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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 5:28 pm 
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The $1,200 checks from the US Treasury will be delayed because they will need to be printed with Trump's name on them (he tried to sign them but was told his signature is worthless for government checks). So apparently the Trump checks, which are supposed to help with the Trump depression brought on by the Trump pandemic, will be late. Big surprise.

Meanwhile, fall guys are being sought by Trump and his staff to take the blame when his dog and pony show of reopening the economy fails and kills a bunch of people. Better that than calling it off, right?

Still, the creatures of the right are busy. Besides openly stating that it's better we die than the economy fails to perform well enough to get Trump reelected, they're dispatching the mindless minions to protest the social distancing orders. Not that there's any irony in watching these scum hiding in their cars because they're afraid of the virus while they protest that they should be allowed out to face it, no, not a bit.

Still, there's some good news for someone. If Trump ever finds the courage needed to fire Dr. Fauci (which he is trying to do), then at least Dr. Fauci can always take this job offer in a leading hospital in Italy.

Meanwhile in Kentucky: McConnell is in danger of getting tossed out on his ass. So what's a Republican to do? Voter suppression, of course. One now needs an ID from an office that isn't open in order to vote in Kentucky, the legislature having overridden the Democratic governor's veto. Of course they did.

Oh, and Big Surprise time. While Trump was telling the commoners that we don't need to wear masks, his staff was hunting overseas for enough masks for themselves.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:21 am 
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Weremensh wrote:
Oh, and Big Surprise time. While Trump was telling the commoners that we don't need to wear masks, his staff was hunting overseas for enough masks for themselves.

Like the press conference where Carrie Lam's ministers all wore masks while Carrie Lam told the cameras that she'd instructed her governing team not to wear masks to save them for healthcare workers?

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:18 pm 
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The Republicans have apparently decided that the hip new approach to the epidemic is to get people killed to pump up the stock market, and whip up the morons in the cheap seats to blame the Democrats for keeping them alive while the Republicans in Washington refuse absolutely to cushion the blow. After that little show in Michigan it was Pennsylvania's turn; with the Republicans in the legislature trying to strip the Governor of the power to handle the mess and devolve it to the county administrators, which is to say the Republicans in Pennsyltucky (the mess in the middle of the state). Oddly enough the governor doesn't seem inclined to go along with it ('rhymes with veto'), and there's no way the legislature can override it.

Btw: Trump's bid to get the nation's CEOs to take the blame for him when his attempt to 'reopen' the economy prematurely fails didn't go well. The CEOS, not being completely stupid, told him that until there is adequate testing available then they're not interested. Or in plain subtext: start doing your job, loser.

Which is more or less what Pelosi said last weekend, which led Trump to note that she's a bad person. So far the CEOs haven't been called bad people. Maybe he's got a crush on her.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:03 am 
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Trump's boys have been stealing a lot of medical supplies in transit. It's gotten so bad that at least one governor now hides such shipments from the Federal Government. Mind you that's the only one who'd admitted it so far, but one suspects a lot of other blue state governors have grown equally tired of being ripped off by the Feds so Trump can hand their property to his buddies.

In other news, slaughterhouses for cattle are closing. It could lead to some shortages. Noted in the story is the industry specific problem that typical consumers don't buy good beef cuts, just the cheap stuff; so with restaurants closed about a quarter of each steer now lacks a market. Exporting more to South Korea was bandied about as a solution. Needless to say, this mostly happens in Red states that don't have mandatory lockdowns.

It's been noted that lots of hotels are discounting or comping medical workers helping deal with the outbreaks in their cities. Needless to say none of Trump's hotels are doing this.

And show of hands: who's surprised that the Republicans down Washington way don't really give a damn about hospitals, workers, small businesses, or a functioning way to handle the 2020 election? The stock market saw half a trillion dollars being handed to Trump and making it's way out the door with no controls or accountability and jumped a few thousand points, and that's pretty much all they want to see again from any further bills.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:15 pm 
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Apparently the $150 billion that was supposed to be for the states in the next relief bill is being actively opposed by Trump and his boys, so the Senate Republicans are refusing to include it. He feels that if the lower level jurisdictions don't go bankrupt they'll be under less pressure to do what he wants (which is why the GOP and the billionaires behind it hate Social Security and Medicare so much, btw). So far I'm not hearing that anyone from the Republican side of Congress sees any problem with this, though some of them may be hearing from unhappy governors and state parties about self funding their next election if they keep it up.

The protests against quarantines are astroturf. The head of the Blackwater group and his family are also paying for them. What a shock, Trump and his buddies are the ones behind all these brought and paid for twits shilling for the virus.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:05 pm 
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Meanwhile the newest emergency bill coming through the US Congress is hitting another snag: how to handle $25 billion for disease testing. Long story short, is the Federal Government or are the States going to be formally responsible for it? The House is (logically) saying the Federal Government is the only one who can properly run this, the White House (which is to say Trump) is desperately trying to avoid the inherent blame of inevitably screwing it up and so is refusing to do it (ostensibly deferring to the states).

And in line with their refusal to admit how badly he's screwed up, Trump's RNC is still insisting they're going to have an in person convention in August. It's tempting to say 'hey, you do you; but if you catch it your insurance companies won't pay', isn't it? I'd be willing to bet their insurance companies are considering exactly that right now.

Little did we know, but Rosa Parks wore a mask and carried an assault weapon. Or so the folks who paid for this little get together in Pittsburgh would have us believe.

Meanwhile Trump's company thoughtfully provided us with a video on staying safe from the coronavirus: drink a bottle of vodka a day.

