonely besides the particular way I am lonely.

We spend our days spearing Internet-delivered raspberries with the baby fork. Mama help, she says sometimes, plaintively. She needs something but she doesnt know exactly what it is. I know exactly what I need: another human body. So I breathe her scalp again, again, again. I let her press her little toes against my thigh again, again, again. Mama leg, she says, delighted. Sometimes its enough to just name the world, to call out its parts. I can remember sex before quarantine: the opposite of distancing, the opposite of illness, the opposite of restraint. I can remember the overflowing carts at the grocery store during the days when rumors of lockdown were still rumors: the woman hoarding cat food and instant coffee, the man whose arms were loaded with soap, as if he would do nothing but clean himself until the end of time.

I can remember the last time I felt this far away from the world; also the last time I ate without tastingat seventeen, when I came home from a week in the hospital with my jaw wired shut and my face swollen past recognition, the terrible fix for a fracture after a hiking accident. I made my mom drape sheets all over our mirrors because I couldnt stand the sight of myself. I squirted Ensure into the gap behind my back molars with a little plastic syringe, and used a little notepad to write because I couldnt speak for months. And what did I write? Years later, I looked back at those scribbled notes seeking profundities in the fever dream of my pain, but I just found fear and need, playing on repeat: What if I vomit while my mouth is wired shut? More Vicodin, please. More Vicodin, please. More Vicodin, please.

No Vicodin in this house. Just Baby Tylenol and bananas like mush against my tongue and another sober alcoholic on FaceTime telling me that a few of her sponsees have started drinking again because The Fucking World Is Ending, at least for now, and now rain is falling on the empty streets, and I stick my hand out the windowjust for a moment, just as I press my cheek against my daughters belly, just to feel something that is still there.

Read this article:
'Since I Became Symptomatic' - The New York Review of Books

Your guide to what's hot in London

Unfollow all those moaners tweeting that the weekend doesnt feel like a weekend in quarantine.

Just because London is (physically) isolating, that doesnt mean the partys over. In fact, the capital has never been so sociable. Ive spoken to my friends more in the last week than I did for about six months of last year, wrote one Twitter user on Tuesday. My lockdown calendar is busier than my ordinary one, joked another.

Partying in the age of isolation might look a little different, but in many ways it can be even more fun: spontaneous trivia evenings, three birthdays in one night, 30 friends to drink wine with at the click of a button.

The bonus? Everyones free! From virtual movie nights on Netflix Party to FaceTime pub sessions, this is a guide to winding down during the lockdown.

(AP)

Pressing play at the same time as bae is so BC (before coronavirus): Netflix Party is a new free Chrome extension that synchronises your virtual movie night for you and lets you chat about it in real-time like youre sitting on the sofa together (youll finally have to set up separate Netflix accounts). Current group viewing favourites include Contagion (the ultimate pandemic movie), Glee (group singalongs), and Sex Education (see who cringes first), and there are public viewing parties if you fancy a cinema feel. Film initiative Cinema Space is hosting a Netflix Party screening of Claire Foy and Andrew Garfields drama Breathe on Monday night (RSVP at cs-breathe.splashthat.com), while Twitter collective Drunk Feminist Films is putting on a Notting Hill Netflix Party at 9pm tonight.

If your series of choice isnt on Netflix, fear not. MetaStream lets you and your friends watch videos on YouTube or Hulu together; TwoSeven allows you to watch YouTube, Amazon Prime and HBO Now while video chatting with your pals; and the team behind cult podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno is hosting a Belinda Blinked-inspired listening party at 8pm tonight if you fancy some time away from the camera.

(netflixparty.com; drunkfeministfilms.com; getmetastream.com; twoseven.xyz; instagram.com/mydadwrotea)

(Unsplash/Elevate)

If you havent got drunk with your mates over Zoom yet, youre not Zooming hard enough. Video pub sessions are the new going out (Tesco has reported a 75 per cent increase in booze sales) and some say its better. Drinks are cheaper, toilets are cleaner, joked one Twitter user. Calls are only 40 mins max with the free version so you can still get an early night, says Tooting-based consultant Ed Gibbs. Hes got a Zoom party planned with his 30-man university WhatsApp group tomorrow night, and with everyones housemates and other halves. We might be getting close to 100, he predicts. He may have to borrow a friends dads premium account if numbers get any higher no one wants to be NFI to a Zoom party.

