Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We won’t go back.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans in disarray!

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The revolution will be supervised.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Their freedom requires your slavery.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / White House Covid Briefing

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  6. 6.

    Ohio Mom

    I wouldn’t necessarily remember to tune in at the right time every day but sure, when I do remember, I can slake my morbid curiosity. So sure, if it’s an easy thing for you to do.

  9. 9.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Fawning; Were are the ritual disembowelings? Are their no knives in the White House for lackeys to cut their own gizzards out as a love offerings to the Most stable Genius in American History? The Trump admin can’t even do boot licking correctly.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    How nice of the White House to provide comedic relief just when Americans really need it. //

  11. 11.

    Joy in FL

    I like having the option of a reliable place to find the video. So if it’s not much effort for you to post it, I will appreciate the access. Thanks : )

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC just cut back to the live briefing from MI coverage, so of course I hit mute when I saw Mike Pence. Glancing up now, Larry Kudlow is talking.

    I doubt that is good.

  15. 15.

    FlyingToaster

    Personally, nope.  But I appreciate that most of us are just getting home (right coast) or taking a break (left coast) and may want to document the follies.

    Thanks for the effort.

  17. 17.

    LAC

    Larry lockjaw kudlow is prattling on and offering nothing of detail and plenty of ass kissing.  He should just show us his cufflinks and be done.

  18. 18.

    Kent

    We need someone to make the Mystery Science Theater version of all of Trump’s briefings.  I would watch that.

  21. 21.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Baud: Yeah, I have just been forgetting to label threads as open. After about twenty comments, all threads turn more or less open, so I haven’t seen a necessity for it.

    So good idea.

    OMG Kudlow is lying out of both ends and sounds drunk.

  24. 24.

    Cameron

    I have no desire to watch the swinish oaf or his toadies, but I’m curious….has he referred to it as “Covfefe-19” yet?

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Yes, please post it if you can. We all have the option of skipping the thread if we don’t want to watch. Thank you.

  26. 26.

    jeffreyw

    As long as we’re treating this as an open thread, let me say that the Samsung browser is the best browser for android.  Not even close.  After all these years of turning up my nose is am pleasantly surprised.  It offers choice of third party adblockers and has a desktop chrome browser extension that syncs your bookmarks.  It has a great look and feel.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    No joke, this we’re all going to die thing is starting to get me down.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    The distance between Trump and Putin spokescritters is slim, at the most.

    “You keep talking and keep talking on issues you cannot prove,” Maria Zakharova accuses me. “And you’re doing that on purpose. You’re shaping the perception that Russia is guilty. That’s propaganda. I’m sorry. You are a piece of propaganda.”

    Referring to the March 2018 Salisbury poisoning, Ms Zakharova complains that “Russian citizens were accused publicly” of trying to kill the Skripals “with no evidence – how can you do this to them?”

    “You mean those two people who claimed to be tourists, but were [Russian] GRU agents?” I ask.

    “We’re not talking about what organisation they belonged to,” she replies. “How are those two guys connected to what happened to the Skripals? Probably they were near this place. Probably they touched something. Probably they – I don’t know – gave him some medicine. What happened? Can you tell me?”

    –Maria Zakharova

    “Why does Russia never admit to anything?” I ask state TV talk show host Vladimir Solovyov.

    “That’s easy, you never have evidence,” he replies. “And you’ve always been accusing Russia, going back to the 19th Century. At the same time, you never admit your own faults.”

    “Doesn’t it worry you that your country has developed a reputation for being a global denier or liar?” I ask.

    “Definitely not. Are you the one that is always trying to tell the truth? Are you talking about Boris Johnson? Is he the most truthful person in the world? Are you pulling my leg? Come on. Wake up!”

    –BBC

    “No puppet, no puppet, is you puppet!”

  32. 32.

    MomSense

    This feels like the beginning of a zombie movie.  We all have it, but we haven’t turned yet.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @jeffreyw:

    You may be right. I have been using it on my S10e since last May. Kept thinking I would put Chrome or Firefox on there but never got around to it. The Samsung browser does everything I need and does it pretty well.

    Thanks for the tip on the ad blockers. Hadn’t thought of that, and I see the link is right in the menu.

