literally


This is the part where dumbass liberals will defend their dem leaders saying "oh no, this isn't authoritarian at all!!!" like obedient little sheep to the slaughter

I bet you never heard that before this whole pandemic thing, did you?

ya know 2018 probably rolled around. You probably got infected, and thought nothing of it.


and still, 80,000 deaths happened.

So where was the panic porn then?
where was the shut down?

Why is there a- oh wait, it's election year.
duh.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coro.....kj4-story.html

This is one of 10,000 articles you can find on the subject. Just do your damned part and read it.


First off, the economy isn't some ridiculous kitchen appliance you can turn off and on. Ya know what else isn't? A farm.

You can't put livestock into furloughs, and you can't layoff your crops. Nature happens, these farmers need to work, and that's just life. Of course, expecting a politician to understand that farming isn't easy is like demanding the same from Mary Antoinette ... like Nancy Pelosi they're more concerned if their $24,000 freezer is freshly stocked with gourmet ice cream.

The problem is that state governments have shut down food processing plants.

... ya know, the shit that makes food.

Shit that should be labeled as "ESSENTIAL SERVICES."

The same shit that some simps have told me "need to remain open so that people don't starve."

And yet the food processing plants are shut down? ... because out of sight of the public, out of mind of the public.


This creates a ripples up the chain because now these farmers don't have anyone to sell raw product to. So there's food waste at a time when there's food shortages at charity centers and supermarkets.


OH NO, you say, HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY HAVE AVOID-
open the fucking economy.

Just an outside thought, but if farmers are dumping all this food because there's nobody to sell it to ... and there's food shortages in super markets and food banks because supply chains have been disrupted ... then maybe opening up the supply chains will be a good idea?
...
That's an outside thought? Maybe the lockdown wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for everyone?
That or some leftist is gonna take offense over this journal and start reporting my submissions to silence this "dangerous thought process."


Okay, so here's the inevitable question: WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT, HUH? There's 2 options...
a) this is gross negligence. Pure and simple ivory tower state politicians getting in the way of the people because they can't think things through.
b) this is malicious. It's extremely common knowledge that farmers are seen as THOSE RACIST CONSERVATIVES WHO COST HILLARY HER ELECTION. THEY MUST PAY. ... so leveraging the situation to drive small farms out of business so that you can land buy and make things more favorable for your friends? Sounds like a win win.


Direct quote from Hillary Clinton this past week "We can't let a crisis go to waste." -_-


Of course, you could also squarely point out all of this started at China's idiot managed viral health lab that recieved a massive grant from the Obama Administration of $23million. Or you could wonder what the fuck the World Health Organization was thinking back in January when they said that there was no human-to-human spread (spoiler, they were thinking that Chinese-government dick felt so good).

https://www.turnto23.com/news/coron.....n-from-youtube

First off, watch the damned interview. It's been censored by YouTube, so you know it's good.

Basically, these two frontline doctors talk about the Wuhan-Corona virus and compare it to the flu. End of the day they say that this quarantine needs to end.

...
Which, if you've been watching the news = is a far cry from the perception that the Wuhan-Corona virus is DEATH INCARNATE, A PLAGUE THAT WILL DESTROY US ALL WITHIN MINUTES. THINK OF THE CHILDREN.

So, being a news station based in Bakersfield CA, they post it to their YouTube channel and within a couple days it gets a million views. Then YouTube pulls it down for "misinformation."


...

THANK YOU, BIG BROTHER GOOGLE!

Ya gotta remember that Google (who owns YouTube) has leveraged the Pandemic to turn on "cellphone monitoring" ... ya know ... 1984 shit so that they could "identify people with corona and warn everyone they've been in contact with." Classically that's the shit that cyberpunk is made out of. So it's very clear Google has a stake in the pandemic as it has allowed them to make some very nasty power grabs.

So, frontline doctors calling for an end to the quarantine, and people hearing this? DANGER!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN! BLOCK OUT THE DISSENTING OPINIONS IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE AND PUBLIC SAFETY!!

I'm gonna post another one of these journals shortly. I'm no longer of the opinion that this is anything but a manufactured crisis that the left is using as a malicious power grab.

"Plans are useless, planning is essential"

https://www.express.co.uk/news/worl.....ial-distancing

This one's pretty straight forward.
Sweden didn't enforce an economic shutdown, but they did tell everyone in its country all the social distancing measures and responsibility.
...
Sweden's infection rate is just as low as the rest of Europe, who did shut down their economy.

...
So, basically, the one nation who didn't shut down to "flatten the curve" still flattened the curve.

Of course, this immediately brings into question the following: Wouldn't it have been a better idea to shove personal responsibility for staying clean onto the people themselves ... rather than making it illegal to do business?

Naturally, CNN and everyone else is hounding down Sweden trying to prove this is wrong (given they're pro-economic-crash) ... either that or they're going to prove that the Swedes are racist because that's what they do.


Any rate, here's two doses of logic as to why this (Sweden's low infection rate) would be the case...

a) A friend of mine who's an "essential worker" has stated that their outfit has done MORE business during the lockdown than they did during the busy holiday season. This is because everyone who needs to get out will funnel down to the few places that are still open ... which in turn means you're still funneling to fewer locations. Add to that the fact that employees are acting responsibile actions by calling in sick ... which in turn means the staff is running ragged stretched thin and exposed.

b) there's also the whole concept of herd immunity. Put it this way: it's basically a more grim version of Chicken Pox Parties ... ya know, Chicken Pox is an unavoidable disease, so if one kid in the neighborhood gets it, all their parents send the kids over to a party so that they can contract it and get it over with. If everyone's in isolation, though, you can't build herd immunity. ... so what Sweden's basically done is told everyone to social distance, but basically put healthy individuals out there to contract and get the herd immunity going.


So what's the point?
Well... how flexible is your thinking?
'Cause right now we have a pretty solid proof-in-point that the economic lockdown may not have actually been the key factor in flattening the curve. You can either keep listening to what the idea was last month, or you can start thinking about maybe what the current trend of thought is.



And then here's one more overlooked point to consider: GDP kills.