If you are, head to the pub. The Oval Tavern in Croydon is among the London bars streaming live music nights while doors are closed, and London-based digital marketing veterans Chris Simmance and Shane Jones have set up their own virtual dog-friendly establishment, thecoronapub.com, for anyone in the SEO industry. Weve had over 80 people come through the doors over the course of one night so far, says Simmance, recalling visitors from as far afield as New York, Amsterdam and Melbourne popping in for pints in the last week. Hes hosting the first pub quiz tonight and has a live band booked for tomorrow. Its funny seeing people nip to the bar, AKA the fridge, and as with most pubs we have regulars who have their virtual stool at the bar.

(zoom.us; theovaltavern.co.uk; thecoronapub.com)

Houseparty is the best thing to happen to this #QuarantineLife, one Twitter user wrote this week in reference to the viral social network thats suddenly all over your Instagram Stories. The spontaneous social video app has been around since 2016 but its become an overnight sensation amid the lockdown: global downloads rocketed by more than 500 per cent in the first two weeks of March alone. For the uninitiated, the app taps into your contact book and allows you to immediately start video calls with friends online. As many as eight people can enter a chat at one time and when you leave the door to the party unlocked, friends of friends can come in and join the conversation. Before you know it youll be face-to-face with your housemates boss. Mercifully, there are handy ice-breakers: parties can play rounds of trivia or Pictionary using the in-app games, and users can share their phone or desktop screens with the room so your best friends brother can help you with your Hinge profile.

The beauty of the app lies in its chaos. Suddenly you can attend five parties in one night, including those you werent invited to. But social etiquette still applies. Dont lock a friend out of a room, and dont enter the house if youre feeling antisocial. If you fancy seeing whos inside without being locked into a conversation, a hot tip from House Party HQ: Hold down on the app icon to Sneak into the House. Your friends wont get a notification that youre around.

Londoners are also coming up with virtual games: Zoom hide-and-seek (one person blanks their video; whos missing?); Zoom roulette (Type in any nine-digit meeting code. See how long you can last in that meeting before getting asked to leave); and PowerPoint karaoke for the office social (everyone sends in four made-up slides, we hand them out randomly, then everyone has to present four slides back to us and we have to guess who wrote it).

(houseparty.com)

Jason Briscoe/Unsplash

While gyms are shut for the foreseeable future, plenty are moving their classes online.Joe Wicks is also helping the nation stay fit from home while all this is going on, by hosting workouts on his Instagram page every morning at 9am for people to get involved with. Its not all about mere calorie burning, though. Sadlers Wells has announced plans to stream online dance classes perfect if youre up for trying something new during these strange times. The dance venue is launching its Digital Stage series from April 1, presenting performances alongside classes created with children and older people in mind.

PA

The pub seems to be one of the things Londoners are missing the most, after the UKs boozers shut their doors last Friday. East London favourite The Pembury Tavern is here to help, hosting a virtual pub quiz via its Instagram page at 7pm every Monday evening and helping punters get the week off to a fun start.Brewdog is also getting in on the act, launching 102 virtual pubs. Each of them recreates one of the Brewdog pubs across the UK, hosting quizzes, virtual tastings and giveaways over the coming weeks.In fact, there are plenty of pub quizzes on. Chin chin!

Getty Images

James Blake is among the pop stars to launch their own virtual concerts, with the singer-songwriter sitting down at his piano to serenade listeners on Instagram this week. He promises therell be more to come too, so keep an eye out. Elsewhere, everyone from Keith Urban (with help from Nicole Kidman), to Christine and the Queens have posted performances online. Even if you missed them the first time around, theyre all still available to catch up on.

