How Long Shall The Wicked Reign Over My People?

How Long, How Long?

Number of the Day: 2,864,974. (Popular vote differential.)

Fuck the gawd-damned Electoral College too.

Japanese Cabinet Resigns

THU 5 APR 1945
Pacific
Naval Advanced Air Base, Iwo Jima, is established.

In Japan, the cabinet of Premier Koiso Kuniaki resigns; Admiral Suzuki Kantaro becomes Prime Minister.

Submarine Besugo (SS-321) twice attacks Japanese light cruiser Isuzu in the Flores Sea (see 6-7 April).

Boarding party from submarine Bluegill (SS-242) completes destruction of beached and abandoned fleet tanker Honan Maru (see 28 March) with demolition charges and incendiaries, near Nha Trang, French Indochina.

Off Okinawa, battleship Nevada (BB-36) is damaged by shore battery, 26°13'N, 127°40'E; a dud aerial torpedo damages light minelayer Harry F. Bauer (DM-26), 26°30'N, 127°30'E. Collisions account for damage to seaplane tender (destroyer) Thornton (AVD-11) and oiler Escalante (AO-70), 24°24'N, 128°58'E; landing craft repair ship Agenor (ARL-3) and tank landing ship LST-646, 24°46'N, 141°19'E; tank landing ships LST-273 and LST-810, 26°25'N, 127°42'E; tank landing ship LST-923 (with tank landing ship LST-20); tank landing ship LST-940 [with attack cargo ship Diphda (AKA-59)], 26°21'N, 127°43'E; and tank landing ship LST-1000 (with tank landing ship LST-20), 26°21'N, 127°44'E; tank landing ship LST-698 is damaged by grounding, 26°24'N, 127°45'E.

U.S. shore battery sinks Japanese auxiliary minelayer No.2 Shinto Maru and damages auxiliary minelayer Taian Maru in Naha Harbor, Okinawa, 26°30'N, 128°00'E.

Destroyer Hudson (DD-475) sinks Japanese submarine RO 41 west of Okinawa, near Kerama Retto, 26°22'N, 126°30'E.

Submarine Hardhead (SS-365) attacks unescorted Japanese convoy SASI-45, damaging cargo ship Araosan Maru in the Gulf of Siam, 09°37'N, 102°48'E (see 6 April).

PBMs attack Japanese convoy, sinking merchant cargo ship No.2 Tokai Maru in Pinghai Wan, 22°45'N, 116°10'E; USAAF B-24s, B-26s, and P-38s (5th Air Force) attack same convoy, sinking cargo ship Kine Maru, 22°24'N, 115°28'E.

USAAF B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping at Hong Kong, damaging Coast Defense Vessel No.52 and Coast Defense Vessel No.1, submarine chasers Ch 9 andCh 20, 22°45'N, 116°10'E, and fleet oiler Kamoi.

Mine laid by USAAF B-29 (20th Bomber Command) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship No.13 Nichinan Maru two miles southeast of Hesaki Light, 33°58'N, 131°02'E,. Cargo ship Iki Maru is damaged by mine, 33°54'N, 130°53'E.

Japanese cargo ship Jozan Maru is damaged by mine, 01°23'N, 104°01'E.

Atlantic
U.S. tanker Atlantic States is torpedoed by German submarine U-857 off Cape Cod, 42°07'N, 70°00'42"W; there are no casualties to either the merchant crew or the 12-man Armed Guard. Auxiliary Guinevere (IX-67) rescues the crew (with the exception of five men, including the Armed Guard officer, who remain on board to keep the ship trimmed) while destroyer escort Richard S. Bull (DE-402) stands by to render assistance. Later, old tug Wandank (ATO-26), assisted by rescue tugs ATR-14 and ATR-89, tow the damaged ship to Boston where she is repaired.

Today's Topical Tune

"Diseases" - Michigan & Smiley

Air War In Europe!