So, if the world GDP drops to zero, everyone dies. That's because nothing is produced and all resources end. That's damned well impossible, but it's what would happen.
However, when the GDP drops, people still die ... albeit at a rate that's probably more like an exponential curve. i.e. there's a tipping point where false socialist dreams plunge the country into Venezuela and people die of starvation due to the failed economy.

How does this look in practice?
In lesser terms, here's a couple examples...
A) Homeless man in San Francisco dies of hypothermia. Coroner's report states it as such. However, it's extremely plausible to blame the sour economy that deprived the individual of the opportunities needed to leave homelessness. And when the economy goes to piss, more individuals become homeless.
B) Everyone knows that violent crime rates go up when the economy goes down. Desperation sinks in and people take drastic measures or lose control. There's thousands of studies on this. And more anecdotally, things could even get to how they were during Obama-Recession-Era-Chicago ... where the daily murder rate was higher than the death rate of deployed US Military troops ... or the gang wars of the Depression Era Prohibition. ... So that's another way where a drop in the GDP will result in fatalities.

And, well ... this ties back to the notion of "the cure can't be worse than the disease!" ... because the loss of life and livelihood that was generated by "the cure" of economic lockdown is ... well ... it's very much up for question given that Sweden was able to flatten their own curve without having to use this "cure."

Just look up the results for the new antibodies rate for the Corona Virus. Simple websearch will show it to you.

Thing is - the latest batch of studies are showing that a significantly larger percentage of the populace has been infected and is healthy (presence of Corona Antibodies = corona's been in the patient and has survived).

So ... what does that mean?

Welll.....

It means the disease is far less lethal than predicted.
If you build a model that includes this new data of "people with antibodies who never displayed symptoms" ... the mortality rate actually drops down to 1% among at-risk individuals (blood pressure, overweight, of age, diabetes, etc) ... and roughly 0.1% or less for healthy individuals.

...
And for comparison - the common flu that goes around each year has a similar 1% mortality rate.
And even then, you have to account for the sloppy bookkeeping being reported to the CDC, where fatalities with flu like symptoms are being reported as Corona deaths ... absent of testing.
And there's the report from the FBI that there have been several scams going around of intentionally inflating Corona positive results for personal gains ... which again, further casts doubt on the severity of the issue.


Now, to be clear = the effects that this has on individuals who are at risk are horrific: severe blood clots leading to amputations, pneumonia-esque symptoms, etc ... they require respirators and can lead to permanent damage.
...
But at some point we have to ask ourselves if it's worth making over 10 million people lose their jobs? Last week alone there was 281,000 new unemployment claims made to the department of labor.
Every job loss brings a new wave of medical problems including malnourishment, which puts more people into the "at risk of Corona" category. Let alone the severe harmful impact this has on every family that loses income.
...
Or worse: the graduating class of 2020 is absolutely fucked. They're going to be in the same situation I was in back in 2008: trying to get a job and competing against 5-20 year veterans who lost their jobs.
...
Or is it worth having 1984 style hotlines where you can report your neighbors to the government because they aren't "properly social distancing."


And ... is it worth doing all this again in the fall? The virus is out there and it will re-surge as people spend more time indoors.
...
And people keep talking about THE VACCINE that will save us in 18 months ... but recently the CDC has been screwing up every year with the Flu Shots, admitting more often than not that they prepped for the wrong strain ... so having absolute confidence that the government will save us with the vaccine next year isn't exactly sound
...
All over a horrific virus that ... ultimately has the same mortality rate as the annual flu.




And yeah, that's reality.
It's grim. And if you want to know about my thoughts on "YOU CAN'T PUT A PRICE TAG ON LIFE" refer to prior journals where I call out the hypocrisy in that statement.

Goes as follows ...

The Setup (already happened)
- Trump announced 3 stage process to get economy back online as fast as safely possible (which the end goal is still a few month away)
- HOWEVER, he stated it's up to each state's Governor to follow his recommendations (because that's how things are supposed to work, ya know? Fed give direction, States manage as they need)
The Prediction (will happen VERY shortly)
- the conservative and centrist states will follow the prescribed plan (according to their situation) and they'll be back up and running sooner than expected
- the leftist states won't, they'll keep their citizens under lockdown
- There will be citizen protests after more people lose their jobs and the lockdown continues to create more problems than the virus did
- the leftist governors will call all citizens racist terrorists and will enforce stricter lockdowns
- violence ensues, because "don't tread on me"
- people will say HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN, TRUMP SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING. BAD ORANGE MAN. BAD.

Granted, calling this a prediction is like taking credit for saying that the sun will rise tomorrow ... or that the snowflakes will take offense to this journal by simply for making this offhand joke


Let's face it - for the power hungry politician this has been a complete paradise
- Everyone's scared of an invisible threat and staying indoors
- Those pesky small businesses who keep fighting for lower taxes are going out of business
- "Public safety" is the the shield you can use to crack down as hard as you want to ... even allowing you to do batshit stupid things like releasing murderers from prison with no screening (literally, because corona fears within prison)
- Also, you get to use the police as your hammer. I mean, who doesn't enjoy the revenues of $500 tickets dished out to people parking in cars for suspiciously too long? (also literally happening in some areas)
- It's a taste of that absolute power these career politicians been craving.
- ... and now said absolute power is going to be taken away from them ... and you think they'll oblige?

So yeah, the states that are most likely to refuse to open up will be the deep leftist ones.
- basically, they can say "because bad orange man" and they'll garner some support ... it's also their knee jerk reaction
- Michigan will be in this category, as the governor had already banned "non-essential" sales such as car seats and plant seeds
- Some other states in the Rust Belt and the New England area will also refuse (actually have doubt regarding NY, they could go either way ... LA is also on the fence)
- West Coast governors stated full intent to open as soon as possible, which is a pleasant surprise. I have doubts about WA, but they'll probably open up
- So ... it's not going to be THAT many states, but there will be a couple that won't (we are talking 50 governors, there's bound to be a couple idiots)

I imagine most of this prolonged shutdowns will last less than 2 weeks before the threat of massive protests make the governors reverse their decisions (which already happened locally with the Salt Lake City Mayor's ill-advised stay-at-home fine-enforced mandate, it suspiciously ended the day before a planned massive protest was going to happen).