Instagram/jamesblake

Daves Taskmaster has been doing its bit to alleviate boredom across the land this week. The show is setting people a series of challenges on Twitter using the #HomeTasking hashtag. The first task is to throw a piece of A4 paper into a bin. Most spectacular throw wins, with more to be announced throughout this week. Get involved, get creative and post videos using the hashtag to be in with a chance of getting on the leaderboard, making into the Taskmaster YouTube montage and maybe even getting on the show.

UKTV

With all this extra time available to people, theres never been a better opportunity to discover new films. Take the opportunity to try out an underrated gem on Netflix and Amazon Prime, or discover a brand new streaming service like Disney+. Escapist classics can help to transport you across the world from the comfort of your sofa check out our full list of recommendations here, from The Beach to The Darjeeling Limited.Even though theres been a rush of film postponements over recent weeks, there are plenty of alternatives to the likes of James Bond and Mulan to check out and keep us entertained too, with a wealth of options available to film fans at the touch of a button. If you're totally at a loss over what film to choose, try out this random film generator.

Even with coronavirus putting new album releases into doubt, theres a lot for music fans to get involved in from home. The Charlatans Tim Burgess is teaming up with some of his buddies for a series of nostalgic album listening parties, welcoming the likes of Liam Gallagher and members of Franz Ferdinand and Blur for listening parties from 10pm on weekdays, starting from March 23.

Getty Images

People can support Londons restaurant scene by ordering deliveries from a huge range of venues across the city. Read our full guide here, and if you're more in the mood for a drink, have a look at our rundown of drinks delivery options. If youre looking for home cooking inspiration, some of the most celebrated chefs in London recently shared with us their self-isolation cooking recipes, made using long-lasting ingredients.

Jason Briscoe/Unsplash

While gyms are shut for the foreseeable future, plenty are moving their classes online.Joe Wicks is also helping the nation stay fit from home while all this is going on, by hosting workouts on his Instagram page every morning at 9am for people to get involved with. Its not all about mere calorie burning, though. Sadlers Wells has announced plans to stream online dance classes perfect if youre up for trying something new during these strange times. The dance venue is launching its Digital Stage series from April 1, presenting performances alongside classes created with children and older people in mind.

PA

The pub seems to be one of the things Londoners are missing the most, after the UKs boozers shut their doors last Friday. East London favourite The Pembury Tavern is here to help, hosting a virtual pub quiz via its Instagram page at 7pm every Monday evening and helping punters get the week off to a fun start.Brewdog is also getting in on the act, launching 102 virtual pubs. Each of them recreates one of the Brewdog pubs across the UK, hosting quizzes, virtual tastings and giveaways over the coming weeks.In fact, there are plenty of pub quizzes on. Chin chin!

Getty Images

James Blake is among the pop stars to launch their own virtual concerts, with the singer-songwriter sitting down at his piano to serenade listeners on Instagram this week. He promises therell be more to come too, so keep an eye out. Elsewhere, everyone from Keith Urban (with help from Nicole Kidman), to Christine and the Queens have posted performances online. Even if you missed them the first time around, theyre all still available to catch up on.

Instagram/jamesblake

Daves Taskmaster has been doing its bit to alleviate boredom across the land this week. The show is setting people a series of challenges on Twitter using the #HomeTasking hashtag. The first task is to throw a piece of A4 paper into a bin. Most spectacular throw wins, with more to be announced throughout this week. Get involved, get creative and post videos using the hashtag to be in with a chance of getting on the leaderboard, making into the Taskmaster YouTube montage and maybe even getting on the show.

UKTV

With all this extra time available to people, theres never been a better opportunity to discover new films. Take the opportunity to try out an underrated gem on Netflix and Amazon Prime, or discover a brand new streaming service like Disney+. Escapist classics can help to transport you across the world from the comfort of your sofa check out our full list of recommendations here, from The Beach to The Darjeeling Limited.Even though theres been a rush of film postponements over recent weeks, there are plenty of alternatives to the likes of James Bond and Mulan to check out and keep us entertained too, with a wealth of options available to film fans at the touch of a button. If you're totally at a loss over what film to choose, try out this random film generator.