WED 4 APR 1945
Europe USAAF heavy bombers (939 strong) pound airfields and landing grounds in northern Germany, as well as munitions plant near Ulzen. U-boat yards at Hamburg andKiel are also bombed, resulting in the destruction of submarines U-237, U-749, and U-3003.

Pacific
Off Okinawa, high speed transport Dickerson (APD-21), irreparably damaged by kamikaze on 2 April 1945, is towed out to sea and scuttled by salvage crew off Kerama Retto; infantry landing craft LCI-82 is sunk by assault demolition boat; destroyer Norman Scott (DD-690) is damaged in collision with oiler Cimarron (AO-22), 23°46'N, 129°25'E; kamikaze damages destroyer Wilson (DD-408) off southern end of Kerama Retto; destroyer Sproston (DD-577) is damaged by near-miss by bomb, 26°30'N, 127°30'E. Oiler Cowanesque (AO-79) is damaged in storm; medium landing ship LSM-12 founders in heavy weather. Groundings account for damage to tank landing ships LST-70, LST-624, LST-675, and LST-756, 26°21'N, 127°45'E; LST-166, LST-689, and LST-736, 26°20'N, 127°45'E; LST-343, 26°00'N, 128°00'E; LST-570, 26°21'N, 127°44'E, and LST-781, 26°23'N, 127°44'E. Tank landing ship LST-399 is damaged in collision with salvage vessel Gear (ARS-34), 26°20'N, 127°45'E.

Japanese escort vessel Mokuto is sunk by USAAF mine laid by B-29 (20th Bomber Command) in Shimonoseki Strait, 33°53'N, 131°03'E. Japanese merchant cargo ship Hozan Maru is sunk by mine, 33°45'N, 131°44'E. Submarines RO 64, 34°14'N, 132°16'E, and RO 67, 34°00'N, 133°00'E, are damaged by USAAF B-29-sown mines in the Inland Sea.* Japanese guardboat No.12 Kotoshiro Maru is sunk by U.S. aircraft off Torishima, 30°00'N, 140°00'E.

USAAF B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping at Mako, Pescadores, sinking merchant tanker No.2 Kinyu Maru and cargo vessel Horei Maru, 23°32'N, 119°34'E.

Japanese ship No.1 Manyu Maru is sunk by aircraft off Tajin Island.

Japanese hospital ship Arimasan Maru is damaged by mine, while en route to Singapore.

British submarine HMS Spark attacks Japanese light cruiser Isuzu without success, in the Flores Sea (see 5-7 April).

---

*RO 67 is ultimately decommissioned 20 July 1945 and used as a pontoon at Sasebo.

Corpse Report: Dead Bodies Piled Up In Mounds …

Associated Press:
Where will the bodies go?  Morgues plan as virus grows  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — There are the new dead. And then there are the bodies waiting in overcrowded mortuaries to be buried as cities struggle to meet demand and families wrestle with rules on social distancing that make the usual funeral rituals impossible.

Because when the smack begins to flow
I really don't care anymore
About all the Jim-Jims in this town
And all the politicians making crazy sounds
And everybody putting everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds …

Pile 'em high & deep.

Aircraft Sink Ships

TUE 3 APR 1945
Europe
Over 700 USAAF heavy bombers attack U-boat yards at Kiel, Germany, destroying submarines U-1221, U-2542, and U-3505.

Pacific
Nine USAAF B-29s mine the waters off Kure and Hiroshima, Japan.

Off Okinawa, escort carrier Wake Island (CVE-65) is damaged by near-miss of kamikaze, 26°05'N, 128°57'E, as is high speed minesweeper Hambleton (DMS-20), 27°00'N, 127°00'E; a kamikaze damages tank landing ship LST-599, 26°10'N, 127°16'E; tank landing ship LST-554 is damaged by storm, 26°20'N, 127°45'E.

Motor minesweeper YMS-71 is sunk by mine off Sanga Sanga, 04°59'N, 119°47'E.

