"Is that the question? … we agreed today to talk about Iran" — Mike Pompeo gets mad immediately during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee because @davidcicilline had to gall to ask him a question about the coronavirus, which he doesn't want to talk about pic.twitter.com/rqIuFyRoyy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 28, 2020
.@tedlieu: Are you going to speak at CPAC today?
POMPEO: Yes
LIEU: So you could only give two hours to Congress, and instead of answering questions on life and death issues you're going to go talk to a special interest group?
POMPEO: Yes
LIEU: It's shameful pic.twitter.com/UBTsvJCWBr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 28, 2020
.@SecPompeo told @HouseForeign that he only had two hours for them this morning to discuss the crisis his boss has created with Iran, but he did have time to go say stupid things to CPAC about his vastly more accomplished predecessor. He hides his insecurity behind contempt. https://t.co/wGfS1E8PDO
— Jarrett Blanc (@JarrettBlanc) February 28, 2020
Speaking of former Secretaries of State…
Crises like the coronavirus outbreak remind us that we're truly all in this together.
Take a few practical steps to prepare and protect yourself and your community—yes, including washing your hands! https://t.co/iPuyPkhCbV
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2020
Benw
Henchmen gonna hench
TS (the original)
trump ruins everything he touches – I can remember when the office of the President of the United States meant something around the world and we used to treat the position of S of S as a “save the world from itself” problem solver.
My world has changed beyond belief in the last three years & I doubt anyone can put it back together.
zhena gogolia
Pompeo’s performance before Congress was one of the most disgraceful things I’ve ever seen.
Great article in the Hillary tweet.
dmsilev
‘If anything, she was overprepared’
Sigh.
Rusty
A request when speaking of CONVID-19, please don’t say “it’s only killing the elderly and those with compromised systems”. There have a number of comments along these lines. We are better than that. As liberals we value everyone, old, young, sick or healthy, of color, LBGTQ+, immigrants, and so on. To say it’s only a certain group, is it promote the rights view that only certain people matter, particularly based on their economic value. We can do better.
The Dangerman
Better to keep your mouth shut and appear to be stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt (see Trump, Donald)
ETA: Seriously, is there anyone left in the Administration that is competent beyond the only skill that Trump cares about (I own’t mention it, but it involves knee pads)
debbie
Jeez, don’t you guys recognize swagger when you see it? // ?
Immanentize
@Rusty: I’ll add. The information regarding who died with covid-19 is mostly the product of a tightly regulated information dictatorship that really only wants the deaths to be the most at risk old people. Certainly, China would never let young healthy people die.
As it spreads we will know whether this was true, or propaganda. The person who died in Washington State was in his/her fifties.
Barbara
@Rusty: There are many people with underlying health issues and they are also at significant risk. If Chinese information on death rate holds up, even people in late 40s and 50s are at much higher risk than they are from seasonal flu.
Calouste
Gov. Inslee has declared a state of emergency in Washington. Two new cases of Covid-19 have been discovered at a care home in Kirkland, near Seattle. About 50 of the staff and patients at that care home have symptoms.
debbie
@Rusty:
Out of curiosity, can you provide a link to such a statement here?
ziggy
I really don’t think that anyone here is suggesting that people who are elderly or health-compromised are of lesser value for any reason. We do need to understand who those most at risk are, and those people are at more risk of severe reactions. So for those of us who do need to go out and make a living, or pick up supplies, or just carry on with life, it’s important to put this all in perspective and not be in a panic about it. Really we aren’t in much danger, but for those who live in areas with active disease present, those more at risk might be better off staying home. That is the reason why the difference in disease susceptibility with different groups is discussed.
LuciaMia
Christ, he even looks like a hired goon.
********
And for those saying “only kills the elderly and the compromised…” Viruses can change. The Spanish Flu was a flip-flop in that it was young, healthy adults who were dying.
Cameron
I like Ted Lieu. He’s not afraid to let them have it right between the eyes.
Just Chuck
[nevermind]
Ohio Mom
I’m reminded that Jay Inslee was my first choice for the Democratic presidential candidate but he didn’t last long.