  39. 39.

    joel hanes

    @different-church-lady:

    What do we say to Death?

    “Not today.”

    Stay home.   Wash your hands.   I just went around the house and wiped down every doorknob and the edges of the doors and the places on the walls and woodwork where people unconsciously put their hands and the toilet seats and lids and knobs with diluted bleach.

  42. 42.

    Feathers

    @Brachiator: Ooh. Was covfefe the secret incantation to the Elder Gods to awake COVID? We all repeated it and now….

    I need a few good nights sleep. My refrigerator has been failing to cycle on recently and I’ve found water on the ice cubes. My solution has just not been to stock much. I live alone and it actually has been working well. But not for much longer. Is there something I should quickly check myself before calling my landlord for a new one?

    ETA: correct spelling of covfefe. Ha!

  43. 43.

    The Dangerman

    Pence is now doing his obligatory paen to the Dear Leader…

    He’s going to write a book of these praises someday; it might sell one or two outside of the Trump Family and RNC.

    …and also telling us it’s not really a problem.

    Now, THERE is a man who has never discovered, too late, that there isn’t any toilet paper available.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    I missed the first ten minutes or so but found this much more interesting that I expected.

    My vote for the most important part was when the reporter asked where they were going to get the trillion plus dollars needed to make up for the payroll tax suspension.

    This is the Shock Doctrine in action. First, suspending the payroll tax is a huge giveaway to every company and corporation. That’s money they can pocket.

    More importantly, it is the beginning of the realization of every Republican’s dream: killing Social Security.

    They are going to bankrupt Social Security! Right in front of our eyes! While drunk Larry distracts with platitudes.

    My other observation is that they were all nicely color-coordinated. There must have been instructions to wear blue.

  48. 48.

    Anotherlurker

    Since this is now more or less an open thread, I’d like to point out some Bernie Bro irony.

    This morning I received a notification from the International of my union, IATSE.  The notification informed me that Cenk Uygur, of The Young Turks show, has been fighting a unionization effort by his broadcast employees.  He now wants a do-over election with TYT dictating the terms.  They are refusing to budge and are resisting all efforts at good faith negotiations.

    Great look for a “progressive” Cenk.

  49. 49.

    zzyzx

    @Ohio Mom: The House is already disinterested in this, so I’m not too worried.

    Obama did it in an emergency once too. If it’s limited time, it’s not the end of the world. But, yeah, if they’re talking a permanent ending, well fortunately it won’t fly.

  52. 52.

    hitchhiker

    Pence is now doing his obligatory paen to the Dear Leader…

    A supercut of these would make a good ad, especially if split-screened with images of ordinary Americans looking baffled. There could be a screen crawl underneath naming all the failures and lies.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:

    Mike Pence Psalms, bet that would go well.

    “Yea, though I walk through the valley of Nantucket
    Something, something as large as a bucket…
    My boss is so great, the rest of you suck it”

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @The Dangerman:

    He’s going to write a book of these praises someday; it might sell one or two outside of the Trump Family and RNC.

    Fake News!  It will sell well, second only to “Art of the Deal”, which you know is history’s best selling book.

    /Trump

  59. 59.

    opiejeanne

    @Cheryl Rofer: Thanks for doing this because I think it’s important to see what lies they are telling today, as opposed to yesterday, but I won’t be watching it. I watched Pence when he visited WA a few days ago and was almost lulled by his laudatory comments about Jay Inslee and the state’s response to the epidemic, and then he started lying, followed by a bunch of Trump flunkies also lying, including the execrable Seema Verma and some other cretins. They all lied.

    I’m happy to say I made it to 70, and felt fine on my birthday, yesterday. Except for that little headache I’ve had for several days now, and today I’m sick.

    I woke up this morning and noticed I was listing to starboard, quite badly. I ended up briefly “tossing my cookies”, as my favorite aunt used to say, and went back to bed.

    After a long nap the dizziness has stopped, no more bed-spins, hallelujah. Just a stuffy nose, but not runny, and there was a dry cough at night for a couple of weeks. I thought up until this morning that it was just allergies, but now I know I’ve got a bug of some sort.