The inevitable 2nd spike that will occur when states open up won't be that bad ... because we're prepared now.
- Yeah, there may be LOW supplies and people will be AFRAID of running out ... but there's a difference between LOW and NO supplies. In order to brace for the worst, that national stockpile is going to be administered on a Just-In-Time basis (kinda like how you're supposed to efficiently run things in a business in the real world).
- So there's not going to be a dramatic 2nd spike that the computer models predicted (that came out of deep-leftist schools like Harvard) ...
- Combine local failing economy with a lack of severe 2nd spike in open states ... you're going to get citizens resenting their political leaders
- And the pro-shut-down governors will label the dissident citizens as "racist terrorists" (staffer for the Michigan governor literally claimed that "they were handing out candy to children BAREHANDED" trying to spread the disease)
- And then stricter lockdown enforcement "for public safety" will ensue to keep dissident citizens back in line
- Which will likely result in full scale riot scenes of people simply wanting to get back to work

And then the news media will blame the violence on Trump
and Pelosi will say this is evidence that Trump should be investigated
and leftist morons on the internet will chant the same
because that's the only thing they know how to do

Usual warning - the most adorable quote I receive from offended leftists are "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU, I KNEW I HAD BAD FEELINGS." ... paired with not actually contending against any of the points in the journal beyond parroting the monosyllabic soundbites repeated by celebrities ... it'd almost be endearing if it wasn't a sign of human failure.


ANY RATE
Actual warning is that I'm going to talk about extremely dark topics here. But you're watching my content, which isn't suitable for children ... ergo I'm expecting you to not think like children.


The crux of this quarantine extension kinda relies on the following flawed statement "If we don't, the hospitals will be flooded, and the economy will collapse because of it ... so it's best to shut down the economy for 18 months until there's a REAL CURE"

The first response would be for me to direct you to unemployment numbers ... and how each state is receiving millions of unemployment claims ALREADY.
- I'm not going to link you, because this info is readily available. Just websearch for "unemployment claims nationwide" and you'll get more than your fill of info
- And this is only after a single MONTH ... can you guess how many businesses outside of Amazon will be able to survive 18 months? (it's a very small number)
- These type of unemployment claims are what most people would associate with a recession, aka an economic failure
- Ultimately this renders the economic half of the argument dead. The quarantine is destroying the economy, it's just simply not sustainable. So claims that a quarantine to prevent a resulting economic collapse from flooded hospitals (as I heard from several people, both fantatical specialists and concerned citizens) ... has backfired since it is bringing about its own economic collapse.
...
- Devil's advocate would be "OH, DON'T WORRY. THE GOVERNMENT WILL PAY FOR THE HOSPITALS!! GOVERNMENT PAY FOR ANYTHING" ... which, if you sincerely believe that's how reality works you have severe issues and should blame your teachers and or parents because you have bigger issues to sort out in your demented little head of yours.
- So, say we stick with 18 months anyway ... at that point we have an entire nation on welfare, all the restaurants are shuttered up, wallets and food bank reserves are empty, and now we have a whole new variety of medical concerns on top of the Pandemic
- ... also, probably by that time, China will screw up again, the WHO won't tell anyone, and we'll have a sequel pandemic.


So, economics out of the way, here's the second point I've seen with regards to quarantine ...
"HUMAN LIFE IS PRICELESS!! YOU CAN'T BE GREEDY AND OPEN THE ECONOMY TO PUT HUMAN LIFE AT RISK!"
...
really?
...
ok, so here's the following reasons why you should be a bit skeptical next time you hear this...
- There's close to 10,000 drunk driver deaths every single MONTH in our country - which is totally inexcusable ... and easily preventable via prohibition (in theory ... of course that's facetious, but you should be smart enough to draw the parallels here)
- I could also go on about all the other preventable health issues such as obesity, tobacco, narcotics, opiods, murders, etc ... suffice to say, these people don't demand government interdiction over these topics
- Very frequently, people who tout this line of PRICELESS HUMAN LIFE also justify abortion ... which single-handedly undermines the whole "life is precious" high horse
- There's a million other hypocrisies I could outline where it would get really dark really fast ... and that's because life is genuinely horrible
- Hell, let's go dark anyway, in 2018 there was close to 50,000 deaths of people just opting to check out themselves. It's uncomfortable to talk about, but that's life. (worth noting that more recent projections have corona deaths at 60K maybe.
...
So ... yeah ... let's not try to use THE PRICELESS VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE as an ethical trump card to auto-win the argument. K? I genuinely don't buy that people who tout this line have the faith in this belief requisite to actually ACT on the belief in a consistent pattern through their life (beyond proving the orange man to be bad, and to follow what the news media says will happen) ... like a wise person said: faith without actions is dead unto itself ... i.e. if you don't act consistent to your faith you don't actually have said faith



So, that's the catch 22.
- playing ostrich head in the sand and just quarantine-ing until a vaccine is available won't cut it - economics won't pan out and it's gonna create new health issues
- obviously just pretending there isn't a virus isn't good either (though, clearly that's not what's been going on)
...
- I GUESS THAT MEANS A BALANCED-APPROACH IS NECESSARY. HUH.
- Eventually, to avoid greater issues down the road, at some point the populace will have to open the economy before a cure is available and just hope for the best




Now, if only there was someone who was actually acting on this issue.
hmmm...




Well, it sure as shit ain't the DNC.
- Trump's Corona Taskforce was created on Jan 29th when there was only 5 cases in the US. They were getting preparations ready...
- At this point Pelosi was drinking herself under the table in glee because that upcoming impeachment vote was sure to defeat that Great Orange Satan this time.
...
Maybe Trump actually isn't just a greedy bastard?
...
Maybe ... just maybe ... he's actually working on the issue? ... I mean, it's not like he's holding near-daily 2 hour press conferences where he's fielding press questions and making these videos available to watch everywhere, including youtube ... you could just go fucking watch the press conference videos on youtube and get this information yourself ... or you could not and say "I don't want to only get one side of the story" and continue to listen only to CNN and social media and therefore locking yourself to that one side of the story by blocking out trump's side of the story ... just sayin' ... this seriously isn't rocket science ... good hell ...

disclaimer: My lack of response to you in this journal is a clear sign that I view you to have such low intelligence that it is not worth 30 seconds of my time to reply to you on the subject matter. Remember that the next time you get the last word in an argument online: the other person thinks you're too stupid to reason with.