[email protected]: I don’t think any commentators have remarked, “Ah, it’s only old people,” but the bit about older people with pre-existing conditions being at the most risk is probably included in tweets and other bits quoted in posts.
i know that every time I read any combination of “heart conditions, diabetes, above 60, and lung conditions” my heart skips a beat, because between Ohio Dad and me, we hit all of them. Except smoking, we never smoked.
HumboldtBlue
The sneering contempt from these fuckbags is the most galling.
Have a little dance to distract from the darkening news. Shake it off maybe?
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Don’t worry. There’s more where that came from, until we get rid of these dopes once and for all.
Keith P
Remember when Hillary wouldn’t comment on Bill Clinton’s speech at the DNC convention (2012) because, as Secretary of State, she was supposed to be apolitical? Good times.
Yutsano
@Immanentize: His, although I forget where I saw the confirmation of that now.
gene108
Wonder how many Trump supporting engineers are now going to bash “Scientific American”, because Hillary links to it?
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
BBC reported that Wash State had made the correction. Had Trump only known, he could have said something besides, “And our condolences go out to the victim in Washington State, who I heard was hot. What a tragedy.”
Mnemosyne
Um, isn’t Iran one of the countries being hardest hit by COVID-19, which means that it will affect any ongoing discussions or negotiations the US is having with them? A real SoS would understand that, for fuck’s sake. If he had any interest in not being a dick, Pompeo would know that offering medical assistance would go a really long way right about now.
chopper
@Barbara:
well, here we go.
ziggy
So according to this news site, there have been six cases of coronavirus identified in Washington state. It’s hard to keep this all straight, and sounds like more cases soon.
https://mynorthwest.com/1741025/washington-state-coronavirus-patient-dies/
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Yutsano: I saw a tweet saying the first fatality was a young woman, apparently I wasn’t the only one who got it wrong
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne:
I believe I have spotted the problem…
@trollhattan: UGH! This is going to drive my friend who is much more paranoid about this than I am up the wall now! It’s on the Wet Side so right now we’re in less danger. For now.
Mnemosyne
@Rusty:
I usually try to say it as, “the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are most at risk.” My mom is over 70, has COPD, and has had heart bypass surgery, so I’m more than a little worried right now.
But I think it’s also important to remind people that this is NOT some kind of supervirus and they can protect themselves with ordinary precautions like hand washing, not touching their faces, etc. Some people (not you!) need to calm the hell down and focus on helping the vulnerable rather than focusing on their low-risk selves.
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
Ugh. In addition to my mom being high-risk, I’m probably at medium risk — I’m 50 and I have asthma, so even ordinary flu season holds somewhat higher risks for me.
I had a work acquaintance who died of the “regular” flu a few years ago, so I take seasonal flu seriously.
Brachiator
@Ohio Mom:
Early reports also suggested that older men represented more deaths than older women.
But things could change as more details become known. The main thing, I guess, is just taking reasonable precautions, as you would during flu season or in reaction to any other virus.
Just Chuck
I have to take a break from all news, including BJ. My levels of hatred have reached toxic proportions, and it’s just not doing me any good.
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Hey now, spotted dick is a popular desert in one corner of the globe!
TS (the original)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And I believe that as much as I believe anything that relates to this President. EVERYONE covers for his mistakes.
FelonyGovt
This all puts my feelings about Bernie Sanders into proper perspective. We’d be much better off with him (or almost anyone else) as President.
kindness
The contempt the Trump Administration and Republican Congressional leadership has for our elected Democrats as well as Democratic citizens out there is shocking. That there hasn’t been any pushback from Ma & Pa Republican tells me there is no Ma & Pa Republican at the table any more. It’s only the Gazillionaires & Corporations that fund them. In the old days that alone would tick off those silent Republican citizens. Now? Who knows. The news would never make it past the crew at Fox or other right wing mouthpieces.