  60. 60.

    rp

    Anyone see Cole’s tweet about Biden telling a “blatant lie” about his Iraq vote? I thought it was a little weird.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    Exactly. He’s been biting his tongue for years because he has to work with this asshole and he’s SO HAPPY that someone is finally taking him down.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    I’m glad someone’s tracking this so I don’t have to:

    Jill Steins 79 last tweets:

    •Attacks against Democrats: 79

    -Attacks against Biden: 77 (12 during last 3 hours, 37 during last 24 hours)

    -Attacks against Warren: 2

    •Attacks against Republicans: 0

    — Nico Psycho Magnet XW (@Nicoxw1) March 10, 2020

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Baud:

    That’s my one complaint. It’s not that the actual search is slower; it’s that they do a fancy-pants scroll down to the next hit instead of a quick jump. Showing off. Drives me nuts.

  68. 68.

    Ohio Mom

    Martin @47: Pence made a somewhat big deal to announce the feds had delivered those tests to Washington State (I’m guessing, a significant amount of time after they were requested), and that the administration has great working relationship with Governor Inslee.

    That would have been the perfect opportunity to recognize Inslee’s leadership and how Washingtonians are working together, but that sort of thing is beyond the smallness of Pence.

    I just remembered another reporter’s question I liked: Would Trump be stopping shaking hands to set an example? Pence gave a long answered that meant, No.

  70. 70.

    opiejeanne

    @Mike J: I mistyped it as CORVID-19 a couple of days ago and got some funny results, one about the death of crows (been there, done that in 2005 with West Nile).

    I tried to replicate it but now it just self-corrects.

  71. 71.

    rp

    @Baud: I’m pretty sure Clinton and many other dems made that argument at the time of the vote. I thought then and think now it was a dumb argument — Bush obviously wasn’t negotiating in good faith and had no interest in using the vote for leverage in negotiations — but they weren’t voting for war.

  75. 75.

    Josie

    @Ohio Mom:

    Yes!  This is exactly what I was thinking listening to Kudlow prattling on.  They will stop people paying the tax until the election to gain votes, then they will say social security will need to be cut since there is not enough money there.  It made me want to throw something at the television.  I hope the Democrats in congress do not fall for this shit.

  76. 76.

    Alaska Reader

    Why the heck are all those people nodding their heads?

    It seems to me that the head nodding is directly proportional to each succeeding incredulous and fallacious claim being announced.

    Is this some kind of conservative ‘tell’?

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    @rp:

    This is part of what drives people nuts when it comes to criticizing Biden. He voted for the Iraq War, realized too late that it was a dumb vote, and advised Obama NOT to do the surge in Afghanistan even though all of the generals were pushing for it.

    Biden makes mistakes, realizes or is told that it was a mistake, and changes his mind. This drives people nuts when they’re trying to make a point about his record because there’s usually a big correction for each big mistake. Anita Hill led to VAWA. Etc.

  79. 79.

    Another Scott

    I always try to avoid Donnie and Dense.   But since it’s not autoplaying (Thanks FSM!!), it doesn’t matter to me.  Having a thread in it is Ok.

    Thanks for all of your efforts.  You, and all the FPers here!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    Zzxzy: Obama’s suspension of the payroll tax was for a partial percentage, not the whole thing.

    I could see that as a sensible response to a recession, but a payroll tax reduction isn’t going to help people who aren’t getting pay checks because they are quarantined at home.

    We’d really be screwed a hundred ways over if we hadn’t flipped the House…Taking a moment to be grateful for everyone who made that happen,

  81. 81.

    debbie

    @Ohio Mom:
    Meanwhile,

    Number infected just jumped 19%. This morning, it was 725. This afternoon, 805. Now, 959.PLEASE even if you believe this is all fake, wash your hands, dont go out if you dont have to. Remember: Italy is totally locked down because of this disease. It's spreading rapidly in US.— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 10, 2020

  82. 82.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Exit Poll — Michigan  — Ideology

     

    Very Liberal………………………24%

    Somewhat Liberal…………….39%

    Moderate/Conservative…….38%

     

    One of the traps political blogs fall into is assuming everyone voter is liberal.

