Trump VS COVID-19 Threat

[lpetrich]

OK, but she has her verb wrong. You can't abandon what you never assumed.

So it's worse than what she said, although he likes the appearance of being President.

The Hill on Twitter: "Rep. @AOC: "Lindsey Graham and a couple of other Senators tried to block it at the last minute because they said... 'What if someone makes more money off of unemployment than if they were still working?'... Why is that not an argument to pay people a damn living wage?" https://t.co/BUDrRQzZG1" / Twitter

I like that.

State Alliances Are Leading the US Fight Against Covid-19 | WIRED

“I don’t know that it’s entirely a partisan story, but it does happen that the red states have been the ones that are cutting public health budgets and in general have the philosophy that the government’s job is to stay out of the way,” says David Jones, a professor of health policy at Boston University who studies how states implement public health regulations. “This is just a hypothesis that I don’t have a real way to test, but states with schools of public health, with people who are graduating with master's of public health degrees or DrPHs—there’s just something in the air.”

 

[Emily Lake]

Well, it looks like the virus originated in a lab in China. China will have to answer to the world.

Based on... ?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, it looks like the virus originated in a lab in China. China will have to answer to the world.

Based on... ?

A right-wing conspiracy theory. There is a significant lab in Hubei Province near the outbreak... therefore... conspiracy.

 

[lpetrich]

Trump appears to back those protesting social distancing measures | TheHill
noting

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" / Twitter

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" / Twitter

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!" / Twitter

Trump breaks with his own guidelines to back conservative anti-quarantine protesters - POLITICO

The president's social media posts come amid growing frustration among some conservative residents over the local mitigation measures.
...
The president's suggestion that Americans should disobey state orders directly contradicts his own statements acknowledging governors' authority to announce restrictions to combat the disease's spread.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Progressivism and the Pandemic - The New York Times - her district, NY-14, includes some very hard-hit parts of New York City, like Corona, Queens, "the epicenter of the epicenter".

At home in Queens, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, “The pandemic is not happening in a vacuum. It’s happening in a social and economic context.” In a city ravaged by the virus, few places have been hit as hard as her district, where a seven-square-mile patch of densely packed immigrant enclaves recorded more than 7,000 cases in the first weeks of the outbreak.

She said that while her constituents have expressed pride in their work, many struggle to feel supported by the government. “A lot of them feel like they’re just being sent in for slaughter because they are being asked to do work without the proper protections,” she said. “They’re saying, ‘You’re sending us into war without weapons.’”

...
Ultimately, she believes that there is room for compromise — and that the election can go beyond “harm reduction” to offer hope. “This pandemic has just exposed us,” she said. “People tell me, ‘I cannot believe I didn’t see this before. I cannot believe I didn’t see this before. I’m just thankful that people are seeing it now.”

Why Gilded Age II has been a Gilded Age and not a Golden Age -- the outward appearance of prosperity and advancement conceals a lot of rot.

 

[Elixir]

Trump appears to back those protesting social distancing measures | TheHill

Of course he does. He's a fucking moron.

 

[funinspace]

Trump appears to back those protesting social distancing measures | TheHill

Of course he does. He's a fucking moron.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Well, it looks like the virus originated in a lab in China. China will have to answer to the world.

China isn't stupid enough to try to make a bioweapon of an RNA virus.

If a lab is involved at all it's an accidental release of something they were studying. (They have had problems with improper disposal of lab animals.) If this were the case there would be no way to prove it short of a major leak in Beijing--and anything like that would be TS/SCI level material, not something to be tweeted about. Thus we do not have anything like that, what we have is His Flatulence attempting to blame China with no justification.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I assume you're aware of the date of that tweet? Much happened between Jan 25 and say,, 1st of April! bring out the mirror and garlic again, you'll need it.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/04/lying-china-joseph-klein/


f we are to believe China’s figures, the number of Covid-19 coronavirus cases in China as of March 31 was 82,240, with 3,309 deaths. The United States has now just under 165,000 cases and has surpassed 3000 deaths attributed to the virus - about double the official number of China’s cases and fast approaching China’s official death total. China claims that it has largely defeated the coronavirus and is opening public transportation, schools, and factories. The Chinese Communist Party has promoted itself as the global role model for how to lead a “people’s war” against COVID-19 and save many lives. “Party officials have tried to spin the crisis as a testament to the strength of China’s authoritarian system and its hard-line leader, Xi Jinping,” the New York Times reported, “even announcing plans to publish a book in six languages about the outbreak that portrays him as a ‘major power leader’ with ‘care for the people.’”

If the question is asked what's this got to do with topic at hand. It's to prove that China's regime lies until they're blue in the face.

This time I can't even find tinfoil and onions in your point. That article basically is saying China is lying because they did better at containing this than we are doing.

