Trump not only commits crimes and impeachable offenses in plain sight, he almost daily admits to the basest motives and actually performs corrupt acts also in public.
Trump says Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote
Donald Trump admitted on Monday that making it easier to vote in America would hurt the Republican party.
The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
“They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of clawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs and companies that we have to save.”
Such frankness is not common, but not unprecedented.
“I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980.
“As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
Trump’s Monday comments showed he saw voter suppression as part of his re-election strategy, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a statement Monday.
“Ensuring that Americans can vote during the Covid-19 crisis is fundamental to maintaining our democracy. It is shocking that Trump is essentially admitting that when the American people vote, Republican lose,” said Xochitl Hinojosa, a DNC spokeswoman.
“Trump knows that suppressing the vote is the only way he and Republicans win in November.”
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Not all authoritarian populists are stupid. And not all who are stupid are authoritarian populists. But . . . .
Belarusian leader bucks coronavirus 'psychosis,' plays hockey
While officials from Montreal to Moscow have placed populations under some form of lockdown designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, one man continues to hold firm to the notion that the rest of the world has lost its mind: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” Lukashenko told a Belarusian television reporter Saturday when asked whether the coronavirus could stop him from hitting the rink for a propaganda-filled hockey game.
“Me? Why? I don’t understand. There is no virus here,” Lukashenko said, gesturing around the arena. “This is a refrigerator, it is the best thing for your health. Sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication. It is the real thing.”
Lukashenko, one of the longest-serving leaders in the former Soviet Union, has been in power for over 25 years. His tenure has seen brutal crackdowns on dissent.
. . . .
Two weeks ago, he insisted that Belarus has survived worse than the novel pandemic hitting the world. Saunas, vodka and tending to the fields were the best remedy for those who fear the spread of the virus, he said.
“The tractor will heal everyone,” he said, “the fields heal everyone.”
Lukashenko’s folk remedies for COVID-19 fall well in line with assurances issued by other post-Soviet leaders. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, president of Turkmenistan, consulted his own writings on his nation’s plant life and declared a cure to be found in a local herb.
While officials from Montreal to Moscow have placed populations under some form of lockdown designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, one man continues to hold firm to the notion that the rest of the world has lost its mind: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” Lukashenko told a Belarusian television reporter Saturday when asked whether the coronavirus could stop him from hitting the rink for a propaganda-filled hockey game.
“Me? Why? I don’t understand. There is no virus here,” Lukashenko said, gesturing around the arena. “This is a refrigerator, it is the best thing for your health. Sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication. It is the real thing.”
Lukashenko, one of the longest-serving leaders in the former Soviet Union, has been in power for over 25 years. His tenure has seen brutal crackdowns on dissent.
. . . .
Two weeks ago, he insisted that Belarus has survived worse than the novel pandemic hitting the world. Saunas, vodka and tending to the fields were the best remedy for those who fear the spread of the virus, he said.
“The tractor will heal everyone,” he said, “the fields heal everyone.”
Lukashenko’s folk remedies for COVID-19 fall well in line with assurances issued by other post-Soviet leaders. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, president of Turkmenistan, consulted his own writings on his nation’s plant life and declared a cure to be found in a local herb.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Way worse than anybody else on the planet
Fauci warns coronavirus could kill as many as 200,000 Americans
Today medical types are saying 200,000 dead Americans in this wave is the optimistic outlook, a kind of best outcome still achievable.
Today medical types are saying 200,000 dead Americans in this wave is the optimistic outlook, a kind of best outcome still achievable.
How does the national - or global - economy bounce back from that?
More than 200 million Americans are under stay-at-home orders
as more state and local leaders direct residents to only go outside for essential activities.
That means that 2 out of every 3 Americans is being asked to remain in their homes to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
as more state and local leaders direct residents to only go outside for essential activities.
That means that 2 out of every 3 Americans is being asked to remain in their homes to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Pelosi accuses the Duce and his supporters of what they openly advocate
It's all in the spin.
Spun one way it's a shocking crime against the American people. Spun another, it's realistic defense of their best interests, in net.
Well, not quite all.
Lurking not very far in the background are differing guesses at the net damage done by the spread of the disease on the one side and measures to slow or limit it on the other.
Pelosi accuses Trump of costing US lives with coronavirus denials and delays
Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, delivered a devastating critique of Donald Trump on Sunday, accusing the president directly of costing American lives through his constant denials and delays in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The president’s denial at the beginning was deadly,” the House Speaker told CNN’s State of the Union.
“His delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly … As the president fiddles, people are dying.”
More than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths had been confirmed in the US by Sunday morning, among about 125,000 confirmed cases, the most in any country.
Asked if she was saying Trump’s early downplaying of the severity of the coronavirus crisis had “cost American lives”, Pelosi replied: “Yes I am. I’m saying that.”
The rightwing figures pushing Trump's 'back-to-work' policy despite pandemic
As Donald Trump has pushed his shock policy reversal to try to soon get many Americans to go back to work, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he has been supported by a wide array of rightwing figures, business groups and conservative politicians.
Some of those conservatives have taken the president’s concerns over the dire health of the US economy a step further – suggesting that the inevitable deaths of many people to the virus might be an acceptable cost of doing business in the face of a shocking economic collapse that saw more than 3 million new people register for unemployment.
“My message: let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves,” Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, said last week on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show.
“Don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick continued.
Patrick even suggested many older Americans would happily risk their lives for the sake of the economy.
“No one reached out to me and said: ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick also said.
“And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in. That doesn’t make me noble or brave or anything like that, I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me.”
Spun one way it's a shocking crime against the American people. Spun another, it's realistic defense of their best interests, in net.
Well, not quite all.
Lurking not very far in the background are differing guesses at the net damage done by the spread of the disease on the one side and measures to slow or limit it on the other.
Pelosi accuses Trump of costing US lives with coronavirus denials and delays
Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, delivered a devastating critique of Donald Trump on Sunday, accusing the president directly of costing American lives through his constant denials and delays in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The president’s denial at the beginning was deadly,” the House Speaker told CNN’s State of the Union.
“His delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly … As the president fiddles, people are dying.”
More than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths had been confirmed in the US by Sunday morning, among about 125,000 confirmed cases, the most in any country.
Asked if she was saying Trump’s early downplaying of the severity of the coronavirus crisis had “cost American lives”, Pelosi replied: “Yes I am. I’m saying that.”
The rightwing figures pushing Trump's 'back-to-work' policy despite pandemic
As Donald Trump has pushed his shock policy reversal to try to soon get many Americans to go back to work, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he has been supported by a wide array of rightwing figures, business groups and conservative politicians.
Some of those conservatives have taken the president’s concerns over the dire health of the US economy a step further – suggesting that the inevitable deaths of many people to the virus might be an acceptable cost of doing business in the face of a shocking economic collapse that saw more than 3 million new people register for unemployment.
“My message: let’s get back to work, let’s get back to living, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves,” Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, said last week on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show.
“Don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick continued.
Patrick even suggested many older Americans would happily risk their lives for the sake of the economy.
“No one reached out to me and said: ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick also said.
“And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in. That doesn’t make me noble or brave or anything like that, I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me.”
Saturday, March 28, 2020
He so doesn't get it
Trump floats three state lockdown
Here’s the White House pool report on what Trump said just now:
"We’d like to see NY quarantined because it’s a hotspot – New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut quarantined. I’m thinking about that right now. We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine – short-term two weeks for New York, probably New Jersey and parts of Connecticut.”
The idea is to lock down before the area becomes a hotspot, not because it already is one.
Here’s the White House pool report on what Trump said just now:
"We’d like to see NY quarantined because it’s a hotspot – New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut quarantined. I’m thinking about that right now. We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine – short-term two weeks for New York, probably New Jersey and parts of Connecticut.”
The idea is to lock down before the area becomes a hotspot, not because it already is one.
Friday, March 27, 2020
Probably about equally expensive, is it better?
The EU policy of keeping people in their jobs during lockdown.
A number of European countries, after similarly failing to control the spread of the virus, and thus being forced to lock down large parts of their economies, have chosen to protect jobs.
Denmark has agreed to compensate Danish employers for up to 90 percent of their workers’ salaries.
In the Netherlands, companies facing a loss of at least 20 percent of their revenue can similarly apply for the government to cover 90 percent of payroll.
And the United Kingdom announced that it would pay up to 80 percent of the wage bill for as many companies as needed the help, with no cap on the total amount of public spending.
Some countries only pay employers for workers who aren’t working.
Under Germany’s Kurzarbeit scheme, the government chips in even for workers kept on part time.
The German government predicts that 2.35 million workers will draw benefits during the crisis. In either case, the goal is to preserve people in existing jobs — to preserve the antediluvian fabric of the economy to the greatest extent possible, for the benefit of workers and firms.
“What we’re trying to do is to freeze the economy,” the Danish employment minister, Peter Hummelgaard, told The Atlantic.
“It’s about preserving Main Street as much as we can.”
Preserving jobs is important because a job isn’t merely about the money.
Compensated labor provides a sense of independence, identity and purpose; an unemployment check does not replace any of those things.
People who lose jobs also lose their benefits — and in the United States, that includes their health insurance.
And a substantial body of research on earlier economic downturns documents that people who lose jobs, even if they eventually find new ones, suffer lasting damage to their earnings potential, health and even the prospects of their children.
The longer it takes to find a new job, the deeper the damage tends to be.
. . . .
The United States has made some efforts to preserve jobs, particularly at small businesses.
The bailout bill includes $367 billion for loans to small businesses that would be forgiven if recipients avoid job and wage cuts.
But that is less than a third of the amount that experts estimate would be required to provide comprehensive support for small businesses.
And the bill does not require big companies that get bailouts to make similar efforts.
Instead, the government agreed to give workers who lose their jobs an extra $600 a week.
We’d all be better off if the government had helped those workers keep their jobs instead.
A number of European countries, after similarly failing to control the spread of the virus, and thus being forced to lock down large parts of their economies, have chosen to protect jobs.
Denmark has agreed to compensate Danish employers for up to 90 percent of their workers’ salaries.
In the Netherlands, companies facing a loss of at least 20 percent of their revenue can similarly apply for the government to cover 90 percent of payroll.
And the United Kingdom announced that it would pay up to 80 percent of the wage bill for as many companies as needed the help, with no cap on the total amount of public spending.
Some countries only pay employers for workers who aren’t working.
Under Germany’s Kurzarbeit scheme, the government chips in even for workers kept on part time.
The German government predicts that 2.35 million workers will draw benefits during the crisis. In either case, the goal is to preserve people in existing jobs — to preserve the antediluvian fabric of the economy to the greatest extent possible, for the benefit of workers and firms.