The Republican governor of Georgia is going to be doing some reopening. On his list of businesses to do so?
Governor Kemp wrote:
...gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools & massage therapists can reopen Friday, April 24
I'm almost surprised he missed brothels. Nope, no danger of folks getting close to each other or spreading the disease here.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:46 am 
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A nice/mean thing, someone has shared on facebook:

Quote:
America seems suprised, that there really are problems, that can't be solved by shooting them.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:31 pm 
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Very few virus' can survive being shot with a pistol bullet. Though granted that's less helpful if it's in a living host you don't particularly want to kill.

Being a bit more honest for a change, McConnell is saying he wants to use the coronavirus to kill civil service pensions in blue states. It's his principled opposition to another bailout bill; it won't go to the useless rich who kick back to him and his party, but rather to the people he's trying to hurt on behalf of the useless rich, who are bright enough to follow their own self interest and fight back. And as always, to hurt America.

So Trump fired the guy leading the Federal effort to develop a vaccine. Why? He spoke out against Trump's favorite snake oil (the stuff the VA says doesn't help but could kill). He's being replaced with, yes, the labradoodle breeder Trump hired back in January; the man who ran the labs which failed to produce domestic testing supplies.

Y'know, I could almost feel a trifle of pity for the moron who tried to reopen Georgia for Trump. Realizing that he'd probably own it when the cases exploded, Trump cut him off at the knees. What are the odds, really?

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:27 am 
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Weremensh wrote:
The protests against quarantines are astroturf. The head of the Blackwater group and his family are also paying for them. What a shock, Trump and his buddies are the ones behind all these brought and paid for twits shilling for the virus.

Just because some evil rich buggers are paying for the protests doesn't mean the people participating in them aren't sincere. You'd have to be stark raving bonkers to form a crowd in the middle of a pandemic. It's not the sort of thing where you hire some Hollywood extras to stand around. At least there don't seem to be many of them - 80% of the public think the social distancing measures should continue, which means that even a bare majority of Republicans aren't bleeding suicidal.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:31 am 
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One of the less discussed services, that leaders provide, is that they order to do, what is stupid but feels good, so we can do it without being responsible.

So in social distancing times, i suppose you don't need all that much convincing, to get people to get out and congregate. By and large people are itching for it anyway, so all you need is "X said it's fine", where they consider X as some sort of authority.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:04 am 
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Possibly, but Trump just publicly suggested irradiating people with UV light, injecting bleach or treating lungs with disinfectant as a way to deal with the virus. Pure Darwinian pressures may cost him his base at this rate.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:51 am 
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So, let's assume you've got a hard lockdown. The only people allowed out are people for whom being out is essential - e.g. to buy food, provide medical care, sell food, and so on. How do you end it?

You can't just say "Okay everyone, restrictions are off, have fun" - not unless you want an entire new wave of coronavirus infections. You have to be extremely careful.

After next Thursday our hard lockdown ends - but it doesn't just cut out. It just... eases a little. Some people may be able to go back to work (not on Friday, it's a public holiday) - under very careful protocols (which include that no more than a third of the workforce is allowed to be on-site, for social distancing reasons - people are being strongly encouraged to work remotely); certain non-essential items may be sold; and it may be permitted to go out and exercise (while, of course, observing precautions). Gatherings of more than ten people are still disallowed except in extremely special circumstances.

So far as preventing the spread of the disease goes, the lockdown seems to have been very successful so far. We still have a lot of people with the disease around... but nowhere near some other country's figures. Unfortunately, our economy was in trouble even before this thing hit - five weeks of lockdown are going to hit the economy pretty badly. It's going to be hard work to recover from the economic hit; but on the bright side, it's hard work that we're still alive to do.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:06 am 
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We had our own demonstration against the Corona measures today. As far as i can tell it was not particulary large and the organizers are not connected to anyone who matters.

It had first been forbidden, then allowed and then forbidden again for some reasons i do not know.

The police first demanded that they follow distance rules, and later demanded that they disperse or force will be used. Eventually the demonstrators dispersed. The organizers probably will be charged.

In the link below you can see some photos. The text is German though.
https://wien.orf.at/stories/3045671/

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:22 am 
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Having noted that Darwinian pressures may take a toll on Trump voters: if the death toll stays elevated then Trump voters will be the ones preferentially killed. Baby boomers, war babies and depression babies tend to be more prone to vote and more racist, selfish and Republican than other age groups. Which makes some sense; the older you are then the more accepted and normative overt racism and it's baggage was when you were a kid, and the more you would tend to think of the prosperity of working class whites back when as a right you were robbed of by those people. And you grew up before the Republican war on voting made it less of a given that people should.

But with that said: the early boomers, war babies and depression babies are also the ones who are apparently suffering double digit mortality percentages if infected with this virus (not to mention the ones most likely to be packed into usually unregulated nursing homes). So in states with very narrow electoral margins this could be a significant problem for the Republicans (and especially for Trump). None of which takes in to account what the survivors might think of the man who deliberately hung them out to dry; just who will be left in November to do that thinking.

Oh, and it's hard to miss that the folks in Vienna (thanks, arcosh) weren't openly carrying firearms. Funny, that.

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 Post subject: Re: The Virus
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:50 pm 
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Trump wants to be seen giving a speech to the graduating class at West Point. The graduation had been put on hold and the cadets sent home because of the virus, but Trump insists. So the 1,000 cadets will be recalled from their homes to come listen to it. Not that there's any risk to them, you understand; it isn't as if there are folks with the virus in New York, after all.

It seems that looking like an idiot on TV during his daily campaign shows/press briefings is hurting Trump in the polls. So he's going to be doing less of it. Not so much less of looking like an idiot as less of going on TV for a couple of hours a day every day to do it. Though it only took him a couple of minutes to suggest people should be injected with disinfectants, didn't it? And the look on Dr. Birx' face was classic.

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