They implemented a crackdown beyond anything the modern world has seen, His Flatulence played golf and attempted to implement the Republican plan to sacrifice millions to "save" the economy. (Never mind that history shows that letting it burn does more harm to the economy.)

 

[Half-Life]

Well, it looks like the virus originated in a lab in China. China will have to answer to the world.

Based on... ?

A right-wing conspiracy theory. There is a significant lab in Hubei Province near the outbreak... therefore... conspiracy.

Call it a "right-wing" conspiracy theory if you want.

Remember when AIDS came about and the "left-wing" said it was created by the CIA? Same thing with the crack epidemic. Leftists said, "The government brought it into the ghettos because black people didn't create it."

Looks like conspiracies come from both sides.

 

[James Brown]

Remember when AIDS came about and the "left-wing" said it was created by the CIA?

Sure don't.

 

[Half-Life]

Russia will 'certainly accept' Trump's 'kind' offer of ventilators, Kremlin says | TheHill

Trump sending ventilators to Russia. - The Daily Kos
On March 19, Trump stated

That Daily Kos article stated

So it would be a little odd that when it comes to Russia, Trump appears to have found the both the ventilators he didn’t provide to the states and his inner shipping clerk.

But, I thought you guys were pro helping other countries out? You always said stuff like, "Americans aren't the only people on our planet. We need to help other countries." Then when Trump does that you do a 180 and say, "How dare he help other countries! We need him to help our people first!" I didn't know you guys became nationalists now....thought you guys hated nationalism.....this is so confusing....

 

[Patooka]

A right-wing conspiracy theory. There is a significant lab in Hubei Province near the outbreak... therefore... conspiracy.

Call it a "right-wing" conspiracy theory if you want.

Remember when AIDS came about and the "left-wing" said it was created by the CIA? Same thing with the crack epidemic. Leftists said, "The government brought it into the ghettos because black people didn't create it."

Looks like conspiracies come from both sides.

 

[Half-Life]

A right-wing conspiracy theory. There is a significant lab in Hubei Province near the outbreak... therefore... conspiracy.

Call it a "right-wing" conspiracy theory if you want.

Remember when AIDS came about and the "left-wing" said it was created by the CIA? Same thing with the crack epidemic. Leftists said, "The government brought it into the ghettos because black people didn't create it."

Looks like conspiracies come from both sides.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html

 

[ZiprHead]

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html

What was the purpose of posting that link?

 

[Half-Life]

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html

What was the purpose of posting that link?

To show the conspiracy. People were saying they didn't believe me when I said people thought the CIA brought crack into black communities to make them kill each other. It was even in the movie Boyz in the Hood.

"We don't have ships or factories. How did that stuff get into the black community? Not by us."

 

[Copernicus]

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html

What was the purpose of posting that link?

To show the conspiracy. People were saying they didn't believe me when I said people thought the CIA brought crack into black communities to make them kill each other. It was even in the movie Boyz in the Hood.

"We don't have ships or factories. How did that stuff get into the black community? Not by us."

Your whataboutery argument concerning the CIA drug scandal was actually not supported by the article you linked to. Quite the opposite. But nobody should blame you for not reading it. The point was to avoid addressing the issue of the nutty right wing conspiracy theory about the COVID virus, point somewhere else, and say "What about this?" Besides, it was a long article that you would have had to read before posting it.

 

[Half-Life]

To show the conspiracy. People were saying they didn't believe me when I said people thought the CIA brought crack into black communities to make them kill each other. It was even in the movie Boyz in the Hood.

"We don't have ships or factories. How did that stuff get into the black community? Not by us."

Your whataboutery argument concerning the CIA drug scandal was actually not supported by the article you linked to. Quite the opposite. But nobody should blame you for not reading it. The point was to avoid addressing the issue of the nutty right wing conspiracy theory about the COVID virus, point somewhere else, and say "What about this?" Besides, it was a long article that you would have had to read before posting it.

No, what I am saying is that both sides have their conspiracies.

Derec pointed this out. Anti-vaxxers are usually on the left. That's a left-wing conspiracy.

 

[lpetrich]

How America’s Earliest Colonists Dictate Today’s Coronavirus Response | Washington Monthly

Disparities in the reaction to COVID-19 mirror centuries-old cultural and ideological fissures.

President Trump has failed to lead America during the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, it has been up to state and local leaders to fight the virus. The month of March became a macabre laboratory of federalism, illustrating how some places took the pandemic quite seriously—and how others did not.

It wasn't strictly partisan, because Republican governors in some states locked down early (MA, NH, VT, MD), while some Democratic governors were slower (KS, MT).