TF 58 planes sink Japanese guardboat No.1 Taijin Maru and damage guardboat No.2 Hosei Maru southeast of Japan, 30°00'N, 137°30'E; and sink cargo ship Imari Maru off southwestern Kyushu, 33°45'N, 129°42'E. Coast Defense Vessel No.32 is damaged at 31°51'N, 124°47'E.

USAAF B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping in Hong Kong harbor, sinking cargo vessels Heikai Maru and Shozan Maru, and damaging escort vessel Manju, 22°17'N, 114°10'E.

USN land-based planes sink Japanese tanker No.30 Nanshin Maru (the only surviving ship of the ill-starred convoy HI-88-I) (see 20-21 March) in Nha Trang Bay, French Indochina, 12°15'N, 109°10'E.

"It Begins"

Christina Capatides / CBS News:
“Shoot them dead”: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders police and military to kill citizens who defy coronavirus lockdown  —  In the Philippines, the 57 million residents of the country's main island, Luzon, are under strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite that, many in a Manila slum took to the streets Wednesday to protest a lack of supplies, arguing they had not received any food packs since the lockdown started two weeks ago.

The local government refutes those claims and clashed with protestors, ultimately arresting 20 people who refused to return home.

FLASH REPORT: Mga residente ng Sitio San Roque na nag-rally dahil sa umano'y kakulangan ng relief packs sa QC, pinag-aaresto na ng QCPD | via @dzrh5 Val Gonzales #DZRHat80 #COVID19Alert pic.twitter.com/kIdPZlalz8

— DZRH NEWS (@dzrhnews) April 1, 2020

Later that night, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took to the airwaves with a chilling warning for his citizens: Defy the lockdown orders again and the police will shoot you dead.

"I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, as well as village officials, if there is any trouble, or occasions where there's violence and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead," he said in a mix of Filipino and English in the televised address. "Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose."

This sort of order is not out of character for the controversial leader, who is notoriously accused of presiding over extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers at the hands of police for years. Nevertheless, it marks a chilling escalation in the global fight against COVID-19.

According to Johns Hopkins, the Philippines has 2,633 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 107 deaths – significantly less than some other countries of comparable size.

So far, actions taken by authoritarian governments have proven most effective in stemming the spread of the virus – asking citizens to sacrifice privacy and some of their freedoms in exchange for public health.

Poland is making quarantined citizens use a selfie app to prove they're staying inside. Singapore is using Bluetooth signals between cellphones to keep track of who people come into contact with.

But Duterte's threat may be the boldest. "I will not hesitate my soldiers to shoot you," Duterte said in forceful tones Wednesday. "I will not hesitate to order the police to arrest and detain you. Now, if you are detained, I will leave it up to you to find food."

On Thursday, as often happens after Duterte makes these sorts of inflammatory public remarks, Filipino officials rushed to insist that the president was simply using hyperbole to communicate the gravity of the situation.

"Probably the president just overemphasized on implementing the law in this time of crisis," Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa said, adding that officers understood that they were not actually being instructed to kill troublemakers.

Chickenshit-in-Chief Trump hasn't the intestinal fortitude to say that sort of thing, but there are a few R. goobernators
I wouldn't put it past, especially if the unruly weren't Gawd-fearing mega-church attendees.

One Less Worry

Deposited pension check via credit union's mobile app, avoiding a long bus trip w/ the diseased masses, or an approximately 47-blk. (one way) walk*. And at an ungodly hr., as they've returned to bankers' hrs. for the duration. Damned robot didn't like the first shot of the check, either.

Still worry/wondering: Now that I can stay up all night, should I, & then go to Shopping For The Wretched at Ralphs at 0700? I really need some aspirin for this fever.

---

*Using Googly-Eyed Maps to see exactly how long a walk it would have been, we noted many of the business establishments along Wilshire Blvd. have "Temporarily closed " or "Takeout and delivery available" tags attached. Business ('Specially restaurants.) What a fucking joke. The whole thing a house of cards that falls the moment it's breathed upon.

