Is this a 'death of expertise moment'?
—No, actual human death. People will die.
Why can't you Never Trumpers be more constructive?
—Plague. Death. Bad. Seek shelter. Gotta go.
Thanks! So let's look at how is this affecting the markets and the 2020 primary! https://t.co/4L36Nmhdf8— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) February 28, 2020
Dan Froomkin, at Presswatchers.org:
… They made it sound like some real news was made: That Trump put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the government’s response to the coronavirus; that the president urged calm.
But even the Pence “news” appears to be a sham, and a clusterfuck: In addition to being basically a fuck-you to the medical community — given Pence’s proud defiance of scientific truths — it was apparently a last-minute decision based on political optics that blindsided Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who at the same time insisted that he was still in charge.
This one really wasn’t hard. It was obvious to anyone listening to Trump’s rambling, often incoherent, self-centered, stream-of-consciousness ad-libbing – much of it straight out of his political rallies — that:
– Trump had no real understanding of what he was talking about.
– He had no sense of what was required of him as president.
– He sees this as being all about him.
– There are only so many things that can come out of his head….
(It’s an excellent professional aggregation, so just read the whole thing.)
Much further down the hierarchy, but just as damning in its way:
38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona beer "under any circumstances" because of the coronavirus, according to a recent survey.
Just to be abundantly clear: There is no link between the virus and the beer. https://t.co/xNUnkZvwtE
— CNN International (@cnni) February 28, 2020
The survey, it turns, out, does not say this!
What it says:
-38% of beer drinkers say they wouldn't buy Corona (for any reason at all, including, presumably…they prefer other beer)
-4% of people who usually drink Corona say they would stophttps://t.co/X4Wa6tLR3z https://t.co/r37un3LRSG— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) February 28, 2020
Even most of the 4% who plan to stop drinking Corona beer might only be doing so because they don't want to hear the jokes, not that they believe it is coronavirus in a bottle.
— Owl Parliamenterian (@davidabenner) February 28, 2020
ruemara
I swear we are the worst species.
Wag
and those things are dwarfed by what comes out of his mouth
Ruckus
@ruemara:
Only because we (most of us) have a bigger vocabulary than say a dog, and some of us actually know what a lot of the words mean. Unfortunately some of us are not as smart as dogs so they vote for the worst examples of humanity, like they did last presidential election. I always try to remember that half of humanity is dumber than the median. That can be a pretty low bar. And of course the president only trips over the bar if it’s within 20 miles of him. Which of course it always is because he only surrounds himself with people who suck up to him and at the very least act dumber. For those who have never been close to it, trump is what a dumb person is when dementia is in full swing.
TS (the original)
Edit: Cannot get a tweet to imbed – still trying
TS (the original)
@TS (the original): trying again
Giving up
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: we invented dogs though, so we aren’t all bad.
Luciamia
Excuse me. I had CNN on, before and after Wednesday s conference. Afterwards they were as horrified as anyone.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
The COVID-19 thread earlier today was refreshing in a sense. Everybody now is where I was roughly 2-3 weeks ago. I really hope the US doesn’t turn into South Korea/Italy or god forbid China within the next few weeks, but with new confirmed cases in California with likely community spread, I think there’s going to be widespread transmission
I’m still kicking myself for not grabbing surgical masks. They would be helpful in the event my family becomes infected; surgical masks catch a lot of the droplets from our mouths/noses. I saw some late at night at a local WalMart and didn’t get them. I fear most of all for my 85 y/o grandmother who lives alone. She’s taken out once a week to eat and other family members bring her groceries
Mary G
Love the puppo birthday party. Biscuits is a great dog name.
Darth’s back from hibernation!
I bought some Mountain House dehydrated food a while back for our earthquake kit, but I didn’t love the taste or price. Now Amazon is out of a lot of it and doesn’t know when it’ll be available. Probably go to Costco tomorrow for tuna and Cup o’ Noodles.
MattF
Democrats bad bad bad. Stock market will go up up up. Virus… a hoax hoax hoax. Don’t blame me me me me me me ever ever ever ever. Not me Not me. Not me.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MattF:
Nothing is ever Trump’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault. He’s always a victim. His critics just have Trump Derangement Syndrome. He never has agency, except when he does when things aren’t going catastrophically wrong
Steeplejack (phone)
@TS (the original):
You have to be in text mode in the comment editor.
Emma from FL
@Major Major Major Major: Actually, there’s some evidence that dogs invented themselves nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/3/130302-dog-domestic-evolution-science-wolf-wolves-human/
mrmoshpotato
@ruemara: Definitely the stupidest species.
mrmoshpotato
@Major Major Major Major: Invented? Ummm……
Poe Larity
We all need to do our part in suggesting a rebranding on Corona for InBev.
I suggest Orina or Vacuna Amarilla
Duane
Thirty-eight percent may not believe Corona beer causes coronavirus, but given the stupidity of the general population I’ll bet the percent is higher than four. Maybe, say twenty-seven percent.
mrmoshpotato
@Poe Larity: Or just going “Fuck this stupid shit” and drinking it anyway.