Even with coronavirus putting new album releases into doubt, theres a lot for music fans to get involved in from home. The Charlatans Tim Burgess is teaming up with some of his buddies for a series of nostalgic album listening parties, welcoming the likes of Liam Gallagher and members of Franz Ferdinand and Blur for listening parties from 10pm on weekdays, starting from March 23.

Getty Images

People can support Londons restaurant scene by ordering deliveries from a huge range of venues across the city. Read our full guide here, and if you're more in the mood for a drink, have a look at our rundown of drinks delivery options. If youre looking for home cooking inspiration, some of the most celebrated chefs in London recently shared with us their self-isolation cooking recipes, made using long-lasting ingredients.

I honestly think more people turned up than wed have had in person, admits Fitzrovia-based innovation consultant Dom Turner, who celebrated turning 24 this week by transferring his pub quiz plan to Zoom in light of isolation guidelines. Thirty-two friends dialled in for the 45-minute shindig and all attendees were asked to set their Zoom background to their favourite of them with the birthday boy. Prize for the best photo, of course, says Turner.

Wimbledon-based brand manager Caroline Small, 27, also had a virtual birthday quiz (the prize was toilet paper), while founder of Cheapskate London newsletter Kate Samuelson had more wholesome Zoom plans for her 28th: a virtual tea party with her housemates, parents, sister, grandma and boyfriend. My mum and dad dropped the same tea off at everyones houses: homemade scones with cream and jam, mini sandwiches, caterpillar cake, she says.

Others on Twitter report Zoom birthday bar crawls (we all walk around our houses and take shots in different rooms); birthday karaoke (six of us logged on to a Google Hangout a drink in one hand, a household object to be used as a microphone in the other); and themed kids parties. Im available in character form, Sedona Rose, founder of Brixton party company Goldilocks Entertainment, explained on her Instagram last week. Her 30-minute childrens birthday parties will now be run over Zoom and themes range from Frozens Elsa to Peter Pan.

(hangouts.google.com)

One of Londons premier burger buffs, spread all across London (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Michelin-starred dim sum on wheels (Mayfair)

Classic fish and chips shop with a very modern vegan menu (Essex Road, Stoke Newington)

Thai chain offering all the popular classics (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Pizza hotspot offering vegan options and gluten-free bases (Islington, Hammersmith, Aldgate, Bermondsey)

Fully flavoured Indian rice bowls with a health-focused twist (Whitechapel)

Greek-style street food, from souvlaki to halloumi fries (White City, Wembley, Clapham, Canary Wharf, Victoria, Shoreditch)

Xian-style Chinese dishes including hand-pulled biang biang noodles (Euston, Mayfair)

Generously ingredient-laden salads taking inspiration from around the world (Old Street)

Dumplings aplenty, with a short but sweet selection of main dishes (Soho)

Fried chicken is given a jerk-seasoned shake up (Kennington only)

Vietnamese favourite serving hot bowls of pho and summer rolls (Finsbury Park, Dalston)

The cronut creator delivers his famous pastries, cookies alongside savoury options (Belgravia)

A welcome American import, offering burgers and delicious cajun fries (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Camden favourite offering all things cheese (Camden)

Fried chicken and waffle extraordinaire (Canary Wharf, Brixton, Stratford, Islington, Camden)

Paul Winch-Furness / Photographe

Hawaiian salads with a build your own option (Swiss Cottage Editions only)

A longstanding Caribbean classic (Notting Hill, Vauxhall, Shoreditch)

Greek street food favourites are given a European twist (Carnaby)

Naples-hailing pizza legend hailed as the best in the world (Marylebone only)

Missing Nandos? Hit up this highly praised Portuguese chicken joint instead (Shoreditch, London Bridge)

Seriously crunchy fried chicken served in strips, wraps or burgers (Whitechapel Editions only)

Vegan fast food from across the pond (Tower Bridge)

LA-hailing egg-centric restaurant (Notting Hill)

The west London outpost of a Fitzrovia gem (St Johns Wood only)