P-51s Do Damage

MON 2 APR 1945
Pacific
Preceded by USMC air strikes (First Marine Aircraft Wing), Army 163rd RCT (Reinforced) of the 41st Division, supported by three destroyers, land on Sanga Sanga, Sulu Archipelago, P.I., without encountering any resistance. Filipino guerrillas had cleared the island the month before.

Ten USAAF B-29s mine the waters off Kure and Hiroshima, Japan.

Off Okinawa, destroyer Franks (DD-554) is damaged in collision with battleship New Jersey (BB-62), 25°49'N, 130°01'E; destroyer Prichett (DD-561), by bomb, 27°17'N, 127°51'E; destroyer Borie (DD-704), by collision with carrier Essex (CV-9), 23°36'N, 131°40'E; and destroyer escort Foreman (DE-633), by bomb, 26°10'N, 127°11'E. Kamikazes damage attack transports Henrico (APA-45), 25°59'N, 127°17'E, and Goodhue (APA-107) and Telfair (APA-210), 25°56'N, 127°17'E; attack cargo ships Achernar (AKA-53), 26°07'N, 127°45'E, and Tyrrell (AKA-80), 26°21'N, 127°45'E; and high speed transport Dickerson (APD-21). Attack transport Chilton (APA-38) is damaged by near-miss of kamikaze, 25°59'N, 127°17'E; attack cargo ship Lacerta (AKA-29) is damaged by friendly fire, 26°21'N, 127°43'E.

TG 58.4 planes sink Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.186, fast transport T.17, and landing ship T.145, and damage submarine chaser Ch 49 and landing ship T.146, near Amami-Oshima, 28°07'N, 129°09'E

Destroyer Shaw (DD-373) is damaged by grounding, Leyte, P.I., 09°36'N, 123°53'E.

Submarine Hardhead (SS-365) lays mines off Cape Camau, French Indochina.

Submarine Sea Devil (SS-400) attacks Japanese convoy TAMO-51 in the central Yellow Sea, sinking auxiliary vessel Edogawa Maru, army cargo ship Nisshin Maru, and merchant cargo ship Daijo Maru, 34°18'N, 124°04'E, and damaging merchant cargo ship Yamaji Maru, 34°02'N, 124°00'E.

British submarine HMS Stygian sinks Japanese coaster south of Kangean Island 07°02'S, 115°32'E.

USAAF P-51s damage Japanese river gunboat Katata at Shanghai.

USAAF aircraft sink small Japanese cargo vessel No.1 Taisei Maru off Cape St. Jacques, French Indochina, 10°10'N, 106°35'E.

USAAF B-24s bomb Japanese shipping at Hong Kong, sinking merchant cargo ship Yokai Maru.

All The Poop On The Toilet Paper Shortage

Not un-interesting examination of the markets & distribution systems of the tee pee & other industries.

While toilet paper is an extreme case, similar dynamics are likely to temporarily disrupt supplies of other goods, too — even if no one’s hoarding or panic-buying. The CEO of a fruit and vegetable supplier told NPR’s Weekend Edition that schools and restaurants are canceling their banana orders, while grocery stores are selling out and want more. The problem is that the bananas he sells to schools and restaurants are “petite” and sold loose in boxes of 150, whereas grocery store bananas are larger and sold in bunches. Beer companies face a similar challenge converting commercial keg sales to retail cans and bottles.

I'd never given it much thought but I noticed the individually wrapped rolls in the (allegedly stolen) cartons in this B.H.P.D. photo

Toilet paper found inside stolen SUV. (Beverly Hills police)

& realized there were differences beyond ply.

Talk to anyone in the industry, and they’ll tell you the toilet paper made for the commercial market is a fundamentally different product from the toilet paper you buy in the store. It comes in huge rolls, too big to fit on most home dispensers. The paper itself is thinner and more utilitarian. It comes individually wrapped and is shipped on huge pallets, rather than in brightly branded packs of six or 12.