Rusty
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for the reply, all good points. I too have family members at higher risk. There is a proactive place between freaking out (buying out hand sanitizer which is useless against viruses, going full preppers) and “it’s ok, only the olds are at risk and who cares about them”. We all need to be there
debbie
@Ohio Mom:
The commenter implied that some had. Other than passing trolls, the overwhelming majority of Jackal Nation would never say or think that.
As someone who’s got asthma and has had pneumonia three times, I’m pretty fatalistic. I work in a vast open space with hundreds of people. I’ll wash my hands and keep my distance, but if I get it, I get it.
jl
@Barbara: Important to remember that the PRC government doesn’t have a monopoly on information. There has been an international WHO task force on the scene in China compiling data, with 25 experts on infectious disease from around the world, and from the names some of them were involved in previous outbreaks of similar diseases such as MERS and SARS. If any of them saw any funny stuff, they’d have an incentive to get the word out, since a developing pandemic combined with bad information about how it worked, could make their lives very miserable in their home countries.
Also there are several now-casting efforts going on to gather all publicly available information, compile and cross-check it. That includes PRC official stats, local news reports, social media, anything at all that can be found on internet. So far we get a consistent report from all the sources.
I think it’s important that people have good information. I saw one paper that showed graphs of the duration from first symptoms of lower respiratory problems to seeing medical attention, from interviews. These showed that patients went to see a doctor much more quickly as the epidemic spread outside Wuhan, as they got info on risk factors for a bad outcome, and what to look for.That might be part of explanation for lower death rate seen outside of Wuhan.
Link to the report of the WHO task force to China:
https://reliefweb.int/report/china/report-who-china-joint-mission-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
trollhattan
@FelonyGovt:
Wonder if he feels compelled to go to campaign events in a face mask? Not even half-joking, he’s nearing 80, has heart issues dire enough to require surgery and has to go from city to city to speak to thousands. What’s a smart preventive health management strategy for somebody in his shoes? (Biden’s not far behind, just with a less interesting health history.)
Elizabelle
Interesting article from the WaPost, if you have a click. Patient, Carl Goldman, owns radio station KHTS in Santa Clarita, CA which looks like it’s a smallish community radio station. No Rush and toxic talk.
WaPost: I have the coronavirus. It isn’t that bad.
Passenger on the Diamond Princess. He came down with the symptoms on the Air Force flight home to Cali; walked back to the isolation unit on the plane and was sent to Nebraska for treatment (in an isolation room used for Ebola patients).
Reports he is mostly drinking a lot of fluids — lots of Gatorade — working via laptop and phone. Moved to a less stringent isolation room and once he tests negative for 3 days, he can be reunited with his wife, who is in the room next to him. (She never came down with the virus.)
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came onto the plane and said that three of us who had been cordoned off would fly to Omaha (with our spouses, if they wanted to come along). The CDC had a quarantine location at the University of Nebraska’s hospital. We arrived on Feb. 17, greeted by a fleet of ambulances and police cars. Officials put me on a stretcher and wheeled me into a van, which made for a very dramatic scene. I easily could have walked myself, despite my exhaustion.
On the hospital campus, they put me in a biocontainment unit. The space was sealed off, with two double-paned windows that looked out on the hallway, and a large, heavy, insulated door. Two cameras watched me at all times; a set of computer monitors were equipped with microphones, so that the medical staff and I could communicate with CDC officials at central command down the hall. The room had last been used for the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
A doctor and nurses reviewed my case with me and took a bunch of lab tests. They wore heavy-duty hazmat suits sealed with duct tape and equipped with motors that helped with air circulation. It looked like something out of “The Andromeda Strain.” When the test came back a few hours later, I wasn’t surprised to learn that I had the coronavirus. Later, the Tokyo swab confirmed the result — I had caught the virus even before I left the ship.
It didn’t scare me too badly. I knew my number was up. The way I saw it, I was going to get stuck in at least 14 more days of quarantine, even if I didn’t get the virus. So many fellow passengers had come down with the illness, including one of my friends, that I’d gotten somewhat used to the idea that I might catch it, too. My wife, however, tested negative and headed to quarantine at a separate facility a few blocks away. After those days being cooped up on the ship together, I think we both relished the alone time; we still could communicate through our phones.
