Trump VS COVID-19 Threat

[barbos]

So the EU and Canada so no thank you to Americans. Canada is keeping the border closure till at least August.

That is winning!

Yeah, I look at Canada with envy.

 

[crazyfingers]

So the EU and Canada so no thank you to Americans. Canada is keeping the border closure till at least August.

That is winning!

Yeah, I look at Canada with envy.

The border closure with Canada is a problem for my wife. Her parents have moved to assisted living and want to sell the house my wife grew up in in Canada. They moved there when my wife was 2 years old. There are old family photos and other things in the house that my wife wants to save but she can't go there to do it and her Dad who controls everything is not willing to wait until my wife can go there to get those things even though they have no immediate need for the money on the sale of the house.

My wife's brother does live in Canada but doesn't give a crap about saving anything and is refusing to go do it even though it's just a 3 hour drive. My wife's sister is also in the US so she can't do it either.

 

[lpetrich]

1 in 3 young adults vulnerable to severe Covid-19 — and smoking plays a big part, research finds - CNN

I've glad I've never smoked in my life.

Correlation != causation. Smokers due their general dumbassery are more likely to get infected and with higher viral load.

What "general dumbassery"?

Smoking is a known risk factor in several respiratory diseases:

• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - fs_smoking_respiratory_508.pdf
• Respiratory Diseases - The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress - NCBI Bookshelf
• Pulmonary Diseases - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - NCBI Bookshelf

So it is not surprising that it is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

1 in 3 young adults vulnerable to severe Covid-19 — and smoking plays a big part, research finds - CNN

I've glad I've never smoked in my life.

Correlation != causation. Smokers due their general dumbassery are more likely to get infected and with higher viral load.

What "general dumbassery"?

Smoking is a known risk factor in several respiratory diseases:

• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - fs_smoking_respiratory_508.pdf
• Respiratory Diseases - The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress - NCBI Bookshelf
• Pulmonary Diseases - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - NCBI Bookshelf

So it is not surprising that it is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

Saying that smoking is a risk factor is being polite and politically correct. It's like saying that having a broken leg is a risk factor for walking.

/derail

 

[barbos]

1 in 3 young adults vulnerable to severe Covid-19 — and smoking plays a big part, research finds - CNN

I've glad I've never smoked in my life.

Correlation != causation. Smokers due their general dumbassery are more likely to get infected and with higher viral load.

What "general dumbassery"?

Smoking is a known risk factor in several respiratory diseases:

• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - fs_smoking_respiratory_508.pdf
• Respiratory Diseases - The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress - NCBI Bookshelf
• Pulmonary Diseases - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - NCBI Bookshelf

So it is not surprising that it is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

They only found a correlation. But as I said it could be that people who engage in smoking are also engaged in other activities which worsen their chances for coronavirus. Smokers are simply more likely to ignore precautions.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

What "general dumbassery"?

Smoking is a known risk factor in several respiratory diseases:

• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - fs_smoking_respiratory_508.pdf
• Respiratory Diseases - The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress - NCBI Bookshelf
• Pulmonary Diseases - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - NCBI Bookshelf

So it is not surprising that it is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

They only found a correlation. But as I said it could be that people who engage in smoking are also engaged in other activities which worsen their chances for coronavirus. Smokers are simply more likely to ignore precautions.

Huh? Smoking damages the lungs. Let me repeat that: Smoking damages the lungs.

So if you smoke you are already at at a disadvantage wrt anything that requires optimum lung performance.

Is someone being quaint?

 

[barbos]

What "general dumbassery"?

Smoking is a known risk factor in several respiratory diseases:

• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smoking and Respiratory Diseases - fs_smoking_respiratory_508.pdf
• Respiratory Diseases - The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress - NCBI Bookshelf
• Pulmonary Diseases - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - NCBI Bookshelf

So it is not surprising that it is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

They only found a correlation. But as I said it could be that people who engage in smoking are also engaged in other activities which worsen their chances for coronavirus. Smokers are simply more likely to ignore precautions.

Huh? Smoking damages the lungs. Let me repeat that: Smoking damages the lungs.

So if you smoke you are already at at a disadvantage wrt anything that requires optimum lung performance.

Is someone being quaint?

I am not saying it does not. But in the "study" they look at young (!!!) people and ask if they smoked/vaped in the last 30 days.
I really doubt that young people can accumulate much damage. Young people who vape/smoke in the 21 century are simply idiots who are more likely ignore coronavirus danger and party all day long.

So if you are in never-smoked category (like I am) you should not feel too safe thinking all these dead are smokers/fat or otherwise vulnerable.

 

[lpetrich]

UnitedHealth posts most profitable quarter in its history - Axios

UnitedHealth Group registered more than $6.6 billion in profits in the second quarter — by far the conglomerate's highest quarterly profit ever, according to an analysis of company financial data from FactSet.

Why it matters: Most companies struggled in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic froze the economy, but health insurers like UnitedHealth heavily benefited as people held off on going to the doctor or hospital, resulting in fewer medical claims that needed to be paid.

The big picture: The jump in profits exceeded Wall Street's predictions, and was heavily driven by UnitedHealth's insurance division.

Bob Herman on Twitter: "UnitedHealth Group posted $6.6 billion of profit in its "COVID quarter." That obliterated Wall Street's projections and was by far the health care giant's most profitable quarter ever. https://t.co/KKoYpg24OD" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Over 100,000 Americans are dead and Congress won’t extend Medicare to the unemployed bc it’s too busy protecting a corporate system that makes pandemics insanely profitable for Wall St.
This is what capitalist healthcare looks like, & it’s wrong. People shouldn’t die for profit." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

AOC Criticizes REITs For Seeking Federal Aid for Dividends - The Real Deal - "Congresswoman criticized companies for laying off workers while paying out shareholder dividends"

The progressive superstar, who just won a primary challenge in her New York City congressional district, criticized industry trade group Nareit for lobbying congress to allow REITs to use federal aid to pay dividends.