Paris-hailing Les Hamburgers made with lashings of melted French cheese (South Kensington)

Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

A New York street food sensation opened its second UK spot in west London (Earls Court)

Excellent Israeli food on High Street Kensington (Kensington)

Adrian Lourie

One of Londons premier burger buffs, spread all across London (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Michelin-starred dim sum on wheels (Mayfair)

Classic fish and chips shop with a very modern vegan menu (Essex Road, Stoke Newington)

Thai chain offering all the popular classics (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Pizza hotspot offering vegan options and gluten-free bases (Islington, Hammersmith, Aldgate, Bermondsey)

Fully flavoured Indian rice bowls with a health-focused twist (Whitechapel)

Greek-style street food, from souvlaki to halloumi fries (White City, Wembley, Clapham, Canary Wharf, Victoria, Shoreditch)

Xian-style Chinese dishes including hand-pulled biang biang noodles (Euston, Mayfair)

Generously ingredient-laden salads taking inspiration from around the world (Old Street)

Dumplings aplenty, with a short but sweet selection of main dishes (Soho)

Fried chicken is given a jerk-seasoned shake up (Kennington only)

Vietnamese favourite serving hot bowls of pho and summer rolls (Finsbury Park, Dalston)

The cronut creator delivers his famous pastries, cookies alongside savoury options (Belgravia)

A welcome American import, offering burgers and delicious cajun fries (Various locations check if there is one near you)

Camden favourite offering all things cheese (Camden)

Fried chicken and waffle extraordinaire (Canary Wharf, Brixton, Stratford, Islington, Camden)

Paul Winch-Furness / Photographe

Hawaiian salads with a build your own option (Swiss Cottage Editions only)

A longstanding Caribbean classic (Notting Hill, Vauxhall, Shoreditch)

Greek street food favourites are given a European twist (Carnaby)

Naples-hailing pizza legend hailed as the best in the world (Marylebone only)

Missing Nandos? Hit up this highly praised Portuguese chicken joint instead (Shoreditch, London Bridge)

Read more from the original source:
Staying in is the new going out: How to party the weekend away during the coronavirus lockdown - Evening Standard

Whenever Im feeling the blues whether its because I cant make it to the parks anytime soon or Im just not having the greatest week I think of Walt Disney. Walt was full of optimism and a positive attitude, and of course, he created the theme park that started it all: Disneyland. And these vintage photos of Walt Disney in Disneyland are sure to make any fan smile!

The Instagram account @disneyland.retro constantly shares daily photos of vintage and retro Disneyland Resort. They always bring the biggest smile to my face and make me feel all warm and fuzzy as if Im spending time with an old friend. While I wasnt alive when Disneyland first opened and I didnt get to experience many of the attractions that are now extinct, I can still appreciate the parks history. After all, without Disneyland, we wouldnt have any of the other Disney Parks all around the world!

To help spread some joy, heres a handful of images of Walt Disney in the original Disneyland park. In these images below, you can see his memories of vintage Disney attractions and times he spent with his family, as well as how much he loved the park guests.

Walt Disneys dedication speech:

Walt, his wife Lillian, and their daughter Diane on the Mad Tea Party:

Walt and Diane having a chat with guests:

Walt living it up on Main Street, U.S.A. signing autographs for happy guests:

Walt with the rhino animatronic from Jungle Cruise, one of his favorite attractions in Disneyland park:

Care for a ride on the world-famous Jungle Cruise? Let Walt himself be your skipper!

The Enchanted Tiki Room was one of the most remarkable attractions at Disneyland, and Walt loved it:

Walt Disney also loved coffee. Here he is at Creole Caf, which is now Caf Orleans:

Finally, heres Walt with some of the cutest vintage Disney characters around:

Read more:
These Vintage Photos of Walt Disney in Disneyland Will Make Your Day - Inside the Magic

KEN MATTHEWS: We have a very special guest today. The host of the Rush Limbaugh Show, Mr. Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH: Mr. Matthews, thank you very much. I found a way past the call screener on this program, folks, because I, as the architect of this whole enterprise, would know how to do that. And I cannot tell you how great it is to be back here, even if it is just for a half hour or so here on the phone today.