During the first few days, the hospital staff hooked me up to an IV, mostly as a precaution, and used it to administer magnesium and potassium, just to make sure I had plenty of vitamins. Other than that, my treatment has consisted of what felt like gallons and gallons of Gatorade — and, when my fever rose just above 100 degrees, some ibuprofen. The nurses came to the room every four hours or so, to check my vitals, ask if I needed anything and to draw my blood. … After 10 days, I moved out of biocontainment and into the same facility as Jeri. Now we can videochat from our separate quarantines, in neighboring rooms.
As of my most recent test, on Thursday, I am still testing positive for the virus. But by now, I don’t require much medical care. The nurses check my temperature twice a day and draw my blood, because I’ve agreed to participate in a clinical study to try to find a treatment for coronavirus. If I test negative three days in a row, then I get to leave.
Mai naem mobile
Pompeo is a just a pompous bully. I can’t believe this fucker went to West Point. I can’t be bothered to look it up but I would like to see how this fuckers military career went. Did he get weeded out eventually and not stick around because nobody wanted him or did he get to places being a good boot licker.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Seems consistent with how one would manage any flu, just with added 24/7 monitoring and care, and a frickin’ isolation unit you could grow bioweapons in. There can’t be many of those.
It at least demonstrates that the folks who understand these matters managed this first group with full intentions of not letting the virus loose.
FelonyGovt
@trollhattan: Well, a smart health management strategy would dictate his taking time off for cardiac rehab, so that cow’s already out of the barn. But you’re right, the Coronavirus presents another risk for him (and Biden. And probably the other candidates as well.)
Mai naem mobile
@Elizabelle: they’re saying people are getting reinfected after the initial infection has resolved so he’s not exactly out of it. I also don’t understand the reinfection. Is the virus mutating that fast or something else.happening ?
debbie
@Mai naem mobile:
They reported on this on NPR and it was thought the virus “hid” in the body and then reemerged.
jl
@trollhattan: News today is that CDC fixed the problem with its novel coronavirus test (problem was that it produced too many false positives) and is mass shipping.
I’ve already heard two news interviews with different experts, and seen some news blurbs quoting others, all saying that the test now needs to be mass produced and shipped to local public health departments. Any place there is a case, there should be a local surveillance program to estimate prevalence of infection in general population, anyone coming in with symptoms indicating novel coronavirus infection should be tested.
Let’s see if that happens. If it doesn’t because of Trump or Pence meddling, then people should call their Congresscritter.
Elizabelle
@Mai naem mobile: Yeah. Have heard about reinfections and wonder about that one myself.
It’s great UNebraska and CDC can monitor this so closely and get some realtime data.
Guy has a blog about his Diamond Princess experiences. NY Post story says his wife says he has Guillain-Barre, so he has some health issues in the background…
trollhattan
@jl:
Good points. My congresscritter called out Pence just yesterday, so I’m feeling good about her at least, during this shitstorm.
trollhattan
@FelonyGovt:
Know how Trump goes doctor-shopping? I wonder if Sanders shopped to find a doctor who would prescribe shouting as rehab.
jl
Link to one of the paper’s I mentioned yesterday that shows how numbers can be cross checked. I don’t think The Lancet is behind a paywall so everyone can download.
This paper relies on the most complete sample of cases and exposed exported out of China on refugee flights, outbreaks on cruise ships that I’ve seen. You can get a lot of info to check whether there is a consistent pattern in disease characteristics from different sources.
In Figure 4, you can see examples of how an epidemic similar to those in the Chinese cities if different levels of control were applied at the onset. The difference is dramatic, the difference between a nightmare that brings normal daily life and the economy to a halt, and kills mass numbers quickly, and a very manageable series of outbreaks.
Nowcasting and forecasting the potential domestic and international spread of the 2019-nCoV utbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a modelling study
Joseph T
http://www.thelancet.com Published online January 31, 2020
h
West of the Rockies
I genuinely think it would fitting and funny if Mike Piggy Pants Pompeo suffered an extreme bout of the virus. He is vile.