“Not only is it not the same product, but it often doesn’t come from the same mills,” added Jim Luke, a professor of economics at Lansing Community College, who once worked as head of planning for a wholesale paper distributor. “So for instance, Procter & Gamble [which owns Charmin] is huge in the retail consumer market. But it doesn’t play in the institutional market at all.”

And guess who's a big player in bogrolling: Koch's Georgia-Pacific. Your corporate masters have you by both ends.

New York Is A Summer Festival*

Search Results

Web results

N.Y.C. Death Toll Tops 1,500 as Cuomo Warns on Ventilators ...

www.nytimes.com › nyregion › coronavirus-new-york-update

40 mins ago - Deaths in New York State: 2,373, up 432 from 1,941 on Wednesday. New York now accounts for 42 percent of the 5,708 virus-related deaths in ...

*

Death To All Parasites & Viruses!

The L.A. Times asks:

Are you a landlord whose tenants can’t pay rent because of coronavirus?

We answer, GO FUCK YOURSELVES, LANDLORD SCUM!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: L.A.’S CITY COUNCIL WATERED DOWN A MOTION THAT PROTECTS RENTERS AFFECTED BY CORONAVIRUS. OVER HALF OF THEM ARE LANDLORDS.

Say, there's a big fucking surprise. Die, pigs.

Clean Hands ...

Sandra the orangutang started washing her hands because she saw all the zookeepers doing it repeatedly during the COVID-19 crisis.
Wash your hands.
Be more like Sandra.🌎❤️🧼🌎 pic.twitter.com/t8TTizDGeD

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 1, 2020

Guess Who's Dead: Can't Tell In Italy

Wall Street Journal:
Italy's Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported  —  Many are dying uncounted as nation's stretched health-care system struggles to save the living and accurately gauge human cost  —  MILAN—In the town of Coccaglio, an hour's drive east of here, the local nursing home lost over a third of its residents in March.

Actualités Of Okinawa Invasion; War Crime Committed

APRIL

SUN 1 APR 1945
Pacific

Marines and Army troops land on Okinawa, Ryukyus, under cover of heavy naval gunfire and aircraft, in Operation ICEBERG. The operation is under the overall command of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Commander Fifth Fleet. Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner commands the Joint Expeditionary Force; the troops are commanded by Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, USA. Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage battleship West Virginia (BB-48), 26°20'N, 127°40'E; attack transports Hinsdale (APA-120) and Alpine (APA-92), 26°20'N, 127°41'E, and tank landing ship LST-884; battleship Tennessee (BB-43) is damaged by shell fragments (possibly friendly fire); Japanese dive bombers damage destroyer Prichett (DD-561), 26°38'N, 127°25'E, and minesweeper Skirmish (AM-303), 26°33'N, 127°33'E; horizontal bomber damages attack transport Elmore (APA-42), 26°20'N, 127°41'E; destroyer escort Vammen (DE-644) is damaged by explosion of undetermined origin (possibly depth charge dropped by Japanese assault demolition boat), 26°18'N, 127°29'E. Infantry landing craft (mortar) LCI(M)-807 is damaged by own mortar explosion; medium landing ship LSM-192 by operational casualty. British ships are not immune from the breath of the "divine wind" as a kamikaze damages British fleet carrier HMS Indefatigable; destroyer HMS Ulster is damaged by bomb.

In the third of six mine drops carried out in support of ICEBERG, six USAAF B-29s mine the waters off Kure, Japan. Mines sink merchant cargo ship Karikawa Maru off Tsushima, and damage escort vessel Inagi southeast of Hesaki, and auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 226 in Kii Channel, Japan, 30°04'N, 130°54'E.