Im so sorry that Ive missed this week and some days last week. None of this was intended, of course. And I want to share with you some of the details of why Ive missed. Even though I vowed not to become a cancer patient, at some point Im gonna have to divulge some of this stuff because these absences are longer than expected. And, of course, watching whats happening in our country is unbelievable, and from the perspective of not commenting on it every day.

And Im traveling a lot. My treatment requires travel to different places. And no matter where weve been this country is shut down. Its just incredible. And Ill tell you, folks, it has been scary to me, it has been frightening to me to see how easy it has been to do this. In a matter of, what, weeks, we have destroyed all of the wealth created in the stock market the last three years? Its uncanny here.

And the bigger question that I have, which well address in much greater detail next week, is what kind of country are we going to have when this is over? Because it isnt gonna be the same country. I mean, why even have budgets? We dont have $2 trillion to be giving away to people. Im not objecting to doing it, dont misunderstand. We dont have the money. We have a national debt of 22, $23 trillion. We dont have this money. Were printing this money.

You remember how everybody was fit to be tied when Obama had a $787 billion stimulus? That wasnt even $1 trillion. That led to the creation of the Tea Party. People feared the meaning, the future, all that spending, what it would mean for their kids and their grandkids. Now look. And of course nobodys objecting to it because on the foundational side of this weve got this virus that is like a thousand airplanes crashing every day in terms of psychological effect its having on people. So, its a fascinating case study to me, and its worrisome and its troublesome.

And then, on the other side of it is, through all of this, Ive never had any doubt were gonna come out of it. Ive never had any doubt were gonna come out of it stronger and were gonna come out of it healthy. And I think its imperative that we have somebody like Donald Trump, who is outside the establishment expert class, who has a history of solving problems, to actually lead the country through this.

You know, weve talked about the deep state all these years since Trump was elected, the Trump-Russia collusion, the FBI the deep state extends very deeply. And the American people did not elect a bunch of health experts that we dont know. We didnt elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we dont know. And how do we know theyre even health experts?

Well, they wear white lab coats and theyve been on the job for a while and theyre at the CDC and theyre at the NIH. Well, yeah, theyve been there and they are there, but has there been any job assessment for them? Theyre just assumed to be the best because theyre in government, but these are all kinds of things that Ive been questioning.

And Ive been watching people routinely accept whatever the authorities say. Where I live, the local town government is driving around town trying to spot people violating the social distancing ordinances. And when they see it, they publish it on their website, This is very troublesome. We at the town are very troubled by groups of people congregating, violating the social distancing. Well, what do you think people are gonna do? People are not just gonna sit around here and stop living. Anyway, most of this is for next week. Im just kind of setting the table. Cause once I get going the time starts flying here and Im gonna be out of it before I know it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: And here we are back at it, Rush Limbaugh on Open Line Friday, the EIB Network, broadcasting to you from a secure and safe location. And, my friends, let me add something. I dont mean to be selfish here. I was sharing the details of the status of my cancer treatment. Even though I vowed I was not gonna become a cancer patient on this program, odd things have happened, and Ive been away longer than I intended, and I wanted to share these details because I know that all of you are going through difficult times.

Everybodys going through difficult times; I dont mean to focus on mine. I mean to say, Im among you. I mean to say that we are all in this together. We are all facing something. Im not complaining. Please dont misunderstand. Im simply informing you, because I got word that a lot of people were wondering where I was and why I hadnt come back, and I hadnt given any of the staff permission to share any of the information because dissemination of that information should come from me so that its done correctly with no errors, transmission, translation, or what have you.

But I think were all gonna persevere with American spirit. You know, were the United States of America, and we have been through things like this throughout our history and we have triumphed over all of them. I can only think of one instance where we didnt (and thats kind of a toss-up and it could be explained) and that would be the Vietnam War. If you want to talk about Washington experts and deferring to them

You know, I got a great note. Mr. Snerdley sent me an email that contained a really wonderful note from Rocky Bleier of the Pittsburgh Steelers, of the dynasty Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. I met Rocky Bleier at a Bakersfield Business Conference some time ago, and I gave him a hug. I felt a connection simply because I loved the Steelers. Id never met him before.