... besides, it's not like anyone who comments on these political journals saying "YOU'RE AN EVIL MAN! HOW DARE YOU, JON FREEMAN!" actually comment on anything else I post ... or even follow me ... or anything. It's pretty damned clear they're just no-lifes looking to preach their religion of politics by scouring the website's journals for things that they can comment on that will prove their ethical wholesome superiority.


That out of the way, now that I have set the trap for brainless NPCs to self-identify as brainless NPCs as they always do, the title of the journal is not a hyperbole. It's odd to say that, but it really is pretty literal. So I'll walk you through the 3-step logic.

1) Trump's very existence is an offense to leftists, because he's a reminder that the left failed.
2) Trump was touting the huge economy as a success, pre-virus crash.
3) So, new plan of the Democrats: make the economy fail and Trump will fail in 2020

here we go...

Trump's very existence is an offense to leftists.
- This is because he reminds them, every day, that they were wrong in 2016. The DNC lost the election.
- Every failure of the Democrats to derail Trump in the past 4 years reinforced this fact.
- Even the grand IMPEACHMENT hoax made everyone who supported it look like a brainless dipshit. (mind you, the impeachment charges changed month to month as each new scheme failed)
- Because of Trump, all the prophets, seers, and priests of the sanctified religion of the news networks are now seen as frauds.
- Those who still hate Trump now do so with a fiery passion and can no longer be reasoned with.

Trump was touting the huge economy as a success.
- As he should.
- Democrats tried passing this off as "Obama did it" and everyone laughed them to shame.
- The massive economy (pre-virus) was another daily reminder that the Democrats were dead wrong, because they touted Trump would start WWIII and collapse the economy.
- A strong US economy is now an offense to leftist Democrats.

So, new plan of the Democrats: make the economy fail and Trump will fail in 2020
- This is because there's an unspoken prideful religious belief that "the only reason someone could praise the great orange Satan is the economy, therefore those people are evil with greed."
- Per that logic: if you make the economy tank, then people will listen to the left again.
- So how do you do that? Currently the best option is to maintain the quarantine for anywhere from 180 days to 18 months.
- HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT! ... yeah, I know. Listen...
- All economic relief bills have been fought against / delayed by DNC senators ... it took over a week to pass a relief bill, and all the dems did was add shit like FUNDING FOR NPR IN AN ECONOMIC RELIEF BILL.
- Currently Democrat Sentators are also blocking funding for small business loans.
- Democrat Senators want the economy to fail.



So, just be aware of that within the next two weeks when you see someone say that ORANGE MAN BAD, HE WANTS EVERYONE TO DIE BY OPENING UP THE ECONOMY.
A) These 45 days of lockdown have ALREADY created surpluses of medical supplies, and we have 3 weeks to go. There's also 15 different treatment drugs in clinical trials, and they'll be approved for use by end of April. America will be ready.
B) The economy is going to fire off like a gun shot. Just ask anyone who's been homeschooling their kids this past week if they want to stay in lockdown for another 6 months. ... everyone wants to get out, and that getting out will cause the economy to rebound ... and that rebound will make the leftists even more desperate and pathetic.


...

As a final reminder: there's a notion among leftists that "right makes might."
It's basically their atheistic equivalent that "the god of our woke religion will ensure our success as long as we abide by its teachings."
The democrats failed in 2016.
Their god didn't deliver.
That means their right didn't make might.
This is why leftists are incensed to a religious degree at the mere mention of Trump.

First off, this journal is hopeful. I'm really optimistic that this will work out sooner than expected.

However, due to the presence of imbeciles, I'll open this with the following disclaimers...

Disclaimer A) Against my better judgement, here's the final punchline. If you have questions, read the rest of this journal.

- The 2 weeks until our country is open is based on the testing trial for the treatment medication.
- The date will be pushed back if it's not approved, Trump said it would be if needed, though it seems like this will definitely work.
- Trump already has the cooperation of businesses, once the drug is approved for COVID19 treatment, those companies will flood produce the drugs.
- The "back to work in 2 weeks" will be gradual, and "high risk" individuals (myself included in that batch) will continue to self isolate for the foreseeable future.
- Healthy individuals (excluding those living with high risk individuals) can return to work, knowing that if they get infected, there is effective medication to get them through it.
- ... this is better than having half the businesses in America shutter up due to a 6 month quarantine.
- a year down the line, the vaccine will be approved and administered on the regular.

I'm extremely hopeful that this is the case. It's a rare bit of optimism from me.


Again, that's my short answer. If you want an explanation, read the journal below.


Disclaimer B) If you're of the "orange man bad" camp, and the fact that I could possibly say anything about Trump already has you down in the comment section typing out some nonsequitor rally attack...
I do not give two shits about your opinion.
And if you go off on a rant, I'll think less of you as a person - in that I'll end up thinking you have sub-par intelligence.
Now is the perfect time to keep it to yourself and go bother someone else with your religious-fervor-prattling.
90% of these comments don't even address what was said in the journals they're commenting on ... and instead devolve into nonsensical self-contradictory tirades full of the misguided rage of a hive mind NPC.
If you have something relevant to say, sure.
But if you're dumb enough to have believed that Trump was in bed with Russia, Trump coerced Ukraine, Trump ordered the military to make the virus and dump it on China, etc ... please spare us from your stupidity.
I'm not joking.
If I don't reply on this journal, it's probably because I legitimately think you are too stupid to carry intelligent conversation on the subject.
Please do us all a favor and think before you type.


Disclaimer C) On the other hand, if you're genuinely just trying to figure out "what's next" ... this journal is something I hope you'll find encouraging. And if you don't go on an Orange Man Bad rant, I'll be happy to reply to you.


That out of the way. I'm going to highlight a lot of topics. What I listed in the final punchline above is drawing inferences from all of the following and more.