Mnemosyne
@Rusty:
Just to contradict you again, the CDC is recommending hand sanitizer in addition to handwashing. If your hand sanitizer is at least 65 percent alcohol (and most of them are), it does have some antiviral effect. But handwashing is even better.
zhena gogolia
@Mnemosyne:
I had a work acquaintance my age die of the regular flu this December. It was shocking.
zhena gogolia
@Just Chuck:
Looking at Pompeo’s smirk is not good for anybody’s health.
Martin
Member of Irans Parliament just died from Covid. It is going to tear through that country if we don’t lift some of the sanctions.
jl
@jl: Messed up the link to the paper. This should be good one:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30260-9/fulltext
Edit: note in Figure 4 how just reductions in transmissibility, similar to what a very feasible and non-disruptive early detection and community surveillance program in the US can achieve, can completely change the nature of the epidemic in a local area. And the graphs in the article include Wuhan, where the epidemic most likely got a lot of gasoline poured on the fire initially due to the sustained ans substantial animal to human transmission at the market. Aggressive control measures in the US will be even more effective since a bad epidemic would probably grow from a series of small isolated outbreaks.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this fucking gross pantomime that his followers can’t get enough of, its the same face he made when he was reading the Strzok-Page texts aloud. Link for those who want to see it
scribbler
The inability of the CDC to get working tests distributed quickly and efficiently is going to turn out to be a extremely costly mistake, in every way.
tam1MI
@Mnemosyne: I am going to be flying to Orlando, Florida in a couple of days, my plan is to wash my hands when I can, and use hand sanitizer on the plane. Also I will be taking Clorox wipes and wiping the seat tray and the arms of my seat (if I can) with it.
patrick Il
Belligerence covers ignorance. Pompeo has no answers because he has given tthings other than dogmatism so little thought. If Ted had asked whether we had offered assistance, he would huff and puff because the thought has never crossed his mind.
JMG
As a 70-year old, I wonder what the phrase “underlying health issues” really means. I read somewhere that high blood pressure is a risk factor for severity of the virus. That’s an “underlying health issue” for like 100 million or more American adults. Or in public health, is it terminology for serious pulmonary or cardiovascular conditions? I had three eye surgeries last year (two cataract, one detached retina, ugh) but while that’s a health issue for me, I don’t think it’s what they mean when they discuss the virus. I’d really appreciate a little explainer somewhere. Vox, get on it!
jl
@scribbler: “The inability of the CDC to get working tests distributed quickly and efficiently is going to turn out to be a extremely costly mistake, in every way. ”
The problem was that the initial test produced too many false positives. The usefulness of a test in this situation can be destroyed by a very small error in the false positive rate. In situations like this, it has to be very finely calibrated. So, yes, an unfortunate delay and they should have done better in a perfect world, but not a blunder. It is hard thing to get right, and a false start is very understandable.
skerry
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Flag Code
§8. Respect for flag: The flag should never touch anything beneath it.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Obama once didn’t wear a flag pin.
Martin
@jl: The problem was that the WHO test was unacceptable to the CDC and they developed their own. Why? Why not just use the WHO test?
Anya
@Rusty: I’ve made some comments about “most at risk groups”. That does not mean we don’t care or we’re saying “that’s the group that the virus will affect.” Not at all. Knowing about risk factors helps us with prevention. My little brother is a 19 year old college student who has severe asthma. But he’s 19 so he acts like he’s invincible and he hangs out with other 19 year olds who act the same way so we’re worried about him. My mom nearly lost her mind and brought him back from Providence to New York, because I made the mistake of telling her he had a minor cold. While all of us are at risk, if you’re healthy then you have a lower risk of the severity of the virus. That is all we’re saying. No one takes joy in these facts. We all have people we love who fall in one of those categories.
J R in WV
@Rusty:
Actually, according to WHO (for sure, and I think CDC as well) hand sanitizer works well against many viral infections, including Covid-19. I have posted this often, but bad information races around the world before the truth has its boots on.