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
REI was still pretty well stocked, so I bought a bunch of freeze-dried meals. I was saying in the thread below that I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to heat up the water for freeze-dried meals if there’s an earthquake and we don’t have electricity or natural gas. Turns out that there are these things the military uses that are basically double boilers — you put the food in the top container and a package of quicklime in the bottom, put some water on the quicklime to start the chemical reaction, seal the unit up, and you have hot food in about 20 minutes. I’m going to do a little more research and probably buy a system this weekend.
Mnemosyne
@mrmoshpotato:
My cats agree with you. ?
cain
[deleted some stupid blather about media elites prior]
I think during the press time don’t really know how to act and so they just report it to normalize it, and then editorialize when they get their story straight. 24 hour news really has a different set of rules than regular newspapers who can have some time for reflection.
We have a patient with COVID-19 about 3 miles from me at a hospital under seclusion. Good times.
RaflW
I gather Rump was on again this evening about ‘hoax’ stuff and how Democrats are using this against him.
Some of you may have noticed I’m an aviation nerd. So I see things like:
– Lufthansa to cut 25% of capacity – that’s a shit ton less flying. And aircraft that they have debt service on now will have much less revenue from which to pay, even if capacity cuts will lower fuel, labor and landing fees.
– Niche player (but quality product) Finnair is to cut expenses by $45-50 million dollars this year.
– Closer to home (for us in the Trumpocalypse), United is asking if pilots would consider one month voluntary furloughs. ie Without pay. I’d assume benefits wouldn’t be impacted, but I don’t know if they have to make employee contributions to things like health insurance. Voluntary furlough programs aren’t routine ways of running a business.
But, hey, Chuck Schumer tweeted something mean, so the virus and the economic risks are his fault.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
It’s not as if he wore a tan suit or put mustard on a cheeseburger.
Geminid
Anyone who can’t get their fill of our own rancorous politics can find plenty more in Israel. Their third election in a year is Monday, and Gantz and Netanyahu are going after each other hammer and tongs. I follow on The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel. Ha’aretz is the best but they have a paywall.
Mnemosyne
@RaflW:
Our office has two people who were supposed to fly to Milan next week. That ain’t happening anymore, so now the vendor has to figure out how to get British Airways to give them a refund or credit for the tickets.
One of these same people will also be flying to Singapore soon, so they’re going to be giving her the rundown of the latest procedures she’ll have to follow.
Anyplace that depends on tourist dollars is going to be seriously hurt by this. Ditto sports events and concerts.
TS (the original)
@Steeplejack (phone):
Thanks – I thought I had it sorted but the embed option on the tweets is giving me grief – it seems different. I’ll try again later. It was another tweet from jay Rosen. He has it down pat – what the media knows about trump & why they normalise it.
NotMax
Nothing like an icy cold Corona to wash down a chewy Ayds.
//
Martin
4th community transmission case. This one in Washington state. So, we now have 4 cases all from different geographic regions, spanning 1000 miles. As soon as we start testing the general public, we’re going to find a lot of cases. I’m guessing at least 200.
We’re now 3 weeks behind on containing this, and no meaningful progress is being made.
Baud
AIDS destroyed AYDS.
ETA: Late night damn you, NotMax.
Sab
@Martin: I read an interesting retweet a while back elsewhere. The countries showing high numbers have good healthcare systems and relatively free and open press.
They don’t have higher infection rates. It’s just that we know about their cases
ETA: I never would have thought it would be so easy to damage the CDC so badly so quickly.
Martin
@Sab: Trump does have one real talent.
Cermet
Strange, no thread about the passing of the great physicist Freeman Dyson? What, only if someone manages to sing are they profiled or important here?
mrmoshpotato
@Cermet: Slackers. Mr. Stickland would not be happy.
Thresherk
The band Anthrax likewise wonders why they haven’t had a gold record in 20 years.
(Anthrax-the-band actually changed their website to post information on anthrax safety after the attacks. I’m not ragging on them, or the bad reportage on the poll. I’m just going for the cheap laff.)
Steeplejack (phone)
@TS (the original):
I gave you the short version because I was just going to bed. Hit me up later if you want a long, tedious explanation.
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Marwan Bishhara at AlJazeera on the Aghanistan peace agreement:
A summary that pulls no punches.
I have no confidence that Donnie’s people know what they’re doing, or that they will follow-up after the signing ceremony, but it is long past time for us to be out of Afghanistan. We cannot police and protect the cities there for the rest of time.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
Stupid? Yeah. As stupid as their leader? Certainly not.
Just Chuck
As if you needed any other reason not to drink that swill.
VOR
The 1918 Spanish Flu got the name because the first big reporting on it happened in Spain. The irony is Spain was a later outbreak. It had already hit France, the US, Germany, and more. But Spain wasn’t a combatant in WW 1 so their press wasn’t locked down.