Alright, so ... lot going on. I'm gonna focus on a specific aspect: Trump opening up the economy again in 2 weeks.
He's announced this intent over several videos, and they're easy access to view on YouTube - you don't have an excuse other than your own apathy (which in itself is an indictment)
- They're working on a vaccine. That's due out next year because of thorough testing.
- Because of recent "right to try" bills, they're testing off-the-shelf-prescription drugs to treat the virus ... en mass and in large quantities.
- Trump also stated that he will push back the lock-down if needed
- Testing has already begun with the malaria drug you already heard about


NEXT POINT
I've seen 2 types of medical specialist interviews on the tele. They go as follows
- There's a script, the news reporters ask questions that lean directly into what the specialist says, and the news reporters never disagree with the specialist in a way where the specialist is wrong.
- The news reporters have a normal interview. The most striking example was the guy simple said "just give me a yes or no, has social distancing worked" ... and the specialist had to concede and say "we honestly can't tell if it has or not. There's not enough evidence to support that our current efforts are working."
- And the same can be said of economic specialists.
- And the same is UNDOUBTEDLY true for celebrities, who are too busy literally pretending to be other people to even have an inkling of a clue what's going on in the real world.

Again, a thing to note about specialists is ... they specialize.
- Sad truth is that most specialists I've had to deal with are EXTREMELY narrow focused and can't concentrate on more than one topic at once.
- Additionally, specialists don't have perfect information, so they have to build models to fill in the gap. THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS WORKS. The collegiate system for Thesis papers is such where you almost always have to DEFEND your thesis ... this has the very unfortunate side-effect that people will believe their models to be reality.
- For example, off topic, this is how you get ass-backwards specialist logic like "well, if you build more roadways, people will drive more cars! We can't have people driving more cars!" ignoring the existence of a population. ... literally, that mentally deficient topic is one that gets thrown around locally ... it's embarrassing for my state.



Trump has been able to WILLINGLY marshal the US industry to the cause.
- Distilleries are sideloading some of their normal production to make Isopropyl Alchohol, for example.
- The past 10 days the US has administered more tests than South Korea has so far (not implying that South Korea hasn't done enough since they clearly have it more under control than just about anyone else, just saying that US businesses are stepping up to the plate big time).
- 3M is ramping up their masks as much as they can, etc.
- Even in non-medical areas, the response from businesses has been legitimately encouraging. One example is the NBA, while they suspended the league after a player was infected - the commissioner directly stated in an interview they had planned on making all NBA games private-venue events the next day, had the player not been infected.
- While I do think that there is an awful lot of virtue signalling (and I did parody that ... I mean, my friend got an email from COMCAST about their COVID19 efforts), the cooperation of businesses in the US has been nothing short of amazing.
- ... which is totally not what socialists would have you believe about how evil big evil businesses are acting evily and corporationy



MOVING ON
Here's a very basic economics lesson: people always need income ... unless you're a millionaire like Bernie Sanders.
In example: I basically missed 2 months of full production work between last november and january due to a cavalcade of issues. I'm still recovering from that financial set back.
Most year-round businesses cannot survive 2 months without operation, and this is is because of overhead, salary, etc
If a lockdown does persist for 3-9 months, like some batshit insane medical professionals are suggesting - it will mean that the only businesses left are mega corporations.



Also, just freaking listen to the press conferences yourself.
- They're on the White House YouTube channel
- They're largely unedited, front to back
- It's straight from the horse's mouth
- You'll also realize that news reporters are disrespectful ASSHOLES. Just listen to the way they talk over people with their questions ... like spoiled college kids who think chanting means they're winning an argument ... or DNC debates that literally had 9 people talking at once trying to shout for attention. Or listen to how they'll all ask the exact same question 5 times in the same session hoping to get the exact right version of the answer they can twist. The news reporters do not act in a way that deserves respect ... I just don't think people have actually tried listening to news reporters unedited to realize how big of scumbags they are.


BACK TO OPTIMISM, NAMELY WITH THE TREATMENT DRUGS

The early reports for how well this drug works is obviously super encouraging.
- It's worth noting that there have been some horrible mis-steps in decades past. Such as the ebola outbreak in the 70s where there was a disturbing amount of people who died from paralysis because of the medicines. So care must be taken.
- However, the drugs they are looking at are EXISTING drugs. These side effects are well documented.
- The big thing about the malaria drug (and the others) is that it does not have notably lethal side effects. (duh, of course all meds carry a risk, we know.)
- This one, and the others that they're testing, are commonly administered with relatively low risk. (obviously, if you try to homebrew your own meds you may as well eat a tide pod, ces la vie)

I believe it's that low risk of negative side effects that makes the taskforce open to the idea of the huge mass testing that's going on.
- Chance of good outcomes seem to be extremely high
- Chance of negative outcomes (beyond simply not working) are very low

Ok, so then ... I want you to think back ...
- How long does a typical medical prescription last?
- A typical medical prescription lasts 2 weeks. Antibiotics are typically on a 2 week dosage.
- HMMMMM ...



Just to restate ...

I've heard medical specialists "OH NO, if everyone goes back to work - E V E R Y O N E W I L L D I E ! ! ! "
- yes, if people just up and go back to work, that's what'll happen ...
- and you'd have to think that's what Trump's plan is - just let everyone go out at once without a plan and hope for the best
- ... but you can really only buy into that if you buy into the notion that Trump is an evil orange bad man moron who's greedy and racist and sexist and homophobic and only cares about his wallet and is destroying all of human rights everywhere and hasn't done anything to stop the spread and the same goes to all evil white conservative males because they're making the world die a slow death and holy shit...
- ... you'd also have to be stubborn enough to still believe Trump doesn't have a plan, in spite of everything that's happened the past 4 years
- but hey, politics are religion ... and you can't convert the crazies ...


Here's my guess as to what's going on...

Corona taskforce is administering these drugs on the front lines to treat the infected virus victims.
- Trump has stated he is working with local governors for this, if you have issues, bitch at your governors about it.
- Clinical trials require data for validation. With drugs designed for treatment, this is more focused on short term / immediate relief. So if they run thousands of tests at the same time, that will generate the data needed.
- Again, I want to be clear that these are existing drugs. They already know the long term effects. So that part of the approval process is taken care of.

I'm guessing they will know if this will work or not within 2 weeks.