It does need adequate alcohol content, but both alcohol and hydrogen peroxide kills this virus. Most hand sanitizer contains enough alcohol to work well. Vodka, alas, does not…
The Dangerman
@trollhattan:
Sharpie time!
Anya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s such a freak. I don’t know how anyone watching is not embarrassed by these antics. Who buys this gross display of fake patriotism?
Sally
@Mnemosyne: Just what I was thinking. Instead of increasing sanctions, offer assistance in this global emergency.
Pompass
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Elizabelle
@Sally:
Pompass
Perfect.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Was that when he wore the tan suit?
Elizabelle
The polls in South Carolina close at 7. Anyone in line at that time can vote.
Wonder how quickly we will have results.
jl
@Martin: You have a link? I want to know more about that. I didn’t read that it was unacceptable, just that the test properties were not good for use in US. But that was from newspaper, so may not be reliable.
Referring to my comment above, could easily be that a WHO test with characteristics that would be useful in epidemic areas in China, where prevalence was much higher, wouldn’t do any good in US at isolated outbreak stage, for example.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Seems like that combination would be an impeachable offense.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: The tan suit pretty much was by itself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai naem mobile: I don’t really understand the whole thing about Pompeo and West Point. Would everyone be shocked if he went to MIT or Haverford and turned out to be a shitbag. The service academies select for a certain type of person, driven and disciplined. If you know the rules and can follow them, you can have a successful career there. The West Pointers I have worked with in the past have been, with few exceptions, reasonably but not extraordinarily bright and very conventional in thought and behavior. The material for good army officers. A few were vicious shits (I suspect that Pompeo was one of those) and a very few were really interesting people.
jl
OK… oops, unless they have an explanation, looks like CDC did blunder, unless they can provide a good reason why they tried to modify the WHO test. WHO test ID’s only the novel coronavirus, CDC wanted a test that picked up other viruses too. Apparently the first version of the CDC test registered some of the other viruses as the novel coronavirus, and thus, the excessive false positives for coronavirus.
Key Missteps at the CDC Have Set Back Its Ability to Detect the Potential Spread of Coronavirus
The CDC designed a flawed test for COVID-19, then took weeks to figure out a fix so state and local labs could use it. New York still doesn’t trust the test’s accuracy.
https://www.propublica.org/article/cdc-coronavirus-covid-19-test
The news report I read just said the original test produced too many false positives.
Another Scott
Pompeo is horrible and continues to show that he is incapable of learning anything.
Grr…
Just back from a grocery run to Target. A little more busy than a usual Saturday afternoon. Sold out of soups, chili, canned tuna. I’ve never seen that before…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
laura
@tam1MI: don’t forget the seat belt and buckle and the headrest. Wipe down anything in the seat pocket that you may touch. I went to town on the entire area I sat in on a recent flight to Florida and the steward said that’s the first thing she does on every flight.
Uncle Cosmo
IIRC most of the mortality was caused by a “cytokine storm” where the anti-inflammatory response is fatal, rather than the infection itself. Effectively those with the strongest immune systems – the relatively young & healthy – were at highest risk for such a response.
Anya
Steve Kornacki has such a chaotic energy.
BTW, 4% of the South Carolina primary voters were Republicans. I think most of them are disaffected Republicans, as opposed to ratfuckers.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That flag needs to be burned immediately after that desecration.
PsiFighter37
OT, but have a screaming 6 month-old baby who has suddenly decided to lose any capacity to go to bed on her own out of the blue. She is going to be the reason she is an only child…I do not think, for my own sanity’s sake, I can do this again.