“What we’re trying to do is to freeze the economy,” the Danish employment minister, Peter Hummelgaard, told The Atlantic.
“It’s about preserving Main Street as much as we can.”
Preserving jobs is important because a job isn’t merely about the money.
Compensated labor provides a sense of independence, identity and purpose; an unemployment check does not replace any of those things.
People who lose jobs also lose their benefits — and in the United States, that includes their health insurance.
And a substantial body of research on earlier economic downturns documents that people who lose jobs, even if they eventually find new ones, suffer lasting damage to their earnings potential, health and even the prospects of their children.
The longer it takes to find a new job, the deeper the damage tends to be.
. . . .
The United States has made some efforts to preserve jobs, particularly at small businesses.
The bailout bill includes $367 billion for loans to small businesses that would be forgiven if recipients avoid job and wage cuts.
But that is less than a third of the amount that experts estimate would be required to provide comprehensive support for small businesses.
And the bill does not require big companies that get bailouts to make similar efforts.
Instead, the government agreed to give workers who lose their jobs an extra $600 a week.
We’d all be better off if the government had helped those workers keep their jobs instead.
One third to one half the infected are asymptomatic?
Says this BBC story.
[T]here is some emerging evidence that there are more "silent carriers", or healthy people with the virus who show little or no symptoms, than experts initially thought.
In China, it is estimated that a third of all positive cases show no symptoms, according to classified Chinese government data seen by the South China Morning Post.
On the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, about half of the more than 600 positive cases found onboard were found to have no symptoms.
A similar proportion of asymptomatic cases has been reported in Iceland, which says it is testing a higher proportion of citizens than anywhere else in the world.
The prevailing belief has been that because these people do not exhibit symptoms, they are not very contagious. But some are questioning this now.
Maybe if everyone wore a mask those silent carriers wouldn't turn into spreaders?
A recently published study of cases in China found that "undocumented cases of infection", or those with either mild or no symptoms, were significantly contagious and could have been responsible for nearly 80% of positive virus cases.
[T]here is some emerging evidence that there are more "silent carriers", or healthy people with the virus who show little or no symptoms, than experts initially thought.
In China, it is estimated that a third of all positive cases show no symptoms, according to classified Chinese government data seen by the South China Morning Post.
On the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, about half of the more than 600 positive cases found onboard were found to have no symptoms.
A similar proportion of asymptomatic cases has been reported in Iceland, which says it is testing a higher proportion of citizens than anywhere else in the world.
The prevailing belief has been that because these people do not exhibit symptoms, they are not very contagious. But some are questioning this now.
Maybe if everyone wore a mask those silent carriers wouldn't turn into spreaders?
A recently published study of cases in China found that "undocumented cases of infection", or those with either mild or no symptoms, were significantly contagious and could have been responsible for nearly 80% of positive virus cases.
Death panels
In a manner of speaking.
Who lives and who dies, in general, in a crunch.
A letter from a Michigan hospital system details who would get life-saving resources if equipment runs short during the coronavirus pandemic
"Because of shortages, we will need to be careful with resources," reads the letter, which is addressed to patients, families and the community.
"Patients who have the best chance of getting better are our first priority."
"Patients who are treated with a ventilator or ICU care may have these treatments stopped," it says, "if they do not improve over time."
The letter goes on to say patients with severe heart, lung, kidney or liver failure, severe trauma or burns, or terminal cancers may be ineligible for a ventilator or ICU care.
These patients will instead receive "pain control and comfort measures."
"This decision will be based on medical condition and likelihood of getting better," the letter says.
More will die if they don't do this, and hardship will be greater for survivors. So.
Is utilitarianism so appealing when you know in advance you are in the losing group?
Maybe not so much.
But maybe enough.
How much do you love your grandchildren?
Who lives and who dies, in general, in a crunch.
A letter from a Michigan hospital system details who would get life-saving resources if equipment runs short during the coronavirus pandemic
"Because of shortages, we will need to be careful with resources," reads the letter, which is addressed to patients, families and the community.
"Patients who have the best chance of getting better are our first priority."
"Patients who are treated with a ventilator or ICU care may have these treatments stopped," it says, "if they do not improve over time."
The letter goes on to say patients with severe heart, lung, kidney or liver failure, severe trauma or burns, or terminal cancers may be ineligible for a ventilator or ICU care.
These patients will instead receive "pain control and comfort measures."
"This decision will be based on medical condition and likelihood of getting better," the letter says.
More will die if they don't do this, and hardship will be greater for survivors. So.
Is utilitarianism so appealing when you know in advance you are in the losing group?
Maybe not so much.
But maybe enough.
How much do you love your grandchildren?
It's OK. Trump "has a feeling".
Trump on urgent requests for ventilators: 'I don't believe you need 30,000'
Donald Trump has again downplayed the severity of an intensifying coronavirus outbreak by telling rightwing Fox News host Sean Hannity that he had “a feeling that a lot of the numbers” of estimated ventilators needed to respond to overwhelmed hospitals “are just bigger than they’re going to be”.
Throughout the crisis the Duce has had similar feelings of optimism completely out of step with the judgments of public health and medical experts.
Done by Easter, you know?
And they have been right every time.
And he has been shown to be completely full of shit, every time.
800,000 Physicians Tell Trump Social Distancing Must Continue
Donald Trump has again downplayed the severity of an intensifying coronavirus outbreak by telling rightwing Fox News host Sean Hannity that he had “a feeling that a lot of the numbers” of estimated ventilators needed to respond to overwhelmed hospitals “are just bigger than they’re going to be”.
Throughout the crisis the Duce has had similar feelings of optimism completely out of step with the judgments of public health and medical experts.
Done by Easter, you know?
And they have been right every time.
And he has been shown to be completely full of shit, every time.
800,000 Physicians Tell Trump Social Distancing Must Continue
A straw in the wind
As I understand it, nothing in the $2.2 trillion relief bill provides for care for the uninsured.
Teen Who Died of Covid-19 Was Denied Treatment Because He Didn't Have Health Insurance
A 17-year-old boy in Los Angeles County who became the first teen believed to have died from complications with covid-19 in the U.S. was denied treatment at an urgent care clinic because he didn’t have health insurance, according to R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California.
Roughly 27.5 million Americans—8.5 percent of the population—don’t have health insurance based on the latest government figures.
“He didn’t have insurance, so they did not treat him,” Parris said in a video posted to YouTube.
The staff at the urgent care facility told the teen to try the emergency room at Antelope Valley (AV) Hospital, a public hospital in the area, according to the mayor.
“En route to AV Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest, when he got to AV hospital they were able to revive him and keep him alive for about six hours,” Parris said.
“But by the time he got there, it was too late.”
Teen Who Died of Covid-19 Was Denied Treatment Because He Didn't Have Health Insurance
A 17-year-old boy in Los Angeles County who became the first teen believed to have died from complications with covid-19 in the U.S. was denied treatment at an urgent care clinic because he didn’t have health insurance, according to R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California.
Roughly 27.5 million Americans—8.5 percent of the population—don’t have health insurance based on the latest government figures.
“He didn’t have insurance, so they did not treat him,” Parris said in a video posted to YouTube.
The staff at the urgent care facility told the teen to try the emergency room at Antelope Valley (AV) Hospital, a public hospital in the area, according to the mayor.
“En route to AV Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest, when he got to AV hospital they were able to revive him and keep him alive for about six hours,” Parris said.
“But by the time he got there, it was too late.”
Does every country have the resources to debt finance a downturn of at least 20%? I doubt it.
We're just doing a $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill, and it's only the first, and all of it on the credit of our government that's already drowning in debt.
Trump might not mind.
He repeatedly spoke of the US defaulting on its debts during the campaign of 2016, scaring the hell out of economists and lenders.
He might just as well be tempted by the German debt solution of 1923.
A loaf of bread in Berlin that cost around 160 Marks at the end of 1922 cost 200,000,000,000 Marks by late 1923.
By November 1923, the US dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German marks.
Savings were utterly wiped out. Creditors were crushed. No more nest-egg. Gone.
It's not in the least clear than even we can afford this, though Trump is happy about the part that bails out big investors on the backs of the taxpayers and loathes only the part that bails out workers and small business people.
It seems all too believable that all this debt might within a year or two break the world economy in a way bigger than the Great Depression, assuming much of the world follows us down this path of financing economic inactivity with debt.
On the backs of future generations, as one might say.
And the worst of it would fall on the poorest nations.
And then there are the consequences of lockdowns so far as they are not supported, or not fully supporterd, by government interventions to help those put out of work.
So, yeah, including deaths, lots of deaths.
Deaths by starvation, suicides, crime, and civil disturbances.
Maybe.
Maybe that's what happens to millions living hand to mouth by working like slaves when they are told to stop working for weeks or months in the poorest countries, those least able to cushion the blow by borrowing against their so awfully meager future productivity.
Brazil.
Trump might not mind.
He repeatedly spoke of the US defaulting on its debts during the campaign of 2016, scaring the hell out of economists and lenders.
He might just as well be tempted by the German debt solution of 1923.
A loaf of bread in Berlin that cost around 160 Marks at the end of 1922 cost 200,000,000,000 Marks by late 1923.
By November 1923, the US dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German marks.
Savings were utterly wiped out. Creditors were crushed. No more nest-egg. Gone.
It's not in the least clear than even we can afford this, though Trump is happy about the part that bails out big investors on the backs of the taxpayers and loathes only the part that bails out workers and small business people.
It seems all too believable that all this debt might within a year or two break the world economy in a way bigger than the Great Depression, assuming much of the world follows us down this path of financing economic inactivity with debt.
On the backs of future generations, as one might say.
And the worst of it would fall on the poorest nations.
And then there are the consequences of lockdowns so far as they are not supported, or not fully supporterd, by government interventions to help those put out of work.
So, yeah, including deaths, lots of deaths.
Deaths by starvation, suicides, crime, and civil disturbances.
Maybe.
Maybe that's what happens to millions living hand to mouth by working like slaves when they are told to stop working for weeks or months in the poorest countries, those least able to cushion the blow by borrowing against their so awfully meager future productivity.
Brazil.
We're Number One!
U.S. surpasses China with coronavirus cases as global total tops 500,000
The United States is leading the world in the number of coronavirus cases as of Friday with 85,707 people sick, according to tracking by NBC News — a toll that surpasses the caseload in China where the pandemic ignited in December.
The number of deaths has also risen to 1,268, with New York being the worst hit, accounting for 433 of those killed by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases worldwide has soared to 533,416 and the death toll reaching 24,082 as of 4:15 am ET, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
And this from the Orange Meathead.
Trump cast doubt on the needs of hospitals while calling into Fox News on Thursday night.