So he sends Mr. Snerdley this very nice note saying he had just heard of my cancer diagnosis, and it reminded me that Bleier almost missed his NFL career because he was in Vietnam. He was sent there as a 19-year-old. He was severely injured in his foot, and it took a lot of rehab and a lot of medical care and treatment for Rocky Bleier to be able to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I think ESPN just recently (within the past six months) took Rocky Bleier back to where he was in Vietnam, and they did a little documentary about it, and the heat and the humidity were such that he collapsed. He passed out. And I remember Im Rocky Bleiers age. Im of the Vietnam generation. Im watching it, and Rocky Bleier is breaking down and hes obviously

He did his duty. Everybody who was assigned went. But why were we there? What was the point? What was the objective served and who sent us there? Who sent us there was a bunch of Washington experts who, in that instance, may have thought they were doing what they should have done, but they were not. It was a giant mistake. But even that mistake

Time is dwindling away here. Ive got a point that I could relate to that and coronavirus if I had the time here, but thats what next week will be for. The point is, weve overcome all of these obstacles and we have done it by coming together, because there was always something that united us. There was always something we had in common, and that is that we were Americans, and there was great pride in being Americans.

It was almost like the kind of great pride being on a championship team of any kind baseball, football, basketball, you name it. We were Americans. And weve lost that. Weve lost that in recent years because of the partisan divide and because one of the parties in this country does not want America to be that anymore. That is what we will triumph over. That is why its so important to have somebody like Donald Trump in the White House who can see an end to this, who doesnt want to sit here and have to accept this as the new norm.

Even if it takes $2 trillion infusions, $3 trillion infusions to bring this country back, then so be it. We can do the postmortem when this is all done and taken care of. We still have obstacles. We still have obstacles to overcome in getting back to normal. Look, very quickly, theres a U.K. epidemiologist who got all of this started by predicting 500,000 deaths in the U.K. from coronavirus.

He just had to correct himself cause his models were wrong. Just like the climate change models are wrong, this guy admits that his models are wrong, and now we may not have more than 20,000 deaths in the U.K. The same thing is gonna be the case in the United States. Im out of time, folks. Its been great being with you. I appreciate the opportunity so much to be able to square things.

Read the original post:
Americas Anchormans Take on Where We Are as a Country - RushLimbaugh.com

Updated March 27, 2020 19:45:42

If a week is a long time in politics, it's an eternity during a pandemic.

Last week, this column described Donald Trump as a changed man: factual, decisive, upfront.

It seems the transformation was temporary.

This week, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned the health policy equivalent of the Titanic around.

He ordered his nation to hide in their homes after his advisers initially suggested "herd immunity" would see them through.

Over the same short period of time, Mr Trump was doing his second U-turn in as many weeks.

He suggested Americans could be set free and attending "packed churches all over the country" on Easter Sunday.

Indeed, on the very day the World Health Organisation warned America it could soon become the global epicentre of the pandemic, Mr Trump pushed for the US economy to be "opened up and raring to go" in just over two weeks.

"Our people are full of vim and vigour and energy," he told Fox News viewers.

"They don't want to be locked into a house or an apartment or some space. It's not for our country. We're not built that way."

Larry Brilliant, a veteran of the eradication of smallpox, told the New York Times ending the lockdown so early would be "an error of epic proportions".

Modelling suggests a nationwide lifting of restrictions by Easter would see 118 million Americans infected by October, resulting in more than 1.2 million dead.

That doesn't take into account the complete breakdown of the health system that would occur, increasing the mortality rate substantially.

Mr Trump insists the health of American citizens is forefront in his mind.

And his own White House advisers have watered down the suggestion of a nationwide lifting of restrictions.

Instead they're suggesting it could be possible in pockets where infection rates are low and only if much better data becomes available through widespread testing.