Zelma
I was going to go to the store this afternoon but it was cold and windy and I have a cold. I wonder if there will be anything left by tomorrow? My cupboard is pretty bare since I’ve been sick all week. And here I was congratulating myself on not panicking. Oh well. I have lots of toilet paper. That’s the most important thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anya: I’ve seen a couple of never trumpers urging their fellow travelers in open contest states to support moderate candidates
eye of the beholder and all that
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Feeling stressed? Watch Russian soldiers dance to Britney Spears…
J R in WV
My first run for supplies was to PetSmart, where I bought them out of our brand/flavors of kibble. SUV is currently full, intend to move all those sacks of DF into the basement tomorrow, hunt for people foods Monday. Have a 3M respirator for use with pesticides and woodworking dust, hoping to procure new filters for it if at all possible.
Sporting goods stores may have some freeze dried dinners that last well and aren’t repulsive. Hoped to get crates of canned goods, dried beans and rice, flavoring ingredients like canned green chilies, frozen sausage, canned meat, etc.
Elizabelle
Polls closed in South Carolina.
Ksmiami
@Zelma: can you order from prime? Amazon has been amazing in my own stockpiling experience. Note I have 3-4 weeks of food etc and if it goes beyond that, I’m out of this timeline… zombie hordes etc
Ohio Mom
[email protected] Your baby has developed Separation Anxiety, right on schedule! Congrats!
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I saw the Red Army Band touring on a cultural exchange tour probably 55 or 60 years ago. There were Russian Cossacks who danced juggling knives and bouncing 6 feet into the air, kicking out their feet.
It was amazing to see, these guys are doing their folk dances, I’m not sure the Spears track was live, there was a traditional looking band standing there too.
ETA on second look, while the traditional musicians were picking their stringed instruments, I think they were playing along with the sound track… Cultural mix for the win~!!~
Anya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope I’ve read this wrongly but I think 18% said they will not vote for the nominee in November. WTF? Why are they voting in the primary then? That is strange to me.
Robert Sneddon
@Uncle Cosmo: Not quite, it’s believed the “cytokine storm” meant more middle-aged adults died than in a normal bad influenza epidemic but most of the victims of Spanish Flu were babies and old people as was normal in the progress of such an infectious disease.
A casual perusal of the reports of what’s happening with COVID-19 (which is not an influenza) is that few children are suffering badly from its effects. The most at-risk clade seems to be very elderly people and others with existing problems such as respiratory disease, diabetes etc. There’s also the possibility many people with major reactions to COVID-19 are also suffering from regular colds or flu or opportunity infections causing pneumonia and the like, or other debilitating infections like norovirus or food poisoning (a big problem in the US given food hygiene practices) reducing the body’s ability to cope with the biological insult.
Hand sanitising and vaccination against influenza won’t stop anyone getting COVID-19 but it may well reduce its effects if you were to get infected, by limiting exposure to secondary infections.
Zzyzx
@Elizabelle: I was surprised by the immediate calls. I didn’t even know that polls had closed when my phone beeped. But
Chyron HR
Well, now the shrieking psychotic morons that laughably call themselves America’s “left” are going to get infected on purpose. Thanks, Shillary.
WaterGirl
@PsiFighter37: I hope someone who has been there with a young child will have some encouraging words for you shortly.
In the meantime, I can see that you are at the end of your rope, so i can’t leave your comment unacknowledged! This is surely just a phase, right? Soon she’ll be the most charming child you have ever seen and all will be forgiven.
Maybe make a music playlist of calming music and make that part of the bedtime ritual? If kids are anything like my pups, they can pick up on your emotions and then everything escalates.
oh, and if everything I wrote has been annoying and useless, at least I tried. :-)
Anya
Biden’s win must be as big as HRC or Obama’s win because the networks called it early.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ll admit, I was hoping the old man would sweep the delegates
Baud
@Anya:
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Good. Hope that helps him on Tuesday.
Uncle Cosmo
I’m no fan of BS, but I freely admit he’d be significantly better than Trump while he was in the White House. Among other things, the executive orders & personnel appointments would not be nearly as disastrous for the country & the world.
The problem I have with him (& to a lesser extent with other Democratic candidates for POTUS) is that I don’t see how his Presidency could end well. I think the inability to accomplish much of anything he proposes will simply trigger massive revulsion & reaction (funded by the bazillionaires & aided & abetted by a MSM in the tank for them) a la Tea Party 2.0 that would put a fascist in the White House after 2024. A real fascist, not a toxic narcissist cosplaying one – an American Erdogan-equivalent, astute enough to get a whole shitpile of awful things enacted. And that would be the end of liberal democracy.
chris
In other news, spare a thought for the women of Afghanistan.