If the treatment drug WORKS - people who test positive can receive a prescription drug that is known to help.
- if the recovery times are as consistent as early reports are stating, this will significantly reduce the amount of hospital time required to treat the infected
- that's the biggest threat atm, overflooding hospitals and having to set up Death Panels like they do in Italy ... that and shit-for-brains spring break students ...
- if the threat of flooded hospitals can be mitigated through effective treatment: A WORKABLE STEP TOWARDS VICTORY

Trump probably has the major pharmaceuticals lined up and ready to go on production once a treatment drug is available upon approval
- Besides, he would have had to get the big pharma to work with him in order to get the testing meds out in the field.
- They're ready to go

The "get back to work in 2 weeks" is probably going to be a GRADUAL get back to work.
- It'll be paired with a warning that anyone who is high-risk (or anyone who lives with high risk) should continue to work from home for the time being and self-isolate.
- Everyone else, however, can return to work. And this is because of the low-risk among healthy individuals, and the availability of a (in the near future) proven treatment drug to help if necessary.
- However, any amount of "get back to work" is going to be enough to keep the economy from collapsing.



FINAL PUNCHLINE

- The 2 weeks until our country is open is based on the testing trial for the treatment medication. The date will be pushed back if it's not approved, though it seems like this will definitely work.
- Trump already has the cooperation of businesses, once the drug is approved for COVID19 treatment, those companies will produce more of the drug.
- The "back to work" will be gradual, and "high risk" individuals (myself included in that batch) will continue to self isolate for the forseeable future.
- However, healthy individuals (excluding those living with high risk individuals) can return to work, knowing that if they get infected, there is effective medication to get them through it.
- ... this is better than having half the businesses in America shutter up due to a 6 month quarantine.
- a year down the line, the vaccine will be approved and administered on the regular.

In light of the pervading spirit of overreaction and virtue signaling among all corporate entities, we would like to spend a moment and write this vaguely professional yet intimately reassuring letter to you.



After sending the intern to read the headlines in the Corrupt News Network, we have decided to issue the following changes to our standard offerings and procedures.

- Personalized guided tours through the artist's private residence and industrial human body collection chambers will be temporarily suspended until further notice.
- The annual tickets for viewing the return of the migratory penguins to Happenstance Square will still be available for purchase.  However, the quantity of these tickets will be reduced by 30%, and all patrons will be subjected to medical examinations and cavity searches.
- All future onsite coughing violators will be immediately tased without warning.  Security is also authorized to pre-preemptively tase suspicious individuals at their own personal discretion and entertainment.
- Professional sanitized contract face touchers will be available in the lobby for use by staff members only.
- Toilet paper will no longer be recognized as legal tender
- We would like to remind everyone that allegations of our institution selling out the identities of random individuals to the CDC for mandatory quarantines for sweet fat delicious paychecks are wholly unfounded.
- Please maintain a digital only connection to all other gremlins, for the safety of our other gremlins and yourselves, just as you have been since basically none of us really know where anyone else lives.
- Regular purchases of artwork remain unimpaired by all of this.

Please remember that when the government quarantines you and shackles you to the pipes in your basement and runs off with all your hoarded toilet paper rolls, you can think on those sweet dopt tiddz to get you through the next 7 months.

Hooray for Reading!

If you can read and understand this journal - you get a discount!
Given the recent delays and work derailment I've been dealing with - here's a promo.

YAY!!!


Upfront - sale ends on 3/30. So you have some time to act on this. Though, if you procrastinate the dopts you want will probably get snatched from under you.

The rules:

Any order where the BASE PRICE is greater than $50, you get an extra $5 off that base price.
- To clarify: BASE PRICE is the price total after gremlin discounts and clearance rates
- A ballpark estimation is that would be 2 regular priced dopt/offerings, or 3 clearance priced offerings (remember, this is an estimation as actual prices vary per item)
- To additionally clarify: BASE PRICE does not include coupons or credit you've accumulated. Those are applied after base price is calculated.

You must mention this sale on your own volition. If you fail to do so, you won't get that $5 discount.

All the other usual rules apply: new orders only, you have to pay off prior orders before you can place new orders, etc etc.


So yeah, have fun!

being generous with the block button is extremely satisfying.

I'll provide a replacement offering down the line. But yeah, no more similar dopts.

Basically boils down to the following

in the similar dopt offering page I stated the idea was to get someone who was SIMILAR to the prior dopt. As in "state what you want to KEEP"


I'd say a good 85% of the requests that came in were in the vein of the following...
"You know that neighborhood milf that you drew? I'd like a similar dopt of her ... BUT MAKE HER A TOTAL BADASS GUITAR AXE WEILDING GUNSMITH ALCHEMIST WHO FIGHTS DEMONS ... but she also has a sweet tender heart and wants to cuddle my OC."
aka - absolutely nothing in common, except maybe tits? Idunno.
This would also happen with repeat customers who didn't get it. And ... I got tired of dealing with that merry-go-round.


So yeah. no more similars.


I'm considering doing "custom dopts" instead, but if I go that route it'll be in the $100 ballpark for a design.

Someone informed me it's against dA ToS.

dA's justification is that raffles can't be enforced for fairness...

which is super self contradictory since in the same FAQ post it states that art contests with prizes are totally fine.

Issue with art competitions is that those are 100% subjective contests which are determined by the judge. This is in no way a "fair competition" as the judge can just divvy out the prize to whomever the frick they want to and say "it's my opinion and my prize, so myeeeh."


So yeah, for those of you who enjoyed dopt raffles?
dA profoundly says "screw you"

I need to preface this email with 2 points.
Please take a couple minutes to read this. I did spend a while to be open about these procedures.
Again, I'm sincerely hoping that these raffles continue to be profitable - because if they are I'll be able to get to the backlog more consistently.

* First off, these actually are frequently asked questions (unlike what I included in the first few raffle dopt listings that were actually "things I think I might get asked"). So if you see a question that you had asked me here, don't feel like I'm picking on you as multiple people have asked these questions.

* Secondly, the policies listed here are me trying to balance my own financial sustainability and fairness. Biggest evidence is the whole "non winning tickets are converted into credit." I am not aware of any other artist that does this. Don't take that as a humble brag, I'm pointing that out because it's presenting very unique questions and edge case scenarios that don't occur with other raffles. Because I could make this easier on myself and transform the raffles into a pure gambling situation with no credit reimbursement, but I'm trying to make this better for everyone. So please keep that in mind.