"I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators," the president told Sean Hannity. "You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes and they'll have two ventilators. Now all of sudden they're saying, 'Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'"
The United States is leading the world in the number of coronavirus cases as of Friday with 85,707 people sick, according to tracking by NBC News — a toll that surpasses the caseload in China where the pandemic ignited in December.
The number of deaths has also risen to 1,268, with New York being the worst hit, accounting for 433 of those killed by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases worldwide has soared to 533,416 and the death toll reaching 24,082 as of 4:15 am ET, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
And this from the Orange Meathead.
Trump cast doubt on the needs of hospitals while calling into Fox News on Thursday night.
"I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators," the president told Sean Hannity. "You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes and they'll have two ventilators. Now all of sudden they're saying, 'Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'"
No respecter of persons
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus, he said in a tweet Friday.
He had developed "mild symptoms" in the last 24 hours and was "self-isolating," he said. "I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus."
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus, he said in a tweet Friday.
He had developed "mild symptoms" in the last 24 hours and was "self-isolating," he said. "I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus."
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Putin is right
World leaders vow to coordinate virus response in video call
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested setting up a special fund under the IMF that would offer interest-free loans, and he emphasized the need to create “green corridors” for free movement of supplies and technologies intended to deal with the epidemic.
He also proposed a moratorium on sanctions with regard to essential goods.
Putin noted “it’s a matter of life and death,” emphasizing the need to get rid of “political rubbish.”
He did not name any specific country but appeared to refer to U.S. sanctions on Iran, which has been badly hit by the outbreak.
Russia has also faced waves of Western sanctions over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested setting up a special fund under the IMF that would offer interest-free loans, and he emphasized the need to create “green corridors” for free movement of supplies and technologies intended to deal with the epidemic.
He also proposed a moratorium on sanctions with regard to essential goods.
Putin noted “it’s a matter of life and death,” emphasizing the need to get rid of “political rubbish.”
He did not name any specific country but appeared to refer to U.S. sanctions on Iran, which has been badly hit by the outbreak.
Russia has also faced waves of Western sanctions over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea
Brazil: Two weeks ahead of us
Virus has Brazil’s Bolsonaro facing governor ‘insurrection’
Brazil’s governors on Wednesday rebelled against President Jair Bolsonaro’s call for life to return to pre-coronavirus normalcy, saying his proposal to reopen schools and businesses runs counter to recommendations from health experts and endangers Latin America’s largest population.
State governors, many of whom have adopted strict measures to limit gatherings in their regions, defied the president’s instructions in a nationwide address Tuesday evening that they lift the restrictions and limit isolation only to the elderly and those with longstanding health problems.
The governors weren’t the only defiant ones.
Virus plans challenged by Bolsonaro were upheld by the Supreme Court.
The heads of both congressional houses criticized his televised speech. Companies donated supplies to state anti-virus efforts.
And even some of his staunch supporters joined his detractors.
Brazil’s governors on Wednesday rebelled against President Jair Bolsonaro’s call for life to return to pre-coronavirus normalcy, saying his proposal to reopen schools and businesses runs counter to recommendations from health experts and endangers Latin America’s largest population.
State governors, many of whom have adopted strict measures to limit gatherings in their regions, defied the president’s instructions in a nationwide address Tuesday evening that they lift the restrictions and limit isolation only to the elderly and those with longstanding health problems.
The governors weren’t the only defiant ones.
Virus plans challenged by Bolsonaro were upheld by the Supreme Court.
The heads of both congressional houses criticized his televised speech. Companies donated supplies to state anti-virus efforts.
And even some of his staunch supporters joined his detractors.
I know because it's me
Self-isolation for those who live alone is especially and spectacularly boring.
What about the public health professionals?
Trump accuses media of wanting to keep economy shut to hurt his reelection
Doubtless true of those in the media as irresponsible as he is.
The US president has been pushing to reopen swaths of the country by Easter – 12 April – despite warnings from medical experts that measures such as closing businesses and social distancing need more time to work.
“The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP. ”
At Wednesday’s White House coronavirus taskforce briefing, Trump followed up with an aggressive denial that the Easter timeline is based on his political interests. “The media would like to see me do poorly in the election,” he said.
Challenged by a reporter, Trump, who has long used the press as a punching bag, said with exasperation: “Just so you understand – are you ready? – I think there are certain people that would like it not to open so quickly. I think there are certain people that would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls.”
The president added: “I don’t know if that’s so, but I do think it’s so that there are people in your profession that would like that to happen. I think it’s very clear that there are people in your profession that write fake news.”
Gesturing around the briefing room with his hands, he said: “You do. She does. There are people in your profession that write fake news. They would love to see me – for whatever reason, because we’ve done one hell of a job, nobody’s done the job that we’ve done – and it’s lucky that you have this group here right now for this problem because you wouldn’t even have a country left.”
Doubtless true of those in the media as irresponsible as he is.
The US president has been pushing to reopen swaths of the country by Easter – 12 April – despite warnings from medical experts that measures such as closing businesses and social distancing need more time to work.
“The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP. ”
At Wednesday’s White House coronavirus taskforce briefing, Trump followed up with an aggressive denial that the Easter timeline is based on his political interests. “The media would like to see me do poorly in the election,” he said.
Challenged by a reporter, Trump, who has long used the press as a punching bag, said with exasperation: “Just so you understand – are you ready? – I think there are certain people that would like it not to open so quickly. I think there are certain people that would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls.”
The president added: “I don’t know if that’s so, but I do think it’s so that there are people in your profession that would like that to happen. I think it’s very clear that there are people in your profession that write fake news.”
Gesturing around the briefing room with his hands, he said: “You do. She does. There are people in your profession that write fake news. They would love to see me – for whatever reason, because we’ve done one hell of a job, nobody’s done the job that we’ve done – and it’s lucky that you have this group here right now for this problem because you wouldn’t even have a country left.”
Drain the Swamp!
This could be why some people think "the system is rigged".
SecState Pompeo Pressures Saudis to Raise Gasoline Prices
SecState Pompeo Pressures Saudis to Raise Gasoline Prices
Humans suck
A grocery store threw out $35,000 in food that a woman intentionally coughed on, sparking coronavirus fears, police said
A woman purposely coughed on $35,000 worth of food at a Pennsylvania grocery store, police said.
She likely faces criminal charges for coughing, one of the primary ways the novel coronavirus spreads.
A woman purposely coughed on $35,000 worth of food at a Pennsylvania grocery store, police said.
She likely faces criminal charges for coughing, one of the primary ways the novel coronavirus spreads.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Fox on board for accepting more infections and deaths to send people back to work
Brit Hume And Tucker Carlson
Part of their patter echoes the president's wild underestimation of the numbers both of those who will be infected and of those who will be killed.
They are talking about tens of thousands who die from seasonal flu.
And while they admit this is more lethal they are in utter denial as to how much more lethal.
As we move into the spring and summer months this could get to be an election issue, with Trump and the GOP getting the votes of everyone chafing under the yoke that governors have imposed and Democrats defend.
And that could be a lot of people, by then.
They could win running on stupidity and fantasy, defending policies that literally cost lives.
As they did last time.
Obama urges Americans to continue social distancing despite Trump's wishes to reopen economy
Part of their patter echoes the president's wild underestimation of the numbers both of those who will be infected and of those who will be killed.
They are talking about tens of thousands who die from seasonal flu.
And while they admit this is more lethal they are in utter denial as to how much more lethal.
As we move into the spring and summer months this could get to be an election issue, with Trump and the GOP getting the votes of everyone chafing under the yoke that governors have imposed and Democrats defend.
And that could be a lot of people, by then.
They could win running on stupidity and fantasy, defending policies that literally cost lives.
As they did last time.
Obama urges Americans to continue social distancing despite Trump's wishes to reopen economy
Lot's of stuff on autopilot
The local mall is completely closed but the outside music at the Red Robin there is still on.
And I'm getting emails from the Dick's telling me about a flash sale for today only that's not actually happening because the Dick's is closed.
Just another eerie reminder of On the Beach.
Remember that phantom radio signal?
And I'm getting emails from the Dick's telling me about a flash sale for today only that's not actually happening because the Dick's is closed.
Just another eerie reminder of On the Beach.
Remember that phantom radio signal?
The policy on people entering the US will only have to get more restrictive
Lockdowns are fine for the rich, but millions are too poor to shelter from coronavirus
Think of how many in India alone will be infected, let alone Africa.
The deaths in both places will be astronomical, and death rates will rise well above 3.4%.
This is not going to be contained in either place.
I never watch Fox News, but if you watch MSNBC or CNN you might think the virus was only in the US, Italy, South Korea, and China.
There is so little time devoted to global news on these ridiculously narrow gauge networks.
Think of how many in India alone will be infected, let alone Africa.
The deaths in both places will be astronomical, and death rates will rise well above 3.4%.
This is not going to be contained in either place.
I never watch Fox News, but if you watch MSNBC or CNN you might think the virus was only in the US, Italy, South Korea, and China.
There is so little time devoted to global news on these ridiculously narrow gauge networks.
Cuomo not buying it. Anyway, not yet.
Lately it has been suggested that when the number of those needing ventilators exceeds the supply ventilators should be take off old people actually using them and given to younger people.
Today at his briefing Cuomo clearly and repeatedly rejected any idea of treating the lives of older people as less valuable than others and of prioritizing the needs of the younger over the needs of the elderly.
He said the goal in New York is and will remain to provide a ventilator to all who need one and proper care to all who need it.
But when or if it can't be done?
California scrambles to avoid Covid-19's worst-case scenario
They are locked down since Friday and short of everything.
Doctors and hospital administrators are hurrying to draft policies on how to handle decisions on triage and hospital beds in the coming weeks.
“We don’t have much time,” a Los Angeles emergency room physician, Dr Marc Futernick, told the LA Times. “These are decisions that we need to make really soon before we are in the throes of the tsunami.”
Today at his briefing Cuomo clearly and repeatedly rejected any idea of treating the lives of older people as less valuable than others and of prioritizing the needs of the younger over the needs of the elderly.
He said the goal in New York is and will remain to provide a ventilator to all who need one and proper care to all who need it.
But when or if it can't be done?
California scrambles to avoid Covid-19's worst-case scenario
They are locked down since Friday and short of everything.
Doctors and hospital administrators are hurrying to draft policies on how to handle decisions on triage and hospital beds in the coming weeks.
“We don’t have much time,” a Los Angeles emergency room physician, Dr Marc Futernick, told the LA Times. “These are decisions that we need to make really soon before we are in the throes of the tsunami.”
Trump's inability to accept harsh reality worsens dangerously over time
Remember when he said there were only 15 cases in the country and the number would very quickly fall to zero?
Remember when he said for no reason at all that the virus would go away as the weather warmed?