As to rural people needing to move around more, people in New England, upstate New York, and the Upper Great Lakes states tended to stay put, while people of KY and ID didn't. Or while people in eastern NM moved around much more than people in the rest of that state. Or why people in southernmost FL stayed put while people elsewhere in that state didn't.

But the pattern is remarkably consistent with centuries old fissures that stem from the earliest days of America’s colonization. Different settlers created communities with divergent ideas about the role of government and the balance between individual liberty and the common good. These divides have stuck around for hundreds of years, resulting in radically different policy responses to the pandemic, further jeopardizing the survival of our Balkanized federation.

Some parts are more communitarian, some more individualistic.

The geography of the coronavirus response last month follows these patterns to a disturbing degree. Leaders and people in communitarian regions are generally taking robust measures to slow the spread of the virus. Leaders and people in individualistic ones are often flaunting science and safety, leading their constituents to make few changes to their movements and, presumably, routines.

• Yankeedom, the Midlands, New Netherland, and the Left Coast - 70 to 100%
• Greater Appalachia, the Deep South and the Far West - 15 to 50%
• El Norte and Tidewater - more muddled
• New France (Cajun country of LA) and Spanish Caribbean (south FL) slowed down much more than their Deep South neighbors

Most of the laggard governors lead states dominated by individualistic nations. In the Deep South and Greater Appalachia you find Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who allowed spring breakers to party on the beaches. There’s Brian Kemp of Georgia who left matters in the hands of local officials for much of the month and then, on April 2, claimed to have just learned the virus can be transmitted by asymptomatic individuals. You have Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, who on April 7 denied mayors the power to impose local lockdowns. And then there’s Mississippi’s Tate Reeves, who resisted action because “I don’t like government telling private business what they can and cannot do.” On March 31, Reeves cast aspersions on “those who believe that government ought to take over and run everything.”

 

[blastula]

Kamala Harris on Twitter: "Trump abandoned the role of president of the United States. https://t.co/eEvuZrOYbe" / Twitter

Kamala Harris: President Trump's Failure to Lead on Coronavirus Has Resulted in ‘Body Bags’ - VICE

"There is no question that if we'd had a president in charge who actually took their responsibility seriously, that we would probably be looking at a lot less damage than we have incurred," she said in an interview with VICE News. "We watch every day the number of people infected and the number of people who are dead. We are every day hearing and watching stories about body bags. So, look, the buck stops with the president."

...
“The fact is that he has abandoned his role of leadership and meaning the role of the president of the United States," she said. "He’s abandoned the role of the president of the United States.”

...
“His failure to take this seriously, from the time of calling it a hoax, to getting rid of the Obama administration’s focus through the White House on pandemics, to him trivializing the issue including the importance of social distancing” has made the crisis in the United States worse than it needed to be, she said.

...
“The thing about this moment and it also is a source, therefore, of frustration about who this president is and how he has been approaching this issue: this is science. These things just don’t lie. Science is based on empirical data. Science is based on peer review. Science is based on analysis, objective analysis.”

The buck part reminds me of Harry Truman's desk sign: "The Buck Stops Here".

Thank you, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

 

[lpetrich]

'I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life' - POLITICO

Democrats erupted after receiving vague answers from Vice President Mike Pence about efforts to ramp up coronavirus testing.

Senate Democrats exploded in frustration during a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence and Trump administration officials on Friday afternoon, with one normally laid-back senator asserting it was the most maddening phone call he’s ever taken part in, according to participants and people familiar with the call.

The call between President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force and Senate Democrats on Friday left the Senate minority “livid,” according to one Democrat on the call, because of the lack of clear answers about national testing for the disease.

Shows how awful the Trump admin is -- they are trying to cover up their poor performance, it seems. Testing and contact tracing will be necessary for getting us out of lockdown, but being slow in that means a longer lockdown.

Donald Trump’s Greatest Escape - POLITICO - "His critics assume this crisis has to take Trump down, whether for the bungled response or the economic collapse. They’re missing something important: He’s been training for this moment his entire life."

He's survived numerous calamities, sometimes by stubbornly continuing, and sometimes by getting bailouts. He's been bailed out by Russian oligarchs and Republican Senators.

Trump builds campaign-style press shop at the White House - POLITICO - "The White House wants to expand its rapid response team tasked with monitoring and attacking critics of the president’s efforts to quell the coronavirus outbreak."

Rather than try to do a good job.

On Wednesday, McEnany began blasting tweets from the official White House press secretary account, hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi in at least five tweets. On Thursday, she made her first “Fox & Friends” appearance in her new role, reiterating her Pelosi attacks and chiding the media. And she’s working in parallel with the Trump campaign as both the White House and campaign expand their communications and rapid response teams tasked with monitoring and attacking any critics of the president’s efforts to quell the coronavirus outbreak.