Anya
@Baud: He really does. Regardless of how it ends, I didn’t want him to be humiliated.
Do you think Klobuchar and Steyer are going to withdraw from the race or are they going to continue to the end?
Elizabelle
@Anya: Thank dog.
Stop Bernie. We have to. He is unelectable. We can do better.
For one thing, elect a Democrat who is proud to belong to the party.
Baud
@Anya:
I think Steyer said he would, but who knows?
I don’t see what Klo has left in the tank, but she might stay in through Minnesota.
Elizabelle
@Uncle Cosmo: I agree with your prediction of the results of a Bernie presidency.
We cannot have him as nominee. He would be ineffectual in a time when we really need government to work.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl:
Well, until she becomes a teen.
Anya
@Elizabelle: I hope he gets a huge momentum from this and stops Bernie’s continued surge. I am sad about Warren. But I am glad uncle Joe had this win.
Baud
@PsiFighter37:
Sounds like a Jackal in the making.
PsiFighter37
@chris: Only the best deals.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: He can cross that bridge when he comes to it! :-)
Right now he has to make if over this one.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Balloon Juice – The Next Generation.
Mike in NC
Joe Biden ought to be getting a congratulatory phone call tonight from former president Obama.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud:
She’ll never quit before Buttigieg. Kidding. Sort of. Not really.
I would tell them both, and the billionaires, to go home.
Terry McAuliffe has endorsed Biden
Sure Lurkalot
@laura: And offer a wipe to your seatmates!
Nicole
@PsiFighter37: I’m sorry. Every child is different. Mine was not a bedtime screamer, but he didn’t sleep through the night until he was 13 months old, and I remember, somewhere around the time he was eight months old, having a minor nervous break down at home one night, because I hadn’t had more than four hours of sleep at one stretch since I was seven months pregnant.
All I can tell you, is this too shall pass, and it’ll be the stuff you tell funny stories about later. Be easy on yourself and it’s okay to leave her yelling by herself in a room for a bit if it’s getting to be too much.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Are there still people who have faith in exit polls?
Baud
@Sure Lurkalot:
I read that as “offer to wipe your seatmate” and thought that seemed counterproductive.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: We’re Balloon Juice, we don’t question other’s kink as long as it’s consensual.
Uncle Cosmo
I’m slightly more sanguine; I believe a significant minority of 2016 Trump voters are still Ma & Pa R at heart, who didn’t get what they thought they’d get & aren’t happy with what they did get. I think we can bring them into tentative, temporary alliance with the forces of sanity, but only if we shitcan the agree-with-every-one-of-my-policies-or-you’r’e-a-bigot/fascist stance that’s crippled US progressives for at least 50 years**. Our approach to them should be, “We disagree on many things, and we can argue them out, but only after we put our democracy back on the rails.” IMO there are enough of them (>10% of Trump’s 2016 vote total) to swell a modest landslide into an overwhelming repudiation of overt bigotry and fascism in political discourse. We need that.
** I saw this first-hand as a college student attending meetings of the local Vietnam Moritorium Committee in the late 1960s.
JPL
@Martin: Pompeo already told the Iranian people that our thoughts and prayers are with em.. What else do you want?
Sab
@Nicole: My younger brother spent his nights for the first few months in a laundry basket in my parents closet with the door firmy closed. And my dad still sleeps with his head between two pillows, and he’s in his 90s.
Sally
@PsiFighter37: This is exactly what I promised myself after each of our four sons!
Nicole
@Sab: Ha! That makes me think of the difference between my sister-in-law’s first and fourth child. The first was with her all the time; the fourth, even on his very first night in the hospital she told them to take him to the nursery so she could sleep.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Nice that Trump found a guy that makes Kissinger seem a fount of humanitarianism