Remember his apparently persisting conviction that a vaccine will be available much sooner than in a year or 18 months?
Remember his recent references to existing drugs that help with other conditions like malaria as possible cures for this virus for no better reason than that some right wing fantasist says so?
So-called "anecdotal evidence"?
Well, now the Duce wants everything opened again and back to normal by Easter, apparently echoing Hannity or some other right wing blatherer that "the cure is getting worse than the disease".
And he has claimed that we will pretty much have the virus beat by then and all over the country the churches will be packed for Easter.
Public celebrations for Holy Week, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter are canceled
Trump's hope for an Easter reopening clashes with coronavirus reality
Of course, the lockdowns, aimed both at slowing and diminishing the spread of the virus, have not been his doing, anyway, but have come on the orders of state governors and city mayors dealing with reality and not fantasy and prioritizing public health over economic concerns.
But this is perhaps going to become a partisan issue and a feds vs states issue if Trump and the more Trumpist Republicans push harder on this even as the daily numbers continue so visibly to worsen.
Cuomo has a much better grip on the likely timeline than the orange moron.
He thinks the new cases curve for New York State will peak around or shortly after Easter, and then as the curve comes down medical resources and people can be moved from New York to the next hot spot, the state or area with the highest of the still rising curves.
And then to the next, and so on, over coming months.
But today Cuomo agreed that individuals who have recovered from the virus can certainly return to work, perhaps as a concession to Trump's fantasy talk.
No explanation how that would happen.
How do you go back to work at a closed restaurant, movie theater, or mall?
Remember when he said for no reason at all that the virus would go away as the weather warmed?
Remember his apparently persisting conviction that a vaccine will be available much sooner than in a year or 18 months?
Remember his recent references to existing drugs that help with other conditions like malaria as possible cures for this virus for no better reason than that some right wing fantasist says so?
So-called "anecdotal evidence"?
Well, now the Duce wants everything opened again and back to normal by Easter, apparently echoing Hannity or some other right wing blatherer that "the cure is getting worse than the disease".
And he has claimed that we will pretty much have the virus beat by then and all over the country the churches will be packed for Easter.
Public celebrations for Holy Week, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter are canceled
Trump's hope for an Easter reopening clashes with coronavirus reality
Of course, the lockdowns, aimed both at slowing and diminishing the spread of the virus, have not been his doing, anyway, but have come on the orders of state governors and city mayors dealing with reality and not fantasy and prioritizing public health over economic concerns.
But this is perhaps going to become a partisan issue and a feds vs states issue if Trump and the more Trumpist Republicans push harder on this even as the daily numbers continue so visibly to worsen.
Cuomo has a much better grip on the likely timeline than the orange moron.
He thinks the new cases curve for New York State will peak around or shortly after Easter, and then as the curve comes down medical resources and people can be moved from New York to the next hot spot, the state or area with the highest of the still rising curves.
And then to the next, and so on, over coming months.
But today Cuomo agreed that individuals who have recovered from the virus can certainly return to work, perhaps as a concession to Trump's fantasy talk.
No explanation how that would happen.
How do you go back to work at a closed restaurant, movie theater, or mall?
"The Federal Reserve will make virtually limitless amounts of money available for loans."
Carly Fiorina on MSNBC just now.
So, inflation savage enough to wipe out every nest-egg and plunge millions of seniors into inescapable poverty?
So, inflation savage enough to wipe out every nest-egg and plunge millions of seniors into inescapable poverty?
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Trump is like a man dancing around because he needs to pee
Trump's push to shorten coronavirus shutdown proves the captain is flying blind
On a day that a hundred American deaths were reported, the US president made clear his intention to reopen the country for business much sooner than expected and, seemingly, sooner than medical experts believe to be safe.
Everything we know about him suggests this impulse has been guided by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the stock market, poll numbers, the imminent election and pure gut instinct. Not science.
It represented yet another violent policy swing. First, Trump told Americans there was nothing to worry about and the virus would disappear “like a miracle”.
Then he spun 180 degrees and declared himself “a wartime president”, issuing federal guidelines urging Americans to limit social contact and stay home.
Now, it seems, he is pivoting back to the original position.
Perhaps it was just coincidence that, on Sunday, Fox News host Steve Hilton told viewers: “You know that famous phrase, the cure is worse than the disease? That is exactly the territory we’re hurtling towards… You think it’s just the coronavirus that kills people? This total economic shutdown will kill people.”
Perhaps it was also just coincidence that, on Monday, the stock market dropped past its closing level on 19 January 2017, the day before he took his oath of office. The entire Trump stock gain is wiped out.
The economy had been booming with a record number of jobs, he said. “We can’t turn that off and think it’s going to be wonderful. There’ll be tremendous repercussions. There will be tremendous death from that. Death. You’re talking about death. Probably more death from that than anything that we’re talking about with respect to the virus.”
He pointed to the depressions and suicides caused by economic recession but did not present any evidence the death toll would be higher than from the coronavirus.
On a day that a hundred American deaths were reported, the US president made clear his intention to reopen the country for business much sooner than expected and, seemingly, sooner than medical experts believe to be safe.
Everything we know about him suggests this impulse has been guided by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the stock market, poll numbers, the imminent election and pure gut instinct. Not science.
It represented yet another violent policy swing. First, Trump told Americans there was nothing to worry about and the virus would disappear “like a miracle”.
Then he spun 180 degrees and declared himself “a wartime president”, issuing federal guidelines urging Americans to limit social contact and stay home.
Now, it seems, he is pivoting back to the original position.
Perhaps it was just coincidence that, on Sunday, Fox News host Steve Hilton told viewers: “You know that famous phrase, the cure is worse than the disease? That is exactly the territory we’re hurtling towards… You think it’s just the coronavirus that kills people? This total economic shutdown will kill people.”
Perhaps it was also just coincidence that, on Monday, the stock market dropped past its closing level on 19 January 2017, the day before he took his oath of office. The entire Trump stock gain is wiped out.
The economy had been booming with a record number of jobs, he said. “We can’t turn that off and think it’s going to be wonderful. There’ll be tremendous repercussions. There will be tremendous death from that. Death. You’re talking about death. Probably more death from that than anything that we’re talking about with respect to the virus.”
He pointed to the depressions and suicides caused by economic recession but did not present any evidence the death toll would be higher than from the coronavirus.
Pretty good bet he'll be fired very soon
Fauci: 'I cannot do the impossible'
In an interview with Science magazine, Fauci expressed frustration with Trump's rhetoric and his behavior.
Asked about Trump's presentation of information at press conferences, Fauci said that he says things "in a way that I would not express it, because it could lead to some misunderstanding about what te facts are about a given subject."
"I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down," he added. Instead, he said, he focuses on trying to get Trump's false statements "corrected for the next time."
On Thursday, for example, Trump falsely claimed that the FDA had approved the anti-malarial drug chloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.
On Friday, Fauci made clear that this was incorrect, as clinical trials have not yet determined its safety and efficacy.
For weeks Trump has made false statements about the crisis, including claims that the situation was under control, that anyone who wanted a test could get one, and that the number of cases in the United States would soon be "down close to zero."
Trump has also repeatedly failed to follow CDC recommendations that everyone avoid large gatherings, practice social distancing, and refrain from handshaking.
"We should not be doing that," Fauci said of Trump's handshakes. "Not only that — we should be physically separating a bit more on those press conferences."
He promised to keep pushing the administration to address the problem, but said, "I'm trying my best. I cannot do the impossible."
. . . .
Asked about Trump's frequent boasts that he made a huge dent in the problem by limiting travel from China and his other false statements about the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak, Fauci responded, "I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let's get real, what do you want me to do?"
This is what comes of believing that f*ing a*hole.
Wonkette: How Many People Will Trump's Coronavirus Pressers Kill Before The Media Stops Running Them Live?
In an interview with Science magazine, Fauci expressed frustration with Trump's rhetoric and his behavior.
Asked about Trump's presentation of information at press conferences, Fauci said that he says things "in a way that I would not express it, because it could lead to some misunderstanding about what te facts are about a given subject."
"I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down," he added. Instead, he said, he focuses on trying to get Trump's false statements "corrected for the next time."
On Thursday, for example, Trump falsely claimed that the FDA had approved the anti-malarial drug chloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.
On Friday, Fauci made clear that this was incorrect, as clinical trials have not yet determined its safety and efficacy.
For weeks Trump has made false statements about the crisis, including claims that the situation was under control, that anyone who wanted a test could get one, and that the number of cases in the United States would soon be "down close to zero."
Trump has also repeatedly failed to follow CDC recommendations that everyone avoid large gatherings, practice social distancing, and refrain from handshaking.
"We should not be doing that," Fauci said of Trump's handshakes. "Not only that — we should be physically separating a bit more on those press conferences."
He promised to keep pushing the administration to address the problem, but said, "I'm trying my best. I cannot do the impossible."
. . . .
Asked about Trump's frequent boasts that he made a huge dent in the problem by limiting travel from China and his other false statements about the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak, Fauci responded, "I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let's get real, what do you want me to do?"
This is what comes of believing that f*ing a*hole.
Wonkette: How Many People Will Trump's Coronavirus Pressers Kill Before The Media Stops Running Them Live?
Leave it to the GOP
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: 'I'm all in' on risking my health to lift social distancing guidelines for economic boost
Thousands of Liberty University students expected to return to campus amid coronavirus outbreak
The Dow soars on hopes for government aid bill: March 24, 2020
This is not the first time a GOPster has suggested old people just die for the good of the economy.
Trump has all along been more concerned about the stock market than the virus.
Too, it has turned out that putting so many out of work and the need to incentivize and even just enable them to stay away from work has created a very strong case for extensive government control of the economy as well as a number of social democratic reforms that Republicans hate and fear.
They think the damage to the economy caused by a more widespread and more widely lethal virus episode would be less than the damage caused by lockdowns, and that might be right.
But enough less? How do you even determine that?
A comment found at Steve M's.
For all the reasons you cite, but also out of dread of the increased government intrusion on the economy and the wave of social democratic measures needed to enable and incentivize people to not go to work, the Duce, his Republican White House, Republicans in the congress, and GOPsters out in the states and locales are now moving toward urging acceptance of a much more widespread disease and many more deaths, especially among the elderly, in order to allow a shift back toward Republican normality.
And this is not by any means the first time in recent memory the GOP has publicly urged "let them die" is much, much better than "spread the wealth around", or any policy at all that would diminish the wealth and power of the wealth and power elites.
Like stopping all or most non-essential economic activities in order to diminish the health and mortality impact of a virus, for example.
And that's why 20% unemployment for a few months is much, much worse in their eyes than an increase in the number killed by the bug.