The following answers have been worked into new dopt raffle listings. However, I figured these warranted a specific call out announcement given the frequency of the questions.

K, so let's get to it.


Q: Can I purchase tickets with credit?

A: No.
Beyond finances it actually could result in some toxic practices of client-v-client. I.e. THAT OTHER GUY buys up 500 tickets, then keeps shuffling them to new dopts - essentially locking everyone else out from future chances.
...
So yeah, tickets purchased must be with new funding, and credit earned from raffle can be applied towards anything else (dopts, promos, etc)

Q: Do I need to check in with you before I buy raffle tickets?

A: No.
The biggest reason is communication timing issues. Several clients either work swing/grave shifts, or are on the opposite side of the planet. That'd result in one of 2 scenarios...
1) Client asks final day of the ticket purchase window "can I have some tickets, but I'm not 100% sure if I want them or not?" and I say yes but I don't actually put them down for it as they never specified how many they wanted. The client doesn't see this response until the next day AFTER the raffle is over - therefore missing out entirely.
2) Client requests 100 tickets (hyperbole, hasn't happened). So I put them down for it and wait for payment. Payment doesn't come in, and I hold the raffle with 100 instances of their name on the list. Client now owes payment for 100 tickets on a raffle they didn't win.
Owing to the above scenarios: tickets are not awarded until payment is received.
Again, clients are not required to ask me first before sending in funding. This is where client responsibility kicks in, and the client is required to include a note with the paypal payment clarifying which dopt raffle the funding is for. Sending me a note (dA note, email, discord message) after the payment is sent in isn't necessary, but it is a good redundancy to make sure you get credit.
...
in the rare off chance that a client tries to send in a last minute payment just barely after the raffle is drawn, I'll sort it out directly with the client at that point. Given the alternatives, I view this particular instance of error to be the least likely one to happen.

Q: Can I buy tickets if I have an outstanding order?

A: No.
This hasn't happened yet, but I can easily see a bad apple cooking up the following scheme...
step 1: Bad apple places a $300 order and clean house picking up a ton of dopts, denying other clients the chance, but then the bad apple doesn't pay it off.
step 2: Rather than paying it off, the bad apple locks out normal-behaving clients from a dopt-raffle by buying $300 worth of tickets.
step 3: The bad apple then profits from claim-squatting on all of the dopts AND claim squatting on the raffle.
...
so yeah. If you have an outstanding order: no tickets. I mean, it took me longer to draft this FAQ than it did to come up with this scheme - so there's bound to be a bad apple to think likewise.

Q: So what if I want to get both a dopt and tickets? Like, I check the listings and I see a dopt I want to get that's now on clearance and I also see a new dopt raffle that appeals to me.

A: Pay for the tickets first. Then place an order for the dopt going through the normal process.
... that's it, really.

Q: So what if I were to do this, then that, then this and this and that...

A: The easiest way to understand raffle tickets and dopt orders is to simply pay up for prior orders within a single day.
The procrastination of paying off prior orders is the single biggest source cause of questions that I get. If all prior orders are paid for, there's generally no questions to ask.
It can also be frustrating to me as my intention for allowing delayed payments is to help accommodate edge case real life scenarios (literally, it started because a client would see my dopt sets while at college and wasn't able to pay for them until they got home that evening) ... the intent is not to create a bizarre mini game of delaying payments as late as possible until it's absolutely necessary to pay up.

Q: But what if I miss out on a dopt raffle due to bizarre circumstances?

A: To quote a smart man - "Life is pain, your highness."
I mean, it's not like you're guaranteed a dopt in a raffle anyways. It is a raffle and you can very easily not win. If you happen to miss out, just keep your chin up and keep an eye out for future openings. ^_^
...
I also haven't figured out a way to accommodate leniency on dopt raffles that wouldn't result in additional grief on the client's part. So, yeah. If you miss out, you miss out.


Thanks for your time!

DOWNVOTE.
the thumbsdown button


Downvoting does wonders, and I'll explain why by providing a late night infomercial style hypothetical
- did you bail on a video half way through after regretting your decision to click on it, only to find it constantly reappear in your feed?
- are you getting spammed with pop media targeted at the pleb masses?
- is youtube trying to tell you to watch videos from the idiot you unfollowed 2 weeks ago?
- did you watch 1 makeup video tip, only to have your recommend feed flooded by tranny-makeup tips? (actually happened to a female friend of mine)
- are you getting hit with videos made by an out-of-work asshole who shouts out "WHAT'S UP GUYS, TODAY I'M TALKING ABOUT..." as an intro?
...
well now you can downvote your worries away!


In order keep the remainder concise, I'll let you fill in the blanks. So this will be very brief
- just remember that youtube (and parent company google) is corrupt. Watch any video on their copyright demonetization bullshit to realize they're the badguys -

If you click the button that says "don't recommend videos like this again" - it does absolutely nothing. It's basically a placebo to provide the user with a warm-puppy effect (makes you feel good and is absolutely worthless).
However...
If you downvote, that's a clearcut sign to youtube that you won't watch the video/channel again. No watchy means no ad revenue. So they will stop all recommends of the channel
Boom - emaculate recommend list based only on videos you haven't downvoted to oblivion.


"but won't that hurt content creators?"
...
Every single youtube channel has a patreon (or a parent company).
That's because youtube pays their content creators precisely jack shit.
It won't hurt them, because there's nothing left to hurt.