Army troops (158th RCT) are landed near Legaspi, southern Luzon, under cover of naval gunfire and USAAF aircraft. After the troops encounter only token opposition at the beaches, considerable opposition develops inland.

Submarine Queenfish (SS-393) inadvertently sinks Japanese relief ship Awa Maru in Formosa Straits, 25°25'N, 120°07'E. Awa Maru, a cartel ship, is carrying Red Cross supplies earmarked for distribution to Allied POWs in Singapore. Guaranteed safe conduct by the U.S. government, Awa Maru is properly marked and lighted, but Queenfish's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Loughlin, does not discern the markings in the foggy weather in which his boat encounters the enemy vessel. Loughlin is relieved of his command for the mistake, and is court-martialed.

B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping at Keelung, irreparably damaging Taiga Maru.

No Comment

Beverly Hills police find 192 rolls of toilet paper inside stolen SUV https://t.co/e9ahBoev6E #NoComment

— M. Bouffant (@MBouffant) April 1, 2020

"Bags" II

Bags

Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg:
Pentagon Seeking 100,000 Body Bags for Civilians in Virus Crisis  — FEMA request sent to Pentagon as civilian casualties mount — White House has warned as many as 200,000 Americans could die  —  The Pentagon is seeking to provide as many as 100,000 military-style body bags

Can't wait until the only vehicles on the streets are ambulances & hearses/refrigerator trucks packed w/ bodies headed for the crematoria/burn pits.

I Knew It: You're All Fucking Worms

Primordial worm-like creature was forerunner to most animals - including usYOU!

[Rooters]

More War Crime

SAT 31 MAR 1945
Pacific
Off Okinawa, heavy cruiser Pensacola (CA-24) is damaged in collision with tank landing ship LST-277, 26°10'N, 127°19'E; kamikazes damage light minelayer Adams (DM-27), 26°12'N, 127°08'E; attack transport Hinsdale (APA-120), 25°54'N, 127°49'E; and tank landing ships LST-724 and LST-884 25°59'N, 127°50'E.

Small seaplane tender Coos Bay (AVP-25) is damaged when rammed accidentally by U.S. merchant ship Matagorda, central Pacific, 12°07'N, 156°27'E.

U.S. freighter John C. Fremont is damaged by mine south of Pier 7, Manila Bay; there are no casualties among the 27-man Armed Guard.

Destroyers Morrison (DD-560) and Stockton (DD-646) sink Japanese submarine I 8, 65 miles southeast of Okinawa, 25°29'N, 128°35'E.

Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 233 is sunk by aircraft, 32°19'N, 129°50'E.

USAAF B-24s attack Japanese convoy off Makassar, sinking small cargo vessels No.3 Hainan Maru, Kanho Maru, Manko Maru, and Nanho Maru and damaging Oshima Maru; attack convoy BASU-05 in Makassar Straits off Balikpapan, damaging submarine chaser Ch 5.

USAAF B-24s bomb Japanese convoy in harbor at Keelung, damaging hospital ship Baikal Maru, cargo vessels Nikko Maru and No.3 Yamato Maru, and motor sailship No.47 Suma Maru.

Mines damage Japanese destroyer Hibiki off Hime Jima and escort destroyer Inagi off Hesaki.

During March 1945 (exact dates indeterminate) carfloats YCF-23 YCF-29, YCF-36, and YCF-37 break up in heavy seas while under tow en route to Eniwetok, Marshall Islands.

Life In The Time Of Death

Went to old people shopping this a.m.; more employees stocking than shoppers, & I obtained both 12 rolls of bogroll & six of paper towels. Paper products shelves nonetheless maybe one-tenth stocked.

Current physiology: Left eye watery, left nostril running. (Something virulently yellow lives up there, but it pre-dates the coronavirus.)

Other shopping news: Wkly. supermarket fliers came today; only Ralphs & Pavilions adverts, both of them four pages rather than the usual eight. Jons, Smart & Final & Food 4 Less didn't bother. (Ralphs is hiring, by the way.)