How much of an increase?
We are about 330 million Americans.
If 40% get the bug and lethality is 3.4% that's 4,488,000 dead.
If 80% get the bug because the Republicans rebel against these efforts and the lethality is the same, well, do the math.
Those unemployed by social distancing measures won't stay unemployed, on the whole.
Those killed by the virus will, on the other hand, not recover.Juan Cole today on the relative values.
Trump was somehow convinced to go along with this policy for two weeks, but now is increasingly restive.
At his news conference on Monday, he kept saying that Fauci’s cure was worse than the disease. Unfortunately for the country, Trump is a hotelier, and his own businesses are being badly hit by the pandemic.
Moreover, leaks by aides to journalists allege that he is deathly afraid that a prolonged period of social isolation in the US will put the economy into a deep recession and sink any chance he had of being reelected.
. . . .
Certainly, the cure is not worse than the disease, in the sense that a deep economic recession such as we had in 2008 is not worse that losing two million dead (the upper end estimate of some medical modellers).
But I also have a sinking feeling that the billionaires have crunched the numbers and decided that the loss of 2 million elderly Americans would be worth it for their bottom line.
I think they are wrong about this, because you can’t have a normal economy if the pandemic is running wild, anyway.
But they are used to getting what they want, and are contemptuous of the lives of the little people– which is why they have striven so hard to destroy Obamacare so as to save themselves from having to pay taxes for it.
Trump, in other words, combines in himself the worst dimensions of plutocracy and looniness, and the American people will rue the day they decided to give him the levers of power for the whole country.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Remember Laetrile?
The National Boob in Chief would have been a sucker for it.
He should resign for the good of the country.
Trump throws tantrum over coronavirus question
The president – who repeatedly downplayed the threat early in the global outbreak – has this week been hyping an anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, as a possible therapeutic treatment.
“It may work, it may not work,” he said on Friday. “I feel good about it. It’s just a feeling. I’m a smart guy … We have nothing to lose. You know the expression, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’”
This was originally his campaign pitch to African Americans.
Yet Trump’s “feeling”, on which he so often relies, was confronted by science when Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned that evidence of chloroquine’s benefits against coronavirus is “anecdotal” and it should not be viewed as a miracle cure.
“Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first,” Fauci said.
He should resign for the good of the country.
Trump throws tantrum over coronavirus question
The president – who repeatedly downplayed the threat early in the global outbreak – has this week been hyping an anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, as a possible therapeutic treatment.
“It may work, it may not work,” he said on Friday. “I feel good about it. It’s just a feeling. I’m a smart guy … We have nothing to lose. You know the expression, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’”
This was originally his campaign pitch to African Americans.
Yet Trump’s “feeling”, on which he so often relies, was confronted by science when Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned that evidence of chloroquine’s benefits against coronavirus is “anecdotal” and it should not be viewed as a miracle cure.
“Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first,” Fauci said.
Friday, March 20, 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
The youth of America say "Fuck you!" to the geezers of America.
And the governor of the state of Florida is behaving like the Mayor of Amity Island in Jaws.
The beaches have been as packed as usual with the college party people who have already been told not to come back to school when they're done.
Somebody should tell them not to go home, either.
Go starve on the fucking beach.
Well, maybe somebody's behaving.
But it's not the kids and it's not the Republican governor.
The beaches have been as packed as usual with the college party people who have already been told not to come back to school when they're done.
Somebody should tell them not to go home, either.
Go starve on the fucking beach.
Well, maybe somebody's behaving.
But it's not the kids and it's not the Republican governor.
Why are we, the US of A, the worst in the world at dealing with COVID-19?
Where is the testing?
Where are the ventilators?
Where are the masks and gloves?
Where are the beds we're going to need?
Where are the personnel?
Why are we the worst in the world at dealing with this?
Trump.
Republicans.
Useless fuckwits all.
Where are the ventilators?
Where are the masks and gloves?
Where are the beds we're going to need?
Where are the personnel?
Why are we the worst in the world at dealing with this?
Trump.
Republicans.
Useless fuckwits all.
40% of those hospitalized for Covid-19 are between 20 and 55 years old
So says MSNBC just now.
They got it from the CDC.
And about the same age breakdown for those in ICU.
They got it from the CDC.
And about the same age breakdown for those in ICU.
Why does this work?
Joe Scarborough, the "Chinese Virus", and rabbit trails
He'd rather liberals damn him for racism, an accusation that resonates primarily among people who would never vote for him, anyway, than for dropping the ball on America's foot, an accusation that hurts him much more.
And, anyway, it amuses his supporters no end.
He'd rather liberals damn him for racism, an accusation that resonates primarily among people who would never vote for him, anyway, than for dropping the ball on America's foot, an accusation that hurts him much more.
And, anyway, it amuses his supporters no end.
The apple doesn't fall far . . . .
Bolsonaro’s son blames China for coronavirus crisis
Beijing’s ambassador to Brazil has launched a stinging attack on the son of its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, after he claimed the Chinese Communist party was to blame for the coronavirus crisis sweeping the world.
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro’s influential politician son Eduardo – who many regard as Brazil’s de facto foreign minister and has close ties to Steve Bannon – enraged Beijing with an incendiary tweet about its role in the pandemic.
“It’s China’s fault,” Bolsonaro claimed on Twitter, retweeting a message that said: “The blame for the global coronavirus pandemic has a name and surname: the Chinese Communist party.”
That remark drew a ferocious rebuke from senior Chinese diplomats, who have become increasingly combative since Xi Jinping – an authoritarian leader regarded as China’s most powerful since Mao Zedong – took power in 2012.
Yang Wanming, Beijing’s top diplomat in Brazil, demanded an immediate retraction and apology for the “evil insult”, while his embassy accused Eduardo Bolsonaro of contracting “a mental virus” during a recent trip to the United States.
“Your words are extremely irresponsible,” the embassy in BrasÃlia tweeted.
“Regrettably, you’re someone lacking both international vision and common sense, knowing neither China nor the world,” the Chinese embassy added.
Beijing’s ambassador to Brazil has launched a stinging attack on the son of its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, after he claimed the Chinese Communist party was to blame for the coronavirus crisis sweeping the world.
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro’s influential politician son Eduardo – who many regard as Brazil’s de facto foreign minister and has close ties to Steve Bannon – enraged Beijing with an incendiary tweet about its role in the pandemic.
“It’s China’s fault,” Bolsonaro claimed on Twitter, retweeting a message that said: “The blame for the global coronavirus pandemic has a name and surname: the Chinese Communist party.”
That remark drew a ferocious rebuke from senior Chinese diplomats, who have become increasingly combative since Xi Jinping – an authoritarian leader regarded as China’s most powerful since Mao Zedong – took power in 2012.
Yang Wanming, Beijing’s top diplomat in Brazil, demanded an immediate retraction and apology for the “evil insult”, while his embassy accused Eduardo Bolsonaro of contracting “a mental virus” during a recent trip to the United States.
“Your words are extremely irresponsible,” the embassy in BrasÃlia tweeted.
“Regrettably, you’re someone lacking both international vision and common sense, knowing neither China nor the world,” the Chinese embassy added.
“We would advise you not to be in such a hurry to be the US’ spokesperson in Brazil – you’ll fall flat on your face.”
According to reports in the Brazilian media Yang also retweeted a message that read: “The Bolsonaro family is the great poison of this country.”
The row coincides with a deepening diplomatic row over the disease between Beijing and Washington, which was exacerbated by Donald Trump’s insistence on referring to the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus”.
According to reports in the Brazilian media Yang also retweeted a message that read: “The Bolsonaro family is the great poison of this country.”
The row coincides with a deepening diplomatic row over the disease between Beijing and Washington, which was exacerbated by Donald Trump’s insistence on referring to the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus”.
Where Republican thought comes from
Disinformation and scapegoating
Along with his cash-in supplies, Jones has managed to slot coronavirus into his overarching conspiracy theories.
Jones – an unwavering Trump supporter – has a neat solution to the problem of taking advantage of the commercial opportunities presented by virus without criticizing Trump’s lackadaisical response.
He claims that Covid-19 is a human-made bioweapon, produced by the Chinese government to bring Trump down.
A similar conspiracy theory has made its way into the brains of more mainstream figures.
This posits the idea that software mogul Bill Gates and financier and philanthropist George Soros were involved in concocting the virus with the Chinese Communist party.
In a now-deleted tweet on 27 February, the Republican California congressional candidate Joanne Wright wrote: “The Corona virus is a man made virus created in a Wuhan laboratory. Ask @BillGates who financed it.”
In another disappeared tweet, she added: “Doesn’t @BillGates finance research at the Wuhan lab where the Corona virus was being created? Isn’t @georgesoros a good friend of Gates?”
As Trump has gradually moved towards an acknowledgment that the virus exists, he has also been leading the charge in scapegoating immigrants and foreigners for spreading the illness.
He has repeatedly tweeted throughout early March that the US epidemic would be worse were it not for his administration’s border policies, and called it a “foreign virus”.
Trump sought to apportion blame, then, in a way that furthered his political agenda and has been amplified by his rightwing allies.
In that spirit, the Liberty University president and evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr – a high-profile backer of Trump – last week aired the theory that coronavirus was a North Korean bioweapon.
Along with his cash-in supplies, Jones has managed to slot coronavirus into his overarching conspiracy theories.
Jones – an unwavering Trump supporter – has a neat solution to the problem of taking advantage of the commercial opportunities presented by virus without criticizing Trump’s lackadaisical response.
He claims that Covid-19 is a human-made bioweapon, produced by the Chinese government to bring Trump down.
A similar conspiracy theory has made its way into the brains of more mainstream figures.
This posits the idea that software mogul Bill Gates and financier and philanthropist George Soros were involved in concocting the virus with the Chinese Communist party.
In a now-deleted tweet on 27 February, the Republican California congressional candidate Joanne Wright wrote: “The Corona virus is a man made virus created in a Wuhan laboratory. Ask @BillGates who financed it.”
In another disappeared tweet, she added: “Doesn’t @BillGates finance research at the Wuhan lab where the Corona virus was being created? Isn’t @georgesoros a good friend of Gates?”
As Trump has gradually moved towards an acknowledgment that the virus exists, he has also been leading the charge in scapegoating immigrants and foreigners for spreading the illness.
He has repeatedly tweeted throughout early March that the US epidemic would be worse were it not for his administration’s border policies, and called it a “foreign virus”.
Trump sought to apportion blame, then, in a way that furthered his political agenda and has been amplified by his rightwing allies.
In that spirit, the Liberty University president and evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr – a high-profile backer of Trump – last week aired the theory that coronavirus was a North Korean bioweapon.
How long to declare the virus beaten?
