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May 15th, 2020
Quote of the Week: Don't wanna be an American idiot Don't want a nation under the new mania And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
Quote of the Week: “I don’t think a lot of researchers get to work on something over the weekend and have public figures talk about it and make decisions based on it three days later.”
Quote of the Week: “[In this situation] you don’t have the time to validate as much as you normally would.”
Quote of the Week: “As a modeler, you have complete control over what your results look like.”
In This Issue:
SINE DIE It’s the end, but not really. The legislature, per the constitution, must adjourn no later than this coming Monday. Moreover, the constitution prohibits the passage of legislation on the last day, so Sunday is the last day for meaningful legislative activity. And while there is certainly action happening, that level of activity is low, as most Capitol observers expect that there will be a special session or even multiple ones over the summer and perhaps fall. The legislature isn’t mandated to meet in special session, but there are circumstances that make it likely:
DORM ROOM PANDEMIC PANDEMONIUM What if we told you a story about a governor and a pandemic? That governor caused untold damage to his state’s economy by unilaterally forcing businesses to close and people to stay in their homes. That governor further caused untold human damage by closing schools and forcing children on to mediocre and untested distance learning platforms. A human toll was also visited on his citizens as they couldn’t access needed surgeries, health services, or were forced to “shelter in place” in abusive or otherwise dangerous environments. Milestones like births, funerals, weddings, graduations, birthdays, and family gatherings were summarily cancelled by executive fiat. That same governor told his state that such actions were necessary and predicated on “science” as determined by “experts” who produced a model of the pandemic that predicted tens of thousands of deaths if this form of martial law were not declared and rights denied. And what if we told you that the vaunted pandemic model was a bunch of total BS. Would you say that it sounded like a tale written by The Onion? A joke? A tragedy? Well, it’s true. And it happened right here in Minnesota. We learned this week that the governor’s pandemic model was whipped up in a short matter of days by two graduate students. That dorm room exercise became the model the governor used as a basis for his decision making to shut down the state in response to the pandemic. The evidence is right here, in this article: https://cse.umn.edu/college/feature-stories/modeling-covid-19-minnesota. That article tells us that two graduate students at the University of Minnesota received a call on a Friday night, asking them if they wanted to take on the project and have it done by Monday. So here are your “experts.” Marina Kirkeide has a BS in Mathematics and is on a gap year until she starts medical school this fall. She has no education or expertise in pandemic modeling, epidemiology, infectious diseases, or public health. The other “expert,” Abhinav Mehta, is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. There is no indication beyond that of any expertise in medicine or public health. How about the “science?” Again, they drummed up the model over a weekend and then shipped it over to the governor’s office, with apparently no peer review or input from true subject matter experts. In short, the model is little more than a college project, a dorm room exercise. The two responsible for it lack training and experience in pandemic modeling and public health. Moreover, their work was done in a matter of hours, lacking the typical peer review and quality checks. Hence, you get comments like, “[In this situation] you don’t have the time to validate as much as you normally would.” It’s nothing short of outrageous to consider that this slap-dash work is the basis for a model that was used to disrupt our way of life in a manner no Minnesotan has seen in their lifetime. Of course, the media won’t ask Walz about the dorm room model he’s using because he’s DFL. Same goes for the fact that Minnesota leads the nation in nursing home deaths as a percentage of COVID-related deaths. Let’s hope Republicans in the legislature raise the issue as we all contemplate that two grad students at the U of M were given the power to develop the flimsy tool that has dictated life these past weeks. Let that sink in. |
 Harold Hamilton
Welcome to my web site!
I created this website in response to governmental waste and abuse in Anoka County. Many taxpayers don’t know that our local governments spend millions of tax dollars every year on things like public relations teams, lobbyists, and junkets to places like Hawaii. Since there seemed to be no place to turn for the “other side” of these issues, I created the Anoka County Watchdog. My intent is to create a one-stop-shop where concerned taxpayers can find fact-supported information and other resources to counter the governmental machine. Many people want to confront their elected officials regarding waste and abuse but feel they don’t have the information they need to make an effective argument. This web site offers that information. Some of our elected officials in Anoka County have become arrogant and unresponsive, forgetting that they work for the very people who put them in office. It’s high time to hold them accountable for their decisions. Sincerely, Harold E. Hamilton (harold@anokacountywatchdog.com) Email: harold@anokacountywatchdog.com
US Mail: Anoka County Watchdog C/O K Solutions LLC 3083 Victoria Street Roseville, MN 55113 (Anonymous submissions accepted!) |