But the President has fallen back on misleading comparisons with the flu and fatal car crashes.

It seems keeping Americans alive during the most dangerous pandemic in a century isn't the only thing Donald Trump has to consider.

A national Gallop poll last week showed 73 per cent of Democrats feared exposure to the coronavirus, compared with just 42 per cent of Republicans a whopping 31 per cent difference.

That could be partly attributed to the misinformation initially pedalled by Fox News, which leans heavily toward the Republican side of politics.

But it probably has more to do with geography.

The early stages of the outbreak have had a much heavier impact in Democrat-leaning states like New York, Washington and California.

As the Atlantic points out, Republican-leaning states have displayed noticeably less urgency about the outbreak because most of them haven't been seriously impacted yet.

Republican governors and members of Congress have been urging the President to put the economy first.

"We don't shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways," said Republican senator Ron Johnson.

"Getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 per cent of our population [and] I think probably far less."

Three-point-four per cent of America's population is 11 million people.

Despite his apparent willingness to accept those deaths, the Senator is right about one thing: the impact on the economy can't be ignored.

In the past fortnight, unemployment insurance claims in the United States have jumped 1,500 per cent.

That's not a typo.

More than 3 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week.

That's nearly five times the highest level of claims seen during the global financial crisis of 2007.

As the world fixates on Wall Street's daily convulsions, the broader economy of the richest and most powerful nation on Earth is crumbling before our eyes.

It's a prelude of what might be coming for Australia, which has been about 10 days behind America in terms of city-wide shutdowns, according to data from mobility apps like Citymapper.

The instantaneous loss of income is frightening for anyone and especially so in a nation where around half of American families claim to be living paycheque to paycheque.

The US Senate has now passed the biggest economic rescue package in history.

Worth $US2.2 trillion ($3.6 trillion), it's worth half the entire annual budget of the United States and about 10 per cent of America's annual entire economic output.

And here's the thing: it's not aimed at stimulating growth.

Mailing $4,000 cheques to millions of families and significantly boosting existing unemployment benefits is primarily aimed at staving off homelessness and hunger.

Anger too.

The unprecedented support for business large and small, had to come with something for workers and the unemployed.

Bailouts for business but not workers in the wake of the 2007 global financial crisis helped give rise to the Tea Party on the right, which fell in behind Trump.

It also inspired the occupy Wall Street movement, which helped bolster support for Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

That seething anger remains in the hearts of millions of Americans.

And it can't have been soothed by news that Republican senator Richard Burr, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, dumped up to $US1.72 million in stocks in mid-February, while receiving daily briefings about the coronavirus threat.

He'd previously expressed confidence in the country's preparedness for a COVID-19 outbreak.

Standing in the corner of the Oval Office, there's an elephant armed with an AR-15.

The threat of a social unrest is very real in the minds of American policy makers and police chiefs.

An angry nation, heavily armed and cooped up through summer without income, is a dangerous proposition if there's any real sense of scarcity on the streets.

Look what happened in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina when a slow emergency response left thousands trapped with little food or water.

Now the entire state of Louisiana is facing a new and potentially more serious disaster, recording per-capita the third highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the country, behind New York and Washington state.

In Louisiana, poverty is rife, the quality of healthcare is among the worst in America and levels of immune-compromising HIV are high.

Nationwide, the fear of looting, or worse, must be forefront in the minds of the President's security advisers as they watch lines at gun shops stretch around the block and businesses boarding up their shopfronts.

Perhaps that's why members of Congress started discussing the next economic rescue package even before this week's record-breaking stimulus was out the door.

And perhaps that's part of the reason the US President insists the coronavirus cure, involving months of social distancing accompanied by economic collapse, can't be allowed to be worse than the problem itself.

Topics:donald-trump,disease-control,infectious-diseases-other,business-economics-and-finance,economic-trends,globalisation---economy,united-states

First posted March 27, 2020 09:43:53

See the article here:
Coronavirus could shut down America for months, and that scares Donald Trump for more than economic reasons - ABC News