Wuhan reports no new cases for the day
A first since the outbreak began.
In all of China, no new domestic transmissions
All new cases were new arrivals from outside the country.
China, where the outbreak began, reported no new domestic transmissions of the virus for the first time on Wednesday.
There were 34 new cases in the country, but all were recent arrivals from overseas.
As other nations struggle to respond to the pandemic, writes Lily Kuo, Beijing is positioning itself as a global benefactor, sending them testing kits, ventilators, masks and medics.
How many days does an area have to go with no (known) new cases for that area to be virus free?
How long does it take for the people in that area who actually are already infected to die or get over it?
It varies with the severity of the case from two weeks to quite a bit longer.
So, maybe that long plus a couple of weeks?
And then how long will it take for economies to recover?
A first since the outbreak began.
In all of China, no new domestic transmissions
All new cases were new arrivals from outside the country.
China, where the outbreak began, reported no new domestic transmissions of the virus for the first time on Wednesday.
There were 34 new cases in the country, but all were recent arrivals from overseas.
As other nations struggle to respond to the pandemic, writes Lily Kuo, Beijing is positioning itself as a global benefactor, sending them testing kits, ventilators, masks and medics.
How many days does an area have to go with no (known) new cases for that area to be virus free?
How long does it take for the people in that area who actually are already infected to die or get over it?
It varies with the severity of the case from two weeks to quite a bit longer.
So, maybe that long plus a couple of weeks?
And then how long will it take for economies to recover?
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Well, it isn't actually the Black Plague, is it?
Or the Red Death, or the Black Death?
He does have a point.
Is civilization supposed to send itself back to the Dark Ages for me and my generation?
If everyone on the planet got this virus 3.4% would die, and almost all of them would be geezers with serious chronic ailments life threatening in themselves, just like me.
Is the damage we are doing everyone to lessen the deaths caused by this Coronavirus among my generation actually greater, perhaps even in terms of lives ultimately lost in all generations, than the damage we are going to avoid?
How many lives in my children's or grandchildren's generations, or others after that, will be lost?
You know, part of the argument for the Green New Deal was that without it the Boomer Generation would burn up the planet and seriously harm the prospects of their children, grandchildren, and beyond.
And that, we were told by the Democrats and the left, was morally awful.
But it seems the same left and the same party and their same partisans might now be pushing the world into enormous sacrifices of the interests of younger and future generations to advantage us Boomers.
Indeed, to advantage the sickest of us Boomers who, among Boomers, likely have the lowest life expectancies, anyway.
Surely it is not true that minimizing deaths from this outbreak is worth any price, no matter how great.
Surely it is not true that minimizing deaths among my generation is worth any sacrifice, no matter how great, on the part of later generations.
But this.
If coronavirus is deadly to 3.4% of the total US population, that would mean more than 11 million people died from it.
Just for some context on those numbers:
* 5.8 million people live in Wisconsin
* Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 647,000 deaths a year, according to the CDC. Cancer is second with 599,000 deaths.
* Roughly 620,000 American soldiers were killed in the Civil War
. . . .
But these aren't just numbers, which is what Johnson seems to forget. These are people. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. Dads. Moms. Lots and lots of them. And yes, even young people.
What the country is doing right now -- social distancing, self-quarantining -- is aimed not at ensuring that the bulk of health Americans don't get the disease but rather that those for whom the coronavirus is most deadly aren't exposed to it accidentally via us.
What Johnson fails to realize is that by citing a bunch of numbers to make the case that we are all going to get through this just fine, he's missing the real, human toll this virus is taking.
And, as my step-daughter has pointed out, letting the health care system get crushed by a giant wave of sick or dying seniors isn't good for anyone.
Oh, and it isn't really just seniors filling the hospitals and ICUs.
He does have a point.
Is civilization supposed to send itself back to the Dark Ages for me and my generation?
If everyone on the planet got this virus 3.4% would die, and almost all of them would be geezers with serious chronic ailments life threatening in themselves, just like me.
Is the damage we are doing everyone to lessen the deaths caused by this Coronavirus among my generation actually greater, perhaps even in terms of lives ultimately lost in all generations, than the damage we are going to avoid?
How many lives in my children's or grandchildren's generations, or others after that, will be lost?
You know, part of the argument for the Green New Deal was that without it the Boomer Generation would burn up the planet and seriously harm the prospects of their children, grandchildren, and beyond.
And that, we were told by the Democrats and the left, was morally awful.
But it seems the same left and the same party and their same partisans might now be pushing the world into enormous sacrifices of the interests of younger and future generations to advantage us Boomers.
Indeed, to advantage the sickest of us Boomers who, among Boomers, likely have the lowest life expectancies, anyway.
Surely it is not true that minimizing deaths from this outbreak is worth any price, no matter how great.
Surely it is not true that minimizing deaths among my generation is worth any sacrifice, no matter how great, on the part of later generations.
But this.
If coronavirus is deadly to 3.4% of the total US population, that would mean more than 11 million people died from it.
Just for some context on those numbers:
* 5.8 million people live in Wisconsin
* Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 647,000 deaths a year, according to the CDC. Cancer is second with 599,000 deaths.
* Roughly 620,000 American soldiers were killed in the Civil War
. . . .
But these aren't just numbers, which is what Johnson seems to forget. These are people. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. Dads. Moms. Lots and lots of them. And yes, even young people.
What the country is doing right now -- social distancing, self-quarantining -- is aimed not at ensuring that the bulk of health Americans don't get the disease but rather that those for whom the coronavirus is most deadly aren't exposed to it accidentally via us.
What Johnson fails to realize is that by citing a bunch of numbers to make the case that we are all going to get through this just fine, he's missing the real, human toll this virus is taking.
And, as my step-daughter has pointed out, letting the health care system get crushed by a giant wave of sick or dying seniors isn't good for anyone.
Oh, and it isn't really just seniors filling the hospitals and ICUs.
Cuomo doing the president's job
MSNBC has been covering the daily press conferences of the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, and his authority, competence, intelligence, and knowledge have been on display for all the nation to see, for hours at a time, each day.
He does not lie, he does not talk nonsense, he does not blame political enemies, he does not take personal credit for the achievements of others, and his concern is dealing with the crisis and not childishly protecting his ego.
And he does not go out of his way to pointedly refer to it as "the Chinese virus".
Cuomo's role and performance at his briefings are admirable.
Trump's briefings have followed Cuomo's and Trump's worthlessness could not be more starkly contrasted.
He does not lie, he does not talk nonsense, he does not blame political enemies, he does not take personal credit for the achievements of others, and his concern is dealing with the crisis and not childishly protecting his ego.
And he does not go out of his way to pointedly refer to it as "the Chinese virus".
Cuomo's role and performance at his briefings are admirable.
Trump's briefings have followed Cuomo's and Trump's worthlessness could not be more starkly contrasted.
Incoherent?
What is the point of a stimulus package when businesses have been ordered to stop operating?
How are people under orders to "shelter in place" (really, stay home indoors) going to spend money, apart from writing checks for utility bills?
The Giant Eagle is already a week behind on "same-day" delivery of online grocery orders, though in our area they are open all day and people still can drive freely anytime. What will that look like when pretty much nobody is allowed to drive to the store?
How are people under orders to "shelter in place" (really, stay home indoors) going to spend money, apart from writing checks for utility bills?
The Giant Eagle is already a week behind on "same-day" delivery of online grocery orders, though in our area they are open all day and people still can drive freely anytime. What will that look like when pretty much nobody is allowed to drive to the store?
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Thunder on the right
Or, Americans are spoiled brats, confirmed.
This is a rightist warning that if Trump is forced into lockdown measures he will encounter resistance on the right relying on the rhetoric of mistrust so dear to the left.
Tom Nichols: Trump's Lost The Benefit Of The Doubt With Most Americans
"Looking at this as a matter of policy, I think the problem is that this president has lost the benefit of the doubt with a lot of people. so things like very draconian measures that look like curtailments of freedom, especially during an election season, are going to get a jaundiced eye from a lot of Americans.
"That's unfortunate. I don't say that because I somehow think the president would be up to no good doing that, or the team around him, or the doctors advising him.
"Rather, because of the president's track record, not just for three years, but especially in the past three months, where he has been really inconstant and lacked transparency and put out a lot of bad information.
"If the president and the White House tries to move forward now with, you know, these really draconian solutions, I think you're going to have people second-guessing him because, again, he's lost the benefit of the doubt among a lot of Americans.
"I think what they're doing is they're trying to edge us toward more tougher solutions incrementally, so that we can accept it more easily."
This is a rightist warning that if Trump is forced into lockdown measures he will encounter resistance on the right relying on the rhetoric of mistrust so dear to the left.
Tom Nichols: Trump's Lost The Benefit Of The Doubt With Most Americans
"Looking at this as a matter of policy, I think the problem is that this president has lost the benefit of the doubt with a lot of people. so things like very draconian measures that look like curtailments of freedom, especially during an election season, are going to get a jaundiced eye from a lot of Americans.
"That's unfortunate. I don't say that because I somehow think the president would be up to no good doing that, or the team around him, or the doctors advising him.
"Rather, because of the president's track record, not just for three years, but especially in the past three months, where he has been really inconstant and lacked transparency and put out a lot of bad information.
"If the president and the White House tries to move forward now with, you know, these really draconian solutions, I think you're going to have people second-guessing him because, again, he's lost the benefit of the doubt among a lot of Americans.
"I think what they're doing is they're trying to edge us toward more tougher solutions incrementally, so that we can accept it more easily."
Monday, March 16, 2020
Oh, really?
No more cabinet meetings? Press briefings? Congressional caucus meetings?
White House today says no gatherings of more than 10 people allowed.
Gov Wolf of PA today closed all "non-essential" businesses.
White House today says no gatherings of more than 10 people allowed.
Gov Wolf of PA today closed all "non-essential" businesses.
The Ides of March
Yesterday was that.
So of course I read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, finishing just a few minutes ago.
Take that, coronavirus.
We are all of us always rushing toward death, anyway.
So far, so good.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Trump's worst - but certainly not only - Coronavirus blunder
He's an idiot
Perhaps Trump’s greatest blunder was turning down the offer of a German-made diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization and taken up by many countries.
The US government’s own painfully slow progress led to a nationwide shortage of test kits at the most critical moment.
It was reported that just 11,000 tests have been conducted in America so far, whereas South Korea is carrying out 10,000 tests per day.
Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told the Bloomberg news agency: “This is an unmitigated disaster that the administration has brought upon the population, and I don’t say this lightly.
"We have had a much worse response than Iran, than Italy, than China and South Korea.”
. . . .
Trump himself constantly downplayed the threat and contradicted his own health officials, asserting that the virus was “very much under control” and infections were “going very substantially down, not up”.