If you want to be polite, just leave a comment to the content creator explaining why you downvoted. Simple things like
"downvote for woke"
"downvote for WHASSUP GUYS"
"downvote for ugly big-eye thumbnail"
Letting the creators know why they're getting the downvote will help them out!
It gets the point across, and if it catches on (as it should), content creators will stop cloning each other.

so, here's an example of how to get banned.
TL;DR - ask me the same damned question 10 times in a row


Client - "can you replace the male character in this couples' dopt with my character?"
Me - "no. I don't do line alterations. sorry"
C - "but it's just the hair"
M - "no, I still don't do line alterations to dopts. Here's the sour experience that led me to that. [listed out the experience]"
C - "but I just want the lady."
M - "... I don't do line alterations. I just spent 5 minutes drafting that last note explaining why."
C - "but it's just the hair. what's the big problem. I want to adopt the character and replace him with me."
M - "that is the exact opposite of an adoption. Why don't you just adopt the couple, like everyone else, and not use the male character?"
C - "you mean you'll erase the male character?"
M - "that's a line alteration. ... hang on, do you know what an adoption is? I want you to please define it so I know where you're coming from. Maybe there's a misunderstanding."
C - "oh, I know what an adoption is. I just want to adopt the character and replace him with me."
M - "that's not what an adoption is. I won't do line alterations. End of story. You can take it or leave it."
C - "Why won't you let me adopt the character and change his hair?"

at this point, I read the note and step away. Basically pulling a meme Syndrome "YOU DENSE MOTHERF=====" pacing my room coming to grips with how much time I'm wasting on this.
So I come back about 15 minutes later (needed to step around anyway) write a reply, a little more blunt, restating what I had written earlier. And by the time I hit send these two notes are in my inbox.

C - "Why did you not reply? Did I offend you? What did I do to irritate you?"
C- "whatever, dude. Be that way. I almost spent REAL MONEY on this crappy generic design I could have done by smoking weed and getting horny. You almost had my business and now you don't. Be that way."


So ... yeah. He got banned.


So ... for my own sanity = don't be an idiot. If I say "no, sorry" on something, don't ask the same question 10 times in a row. That's what toddlers do when they don't want to eat dinner. And toddlers should not be buying dopts, frankly. There's mature themes in here that would be damaging to developing brains like that.


And there we are, a horrible venting journal of me asking people to please use common sense and real world people skills. -_-;


Hope your day's going better than mine.

I'll write this in FAQ format
It's totally not FAQ ... but this format is better for conveying the logic behind decisions.


- Do you have an ETA or update on my commission?

no.
That goes for everyone. The answer is "no, i do not have an ETA on your commission."
If you want a refund because the answer is understandably unsatisfactory, let me know.


- I don't know the answers to the rest of these questions, but I can only assume this is because "it's all about money".

... and that's spoken like a true bitter socialist!
heavy sarcasm aside, if you don't pay attention to finances and actual performance metrics - you won't be able to be a full time freelancer.
The following changes and decisions being made are reflective of a need to get finances squared away. It's either this or get non-drawing day job (which would probably result in mass refunds across the board).
So yeah, this is the way.


- Are you accepting commissions?

Generally no.
If you have a bigger project (i.e. +$200 bucks), let me know. I'll consider taking it on at that point.


- Ok, so I guess that means commission art via promos only

Yes.


- So you'll be doing more promos?

Much more limited quantities with a higher price tag.
If you want to get the free artwork deal via being subscriber and all that = cool. http://artofjonfreeman.com/Subscription.html
Otherwise ... I won't be accepting suggestions for new promos, as that's a gremlin's benefit ... and you need to be a gremlin (subscriber) to get the benefit.

Unfortunately, this experiment never really caught fire like i hoped it would. So ... back to plan A.


- Oh ...

Yup


- What about YCHs?

Those will, unfortunately, be phased out. They were an interesting experiment, but didn't pan out long term (oddly less sustainable than expected)


- ... wait, so what does that leave you?

It leaves me with dopts! Heavy emphasis on dopts will resume.


- Well, can i get a similar dopt?

Those are still available ... but they are significantly more expensive now.
This puts more emphasis/priority on the first go around ... which also means more emphasis on being a Gremlin Subscriber.


- Thanks for all that info, I'm having a great day!

Great, I'm glad you're having a great day. It's a bit superfluous to wish you a good day when you're already having a great day ... but I'll do so anyway. Have a great day!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/.....?ref_=wl_share
there's now 3 items on the list. yey. As usual, if you buy an item on this list (and coordinate with me about it) you'll get comm credit equal to 150% of the paid price for the item.

to illustrate, I'm giving rough estimates of the credit earned and paid price below (as I'm aware that shipping and taxes will affect the actual bottom line)

xwing core box
$54 credit (enough for most dopts, or a couple clearances) - after paying $36

straight line laser
$21 credit (after paying 14-ish)

Crisis Protocol
$120 credit (after paying 80-ish)


If you're interested, coordinate with me on it. The coordination is really just so that you get the proper credit for it.

I would like to remind everyone that the Democrats had an EXTREMELY simple task.

Count votes.

That's hardly even basic arithmetic, especially when you could just do it the analogue way and count paper votes by hand.


Instead the DNC delivered a clusterfuck.


An absolute, inexcusable, embarrassing, clusterfuck. And once you start digging for why they couldn't deliver, it gets even more embarrassing since the whole thing stinks of corruption.



And these people, who can't count, want you to place them in charge of matters that are far more complicated than tallying up how many votes there are.

Here's the short sum

I tried a new workflow process
It didn't work
That's life


So I'll be reverting back to regular flow


Here's the FAQ
"hey, I saw a picture was posted, does this mean you'll do mine next?"
- no. These will get done in the order they get done. If that doesn't agree with you I can issue you a refund.

doing a final push on sets this weekend, then I'll be able to get back to normal production on comm/dopt completion

So, if you're wondering where your order is - that's the answer

Bonus fries to coincide with today's promo...

You can now exchange your Customer Loyalty Coupons for cel-shading upgrades!

Whenever you place an order you can redeem 1 (one) of your coupons to get a free cel-shade upgrade on a single character bust drawing.
- This is beneficial both to those who only order single items (as it gets more out of your coupons) and to those who order is giant batches (and end up with a stockpile of coupons).

I'll update the relevant listings, but figured this is news you'd like to hear. ^__^

So, in case you were wondering about the flash of activity followed by the lack of activity...

So, I didn't really get better from the severe bronchitis until about ... the 3rd-5th or so. I got a couple days worth of good work in.
...
Then the internet crapped itself.

So that legitimately took a week of faffing about with technicians, at home trouble shooting, and a few other errands in order to get the network back to working speed (end of the day we ended up swapping providers). That was about 3-4 days ago?

Unfortunately ... well ... that gamble with the comm promos didn't take off like I hoped it would. That means I'll still have to run dopt/ych sets in order to maintain incom - all while trying to keep promos going and ... yeah, less time for comms and ugh.

So yeah, that's the deal. 8\