“It is unconscionable that during a moment of national, unprecedented economic hardship federal dollars would be used to subsidize firms that continue to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to their wealthy shareholders,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Using aid from the federal CARES Act for stock buybacks or dividend payments is currently prohibited.

Erin Peterson on Twitter: "Hours before it was set to expire @GovKemp extends #Georgia's #COVID19 protections and requirements. But on page 32 he also added in a provision prohibiting local governments from requiring #masks. https://t.co/1b3NFVt86P" / Twitter
He nevertheless wants to encourage mask-wearing.

 

[lpetrich]

I haven't been following the Trump vs. Fauci drama llama, but one of Trump's main enablers has a different opinion. McConnell has 'total' confidence in Fauci - YouTube

A Second Stimulus Check? The Senate May Consider It As Soon As Next Week

Millions of Americans may get a second stimulus check this year. That’s the message from top GOP leaders as they work to draft a new stimulus package in response to the HEROES Act passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives earlier this year, which has little chance of passing in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that he is working with the Trump administration to draft another stimulus plan and anticipates sharing and discussing it with Republican senators next week.

McConnell has indicated a new coronavirus stimulus relief bill could be completed before the annual August recess scheduled to begin Monday, Aug. 10. That will be an ambitious timetable as the Senate is currently on a break and won’t return to work until July 20.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Fuck McConnell. 'Well I have confidence in Fauci.' That is an attempt at putting straw over Trump's bullshit and trying to make it look nicer, but it stinks still. McConnell isn't calling out the President for the bullshit. I am so tired of these one-sixteenth measures from the GOP on Trump. They are cowards. Americans are dying because of Trump... actually dying because of Trump (maybe not a lot, not millions, but thousands of Americans are dead that wouldn't have been dead had Clinton been elected).

And the GOP continues to pussyfoot.

 

[Elixir]

Fuck McConnell. 'Well I have confidence in Fauci.' That is an attempt at putting straw over Trump's bullshit and trying to make it look nicer, but it stinks still. McConnell isn't calling out the President for the bullshit. I am so tired of these one-sixteenth measures from the GOP on Trump. They are cowards. Americans are dying because of Trump... actually dying because of Trump (maybe not a lot, not millions, but thousands of Americans are dead that wouldn't have been dead had Clinton been elected).

And the GOP continues to pussyfoot.

You think the 36,000 plus estimated incremental American deaths due to Trump is a lot?
Trump: "Hold my beer"

 

[James Brown]

I tend to agree. No different than Susan McConnell pursing her brow and saying she's "concerned" about the latest ethics violation, then voting lock-step with Trump's desires anyway.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I tend to agree. No different than Susan McConnell pursing her brow and saying she's "concerned" about the latest ethics violation, then voting lock-step with Trump's desires anyway.

Susan Collins? The thought of combining McConnell and Collins could be the basis for a horror movie.

 

[James Brown]

D'oh!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I tend to agree. No different than Susan McConnell pursing her brow and saying she's "concerned" about the latest ethics violation, then voting lock-step with Trump's desires anyway.

Susan Collins? The thought of combining McConnell and Collins could be the basis for a horror movie.

Wouldn't it just create another Kellyanne Conway...

...ohhhhhhh. Yeah, a horror movie.

 

[lpetrich]

Here it is:

Georgia governor bans local governments from issuing mask mandates - Axios
noting
Georgia gov. explicitly voids mask orders in 15 localities

Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks.

An increasing number of other states order residents to wear masks in public, including Alabama, which announced such a ban Wednesday.

The Republican governor has instead been trying to encourage voluntary mask wearing, including telling fans that reduced infections from mask-wearing would make college football season possible.

Georgia governor sues Atlanta mayor to block city's mask mandate - Axios

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's (R) office filed a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to block Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from enforcing a citywide mask mandate.

...

• Kemp's decision to file a lawsuit will likely set up a legal battle between the state and local governments as they confront a surge in infections.
• The lawsuit, which names Bottoms and the City Council as defendants, argues Kemp has the power to "suspend municipal orders that are contradictory" to state laws or executive orders.

 

[blastula]

Madness.

 

[lpetrich]

Larry Hogan: Trump left Maryland vulnerable to the pandemic - The Washington Post - by MD governor Larry Hogan, a Republican

My wife, Yumi, and I stood on the tarmac, waiting in cloth masks, on the morning of April 18. Finally, a Boeing 777 landed and taxied to the far corner of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport. It was the first Korean Air flight ever to land at BWI, but it didn’t have a single passenger aboard. The crew of five had flown 14 hours, straight from Seoul.

Instead, it had 500,000 COVID-19 test kits aboard it, something that the Federal Government was not providing.

 

[crazyfingers]

Here it is:

Georgia governor bans local governments from issuing mask mandates - Axios
noting
Georgia gov. explicitly voids mask orders in 15 localities

Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks.

An increasing number of other states order residents to wear masks in public, including Alabama, which announced such a ban Wednesday.

The Republican governor has instead been trying to encourage voluntary mask wearing, including telling fans that reduced infections from mask-wearing would make college football season possible.

Georgia governor sues Atlanta mayor to block city's mask mandate - Axios

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's (R) office filed a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to block Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from enforcing a citywide mask mandate.

...

• Kemp's decision to file a lawsuit will likely set up a legal battle between the state and local governments as they confront a surge in infections.
• The lawsuit, which names Bottoms and the City Council as defendants, argues Kemp has the power to "suspend municipal orders that are contradictory" to state laws or executive orders.

The Governor should be charged with manslaughter.