On 26 February, he confidently claimed that total cases will be “close to zero”.
He also accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as “their new hoax”, promised a vaccine much sooner than scientifically possible, prophesied that the virus will be killed off by warmer spring weather and kept comparing it to the common flu (though experts say coronavirus is 10 times more deadly).
And so on and so on.
Perhaps Trump’s greatest blunder was turning down the offer of a German-made diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization and taken up by many countries.
The US government’s own painfully slow progress led to a nationwide shortage of test kits at the most critical moment.
It was reported that just 11,000 tests have been conducted in America so far, whereas South Korea is carrying out 10,000 tests per day.
Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told the Bloomberg news agency: “This is an unmitigated disaster that the administration has brought upon the population, and I don’t say this lightly.
"We have had a much worse response than Iran, than Italy, than China and South Korea.”
. . . .
Trump himself constantly downplayed the threat and contradicted his own health officials, asserting that the virus was “very much under control” and infections were “going very substantially down, not up”.
On 26 February, he confidently claimed that total cases will be “close to zero”.
He also accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as “their new hoax”, promised a vaccine much sooner than scientifically possible, prophesied that the virus will be killed off by warmer spring weather and kept comparing it to the common flu (though experts say coronavirus is 10 times more deadly).
And so on and so on.
Panic buying even as they are overheard to blame the media, the Democrats, and even Obama for baseless public panic
The abnormally large crowds in the groceries get more frantic every day as empty shelves have spread from paper products to pasta, pasta sauce, all bread products (are preservatives that good?), ice cream, and even eggs.
And several other parts of the shelving are getting seriously thinned like canned and dry soups, breakfast cereals, and canned (not fresh) fruits and veggies.
Several days ago the crowds were a bit surprised and wryly amused.
Today they were ill-tempered and frustrated.
And several other parts of the shelving are getting seriously thinned like canned and dry soups, breakfast cereals, and canned (not fresh) fruits and veggies.
Several days ago the crowds were a bit surprised and wryly amused.
Today they were ill-tempered and frustrated.
Herd immunity isn't magic
Individuals who are in whatever degree immune to X are so because their immune systems know how to do antibodies, generally either because the individuals were previously ill with X or because they have been vaccinated against X.
As the number of people in the herd who have such immunity rises the chance of exposure drops for any individual in the herd, including those without immunity.
So the chance of any given individual who is not immune catching X drops
That is herd immunity.
That fact didn't stop somebody on cable news just now saying that as the number of people in the herd who have immunity rises that immunity transfers to others somehow.
The Brit government understands that, but has made a weird choice, all the same.
When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire
A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40.
So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world we’d not want anyone to take the risk of infection, generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.
We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity, so why is this different?
Because this is not a vaccine.
This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick, and some of them will die.
Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low, a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number.
And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed.
This would be expected to happen, even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population[.]
. . . .
And of course you can’t restrict it to this age group.
Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare, or old people’s homes.
You don’t need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call “severe outcomes”.
In Washington State, nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes.
Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?
About that second wave: let me be clear.
Second waves are real things, and we have seen them in flu pandemics.
This is not a flu pandemic.
Flu rules do not apply.
There might well be a second wave, I honestly don’t know.
But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.
. . . .
The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity, that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate.
What this looks like is strong social distancing.
As the number of people in the herd who have such immunity rises the chance of exposure drops for any individual in the herd, including those without immunity.
So the chance of any given individual who is not immune catching X drops
That is herd immunity.
That fact didn't stop somebody on cable news just now saying that as the number of people in the herd who have immunity rises that immunity transfers to others somehow.
The Brit government understands that, but has made a weird choice, all the same.
When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire
A large proportion of the population is at lower risk of developing severe disease: roughly speaking anyone up to the age of 40.
So the reasoning goes that even though in a perfect world we’d not want anyone to take the risk of infection, generating immunity in younger people is a way of protecting the population as a whole.
We talk about vaccines generating herd immunity, so why is this different?
Because this is not a vaccine.
This is an actual pandemic that will make a very large number of people sick, and some of them will die.
Even though the mortality rate is likely quite low, a small fraction of a very large number is still a large number.
And the mortality rate will climb when the NHS is overwhelmed.
This would be expected to happen, even if we make the generous assumption that the government were entirely successful in restricting the virus to the low-risk population[.]
. . . .
And of course you can’t restrict it to this age group.
Think of all the people aged between 20 and 40 who work in healthcare, or old people’s homes.
You don’t need many introductions into settings like these for what we might coyly call “severe outcomes”.
In Washington State, nearly all the deaths reported so far have been associated with nursing homes.
Is everyone in a high-risk group supposed to withdraw themselves from society for six months until they can emerge once the (so far entirely imaginary) second wave has been averted?
About that second wave: let me be clear.
Second waves are real things, and we have seen them in flu pandemics.
This is not a flu pandemic.
Flu rules do not apply.
There might well be a second wave, I honestly don’t know.
But vulnerable people should not be exposed to a virus right now in the service of a hypothetical future.
. . . .
The UK should not be trying to create herd immunity, that will take care of itself. Policy should be directed at slowing the outbreak to a (more) manageable rate.
What this looks like is strong social distancing.
What to do about lines and crowds for the general in 2020
Could the general election be postponed or canceled?
Only with enormous difficulty.
The date of the general election is set by federal law and has been fixed since 1845. It would take a change in federal law to move that date.
That would mean legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president and subject to challenge in the courts.
To call that unlikely would be an understatement.
And even if all of that happened, there would not be much flexibility in choosing an alternate election date: The Constitution mandates that the new Congress must be sworn in on Jan. 3, and that the new president’s term must begin on Jan. 20.
Those dates cannot be changed just by the passage of normal legislation.
. . . .
Can the president cancel or postpone an election with an executive order?
No.
. . . .
While the date of the presidential election is set by federal law, the procedures for voting are generally controlled at the state level.
. . . .
So it is possible that states could revise their voting procedures in response to a public health crisis, perhaps by making it easier to vote by mail or through various absentee procedures that would not require people to cluster together on one particular date.
. . . .
The federal government could also take steps to mandate or encourage different voting procedures, without changing the timing of the election.
Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert and professor at the University of California, Irvine, has proposed that Congress require states to offer “no excuse absentee balloting” for the general election, so that anyone can opt to vote by a method besides in-person voting on Election Day.
I doubt I will be showing up at the usual place and time, anyway.
A mail-in would work.
Would that change in the process lead to a change in the demographics of who actually votes?
Only with enormous difficulty.
The date of the general election is set by federal law and has been fixed since 1845. It would take a change in federal law to move that date.
That would mean legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president and subject to challenge in the courts.
To call that unlikely would be an understatement.
And even if all of that happened, there would not be much flexibility in choosing an alternate election date: The Constitution mandates that the new Congress must be sworn in on Jan. 3, and that the new president’s term must begin on Jan. 20.
Those dates cannot be changed just by the passage of normal legislation.
. . . .
Can the president cancel or postpone an election with an executive order?
No.
. . . .
While the date of the presidential election is set by federal law, the procedures for voting are generally controlled at the state level.
. . . .
So it is possible that states could revise their voting procedures in response to a public health crisis, perhaps by making it easier to vote by mail or through various absentee procedures that would not require people to cluster together on one particular date.
. . . .
The federal government could also take steps to mandate or encourage different voting procedures, without changing the timing of the election.
Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert and professor at the University of California, Irvine, has proposed that Congress require states to offer “no excuse absentee balloting” for the general election, so that anyone can opt to vote by a method besides in-person voting on Election Day.
I doubt I will be showing up at the usual place and time, anyway.
A mail-in would work.
Would that change in the process lead to a change in the demographics of who actually votes?
Many, many elderly live alone
Me, too, since my wife passed three weeks ago.
The coronavirus-required quarantines and social distancing aren't easy when you live alone
The coronavirus-required quarantines and social distancing aren't easy when you live alone
We must be under-counting mild cases of flu, too, right?
Surely lots of folks with milder cases are never even diagnosed?
So the denominator for the death rate is either a guess or an under-count.
So the denominator for the death rate is either a guess or an under-count.
Self lockdown?
Top infectious disease expert doesn't rule out supporting temporary national lockdown to combat coronavirus
The nation's top infectious disease expert on Sunday did not rule out supporting a temporary national lockdown of the country's restaurants and bars in order to curb the spread of coronavirus, saying he'd like to see a "dramatic" reduction in activity in order to fight the disease.
Asked by CNN's Brianna Keilar on "State of the Union" if he'd like a "national lockdown" where people are being told they need to stay home and out of restaurants and bars, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he'd "like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see" in those places.
"Whatever it takes to do that, that's what I'd like to see," Fauci added.
Fauci: Americans are 'going to have to hunker down significantly more' to fight coronavirus
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that Americans "should be prepared that they're going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing" to fight the growing COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked if the U.S. should considera 14-day national shutdown similar to those in Europe, he said, "I would prefer as much as we possibly could ... I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for over-reacting."
The nation's top infectious disease expert on Sunday did not rule out supporting a temporary national lockdown of the country's restaurants and bars in order to curb the spread of coronavirus, saying he'd like to see a "dramatic" reduction in activity in order to fight the disease.
Asked by CNN's Brianna Keilar on "State of the Union" if he'd like a "national lockdown" where people are being told they need to stay home and out of restaurants and bars, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he'd "like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see" in those places.
"Whatever it takes to do that, that's what I'd like to see," Fauci added.
Fauci: Americans are 'going to have to hunker down significantly more' to fight coronavirus
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that Americans "should be prepared that they're going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing" to fight the growing COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked if the U.S. should considera 14-day national shutdown similar to those in Europe, he said, "I would prefer as much as we possibly could ... I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for over-reacting."
"Most Virginians as far as land mass . . ."????
Jerry Falwell Jr. Whines To Fox News That Only Landowners Should Run Virginia
The story doesn't support that headline, but never mind.
It's interesting all the same.
“The Washington D.C. suburbs now control every Virginia statewide election and that’s the result of the radical government in Richmond. And they're passing all kinds of bills that are just contrary to what the majority of Virginians—not the majority of Virginians, but most Virginians as far as land mass, support,” Fallwell Jr. said on Fox News.
. . . .
What is really happening is that Falwell Jr. and others are trying to secede from Virginia to join West Virginia.
The issue being that northern Virginia has been becoming larger, increasingly more racially diverse, and younger.
As a result, the more conservative politics of rural communities have begun to feel sad face emoji.
The story doesn't support that headline, but never mind.
It's interesting all the same.
“The Washington D.C. suburbs now control every Virginia statewide election and that’s the result of the radical government in Richmond. And they're passing all kinds of bills that are just contrary to what the majority of Virginians—not the majority of Virginians, but most Virginians as far as land mass, support,” Fallwell Jr. said on Fox News.
. . . .
What is really happening is that Falwell Jr. and others are trying to secede from Virginia to join West Virginia.
The issue being that northern Virginia has been becoming larger, increasingly more racially diverse, and younger.
As a result, the more conservative politics of rural communities have begun to feel sad face emoji.
Is he reflexively trying to corner the market?
Trump offers 'large sums' for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine
The Trump administration has offered a German medical company “large sums of money” for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported.
The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles.
The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac “large sums of money” to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt.
The Trump administration has offered a German medical company “large sums of money” for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported.
The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles.
The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac “large sums of money” to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt.
Friday, March 13, 2020
It is a Chinese virus, and it is China's fault.
As well as Trump's, of course.
For years world public health experts have condemned China for not banning their wet markets, or at least the trade in wild animals there.
Like bats.
Like the bats from which this virus jumped to humans by way of pangolins in a specific, already identified wet market in a specific city in China.
And then the Chinese covered it up for about three weeks giving the virus a three weeks lead on efforts to contain it.
And then, after slashing budgets and staffing devoted to public health, Trump and his best and brightest totally dropped the ball, as did the CDC with their ongoing testing fiasco.
Commentary: Trump calls the coronavirus a ‘foreign virus,’ exposing his flawed worldview
And the Chinese are better at floating conspiracy theories and inventing fake news than even the dickhead in the White House.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman pushes coronavirus conspiracy theory that the US Army 'brought the epidemic to Wuhan'
For years world public health experts have condemned China for not banning their wet markets, or at least the trade in wild animals there.
Like bats.
Like the bats from which this virus jumped to humans by way of pangolins in a specific, already identified wet market in a specific city in China.
And then the Chinese covered it up for about three weeks giving the virus a three weeks lead on efforts to contain it.
And then, after slashing budgets and staffing devoted to public health, Trump and his best and brightest totally dropped the ball, as did the CDC with their ongoing testing fiasco.
Commentary: Trump calls the coronavirus a ‘foreign virus,’ exposing his flawed worldview
And the Chinese are better at floating conspiracy theories and inventing fake news than even the dickhead in the White House.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman pushes coronavirus conspiracy theory that the US Army 'brought the epidemic to Wuhan'
Everything is always about him
President Donald Trump has grown more and more irate as his attempts to contain the political fallout of coronavirus -- much less the health crisis itself -- continue to fall short, people close to him said.
Trump watched angrily from the West Wing Thursday as stock markets tumbled to their worst percentage loss since the 1987 Black Friday, casting blame on the Federal Reserve for what he increasingly believes is an attempt to ruin his presidency.
On the Beach
Every day it feels more and more like scenes from Nevil Shute's cold war classic.
Scenes from the movie, I mean.
Scenes from the movie, I mean.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
When did it become hold down the fort?
Why would a fort need to be held down?
And what would that be like, anyway?
And what would that be like, anyway?
The bullshit continues about test kits
John Berman Tries To Find Out How Many Virus Testing Kits Are Out There
About a week ago the oh so reliable and respectable and even venerable Fauci said there would be 4 million sent out within 2 days.
Didn't happen.
About a week ago the oh so reliable and respectable and even venerable Fauci said there would be 4 million sent out within 2 days.
Didn't happen.
He so needs to take credit for something to do with coping with the coronavirus
Trump pitched 0% payroll tax rate for the rest of the year, White House official says
President Donald Trump, in a meeting with Republican lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill, pitched a 0% payroll tax rate for employers and employees that would last through the rest of this year, a White House official told CNBC.
There was also discussion of making the payroll tax rollback permanent, said the official, who declined to be named.
Payroll taxes are used to fund Medicare and Social Security.
Democrats are not warming to that so very Republican idea.
Payroll Tax Holiday Plays Into GOP Plans To Cut The Safety Net
President Donald Trump, in a meeting with Republican lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill, pitched a 0% payroll tax rate for employers and employees that would last through the rest of this year, a White House official told CNBC.
There was also discussion of making the payroll tax rollback permanent, said the official, who declined to be named.
Payroll taxes are used to fund Medicare and Social Security.
Democrats are not warming to that so very Republican idea.
Payroll Tax Holiday Plays Into GOP Plans To Cut The Safety Net
Don't expect Sanders to gracefully withdraw
Biden rolls on with big win in Michigan, grows delegate lead over Sanders
It's mathematically possible but not at all likely that Sanders could still get to the convention, if there is one, in the lead.
So the usual suspects are calling for an end to the primary campaigns.
It's mathematically possible but not at all likely that Sanders could still get to the convention, if there is one, in the lead.
So the usual suspects are calling for an end to the primary campaigns.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Will there be conventions?
Nicole Wallace just asked on MSNBC.
A little reality is a frightful thing.
Why did Sanders go back to Vermont? My guess is that he is sick.
A little reality is a frightful thing.
Why did Sanders go back to Vermont? My guess is that he is sick.
Monday, March 9, 2020
An optimist predicts
A 'short, sharp' global recession is starting to look inevitable
Or maybe unprecedented global economic catastrophe.
Or maybe unprecedented global economic catastrophe.
So, what is a wet market?
People writing about the coronavirus outbreak think it refers to the water and blood all over such places because they slaughter live animals, fish, and birds on the spot for retail customers.
Or that it's just an incomprehensible name for markets that do that sort of retail business.
But that's not what Wikipedia thinks.
They use a definition that makes a wet market of any non-vegan American grocery.
A wet market (Spanish: mercado mojado or mercado húmedo) is a market selling fresh meat, fish, produce, and other perishable goods as distinguished from "dry markets" which sell durable goods such as fabric and electronics.
OK, so Wikipedia isn't always right.
Or that it's just an incomprehensible name for markets that do that sort of retail business.
But that's not what Wikipedia thinks.
They use a definition that makes a wet market of any non-vegan American grocery.
A wet market (Spanish: mercado mojado or mercado húmedo) is a market selling fresh meat, fish, produce, and other perishable goods as distinguished from "dry markets" which sell durable goods such as fabric and electronics.
OK, so Wikipedia isn't always right.
Disconnect
On MSNBC, people talking about the campaign say not a word about Coronavirus, but the reverse is not quite true.
People reporting on Coronavirus have criticized Bozo for crowd surfing at a rally over the weekend.
They did not criticize Bernie or Joe B for their similar behavior.
And nobody is asking aloud how to conduct mass in-person voting without creating an opportunity for mass infections.
People reporting on Coronavirus have criticized Bozo for crowd surfing at a rally over the weekend.
They did not criticize Bernie or Joe B for their similar behavior.
And nobody is asking aloud how to conduct mass in-person voting without creating an opportunity for mass infections.
Better he should golf
Almost as good as just shutting up.
Trump Returns From Golf Weekend To Attack Democrats And Media For 'Inflaming' Coronavirus Worries
Trump Returns From Golf Weekend To Attack Democrats And Media For 'Inflaming' Coronavirus Worries
Markets falling like stones all over the world
Coronavirus and the Saudis flooding the market with really cheap crude oil to crush the shale oil competition.
Joe S: the three men running for president are all in their 70's and at least 2 have underlying conditions
Trump is obese and Bernie has a bad heart. And Joe B?
Joe asks do these three follow Fauci's advice for people above 60, especially with chronic health issues, to avoid crowds?
How do you campaign like that?
Joe asks do these three follow Fauci's advice for people above 60, especially with chronic health issues, to avoid crowds?
How do you campaign like that?
Who will be the Republican candidate in November?
If Pence and the White House gang invoke Article 25 who will be the candidate?
Can we imagine the GOP, in that case, running Bozo?
Who will vote in November?
People who've had and recovered from the coronavirus and people who are foolhardy.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
The situation at that nursing home is horrifying
This nursing home is at the center of Washington's coronavirus
As of Saturday night, there were at least 19 deaths in the United States -- at least 14 of them tied to the Life Care Center in Kirkland alone, according to a Seattle and King County Public Health news release.
Two new coronavirus deaths out of 16 total recorded in the state are linked to the facility, according to the release.
A man in his 70s, who was a resident at the care home, died on March 2, while a woman in her 80s, who was also a Life Care resident, died on March 5, officials said.
While staff are caring for patients to the best of their ability, "we cannot make any promise that exposure, further exposure, within the facility is not happening," said Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center of Kirkland.
Some Life Care Center residents have gone from no symptoms to acute symptoms within an hour, Killian said.
"We've had patients die relatively quickly under those circumstances," he said.
Killian told reporters during a Saturday briefing that 70 employees are showing coronavirus symptoms. Those employees have been asked not to return to work.
As of February 19, the facility employed 180 staff members and housed 120 residents.
Fifty-four residents have since been transferred to various hospitals, Killian said, and all residents at the facility are confined to their rooms.
As of Saturday night, there were at least 19 deaths in the United States -- at least 14 of them tied to the Life Care Center in Kirkland alone, according to a Seattle and King County Public Health news release.
Two new coronavirus deaths out of 16 total recorded in the state are linked to the facility, according to the release.
A man in his 70s, who was a resident at the care home, died on March 2, while a woman in her 80s, who was also a Life Care resident, died on March 5, officials said.
While staff are caring for patients to the best of their ability, "we cannot make any promise that exposure, further exposure, within the facility is not happening," said Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center of Kirkland.
Some Life Care Center residents have gone from no symptoms to acute symptoms within an hour, Killian said.
"We've had patients die relatively quickly under those circumstances," he said.
Killian told reporters during a Saturday briefing that 70 employees are showing coronavirus symptoms. Those employees have been asked not to return to work.
As of February 19, the facility employed 180 staff members and housed 120 residents.
Fifty-four residents have since been transferred to various hospitals, Killian said, and all residents at the facility are confined to their rooms.
Self isolation and voluntary testing won't work
There are too many Americans who can't afford to pay for testing or skip work when sick.
Many of these, especially among the younger and healthier, will get sick and decide to just tough it out.
Trump has told them it's a pretty mild thing, they can go to work even if sick with Coronavirus, they'll be fine.
So they will avoid being tested and go to work and spread the virus far and wide, until they get too sick to avoid reality or just recover on their own.
Lot's of people have already pointed this out and no one in government, that I know of, has decided to fix this.
Many of these, especially among the younger and healthier, will get sick and decide to just tough it out.
Trump has told them it's a pretty mild thing, they can go to work even if sick with Coronavirus, they'll be fine.
So they will avoid being tested and go to work and spread the virus far and wide, until they get too sick to avoid reality or just recover on their own.
Lot's of people have already pointed this out and no one in government, that I know of, has decided to fix this.
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