  84. 84.

    Feathers

    @Mnemosyne: Every time someone (white) I know has been in the news about how unfairly they’ve been treated they’ve been a flaming asshole.

  87. 87.

    opiejeanne

    @Elizabelle: Thanks. I baked myself a cake yesterday. Angel food. And made a quick strawberry sauce for it from frozen berries from last year’s garden. We couldn’t eat them all last year, and I didn’t want to waste them. The neighbors we usually share with were gone for the weeks when they were ripe.

  90. 90.

    debbie

    @opiejeanne:

    Late happy birthday, and I hope that the creeping crud (as my Mamaw called anything she thought was lousy) is over and done with.

  93. 93.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Worth noting again that the road just gets tougher for Sanders from here on out. In our polling, Sanders is down ~30 pts in the states left to vote after tonight (in polling taken after Warren left the race).

    — (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) March 10, 2020

    Not that he’ll drop out.  We’re only a couple weeks away from him screaming the Super Delegates need to veto the will of the people and coronate him as the nominee.

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    I watched it yesterday and it was a ton of ass kissing out (not)great leader and very light on facts. I learn infinitely more from AL’s threads.

     From a student whose classes haven’t been cancelled yet:

    My professor just told me that if we get a whiff of smoke it’s because another professor put the papers he was grading in the microwave to rid them of any chance of Corona Virus & then the papers caught on fire… I can’t make this stuff up people— emily perez (@Lou16em) March 10, 2020

  96. 96.

    Another Scott

    @Feathers: Our fridge was acting up a few months ago.  It turned out to be the thermostat.  It was easy to find a replacement and to do the work myself (just had to take out some of the plastic lining in the freezer to gain access).  There are lots of places that are easy to find on the web that have all the information you need along with the parts.  Just do a Google search with the model number (should be easy to find on a sticker inside the fridge).

    HTH a little.  Good luck!

    [eta:] If you’re renting, it’s not your problem!  If you have a decent landlord, anyway.  Good luck++!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mnemosyne: So we’re going to have a general election between two guys that make mistakes, one doubles down on the mistake denying that he ever makes mistakes, and the other admits the mistake and tries to make up for with good works.

  102. 102.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @rp: Bangalore! Apparently der Blogmeister has a twitch over the AUMF like Raven’s Fuck LBJ! kneejerk.

    @Mike J: You know who’s got a corvid problem coming up this season? The rest of the AFC North, for openers…

    (Scary thought: Football games without spectators. Maybe they’ll let them pump in artificial crowd noise?)

  103. 103.

    WereBear

    @Mnemosyne:

    Biden makes mistakes, realizes or is told that it was a mistake, and changes his mind. This drives people nuts when they’re trying to make a point about his record because there’s usually a big correction for each big mistake. Anita Hill led to VAWA. Etc.

     

    True, and it’s one of the things I like about him. I wonder if some people just don’t get that: because they are so unused to anyone who is able to do that.

  108. 108.

    opiejeanne

    @Sebastian: I don’t have a fever. I know that nausea is a possible symptom, as are other digestive troubles. Read an article by a gastroenterologist that said she was seeing these problems in patients with COVID-19.

    I’m in King Coutny, WA, 4 miles from Evergreen Hospital where most of the deaths have occurred, and 6 miles from Life Care Center. I sometimes have appointments at that hospital, and did two weeks ago. I was in a different building, but staff and patients move between the offices and the main hospital; there’s a tunnel that connects the two.

    Unfortunately, my provider is Evergreen, and they announced without any input from the CDC (as far as we know) that they are not going to continue testing because they’ve decided the virus is endemic. If I do get a fever I will be on the phone right away, pestering my current doctor to arrange a test. People are being tested in WA, it’s the least Evergreen could do for me.

  109. 109.

    dmsilev

    @Mary G:

    My professor just told me that if we get a whiff of smoke it’s because another professor put the papers he was grading in the microwave to rid them of any chance of Corona Virus & then the papers caught on fire.

    More proof, should any be needed, that extensive book learning and common sense do not necessarily go hand in hand.

    (besides, everyone knows that you use a steam autoclave to sterilize things. I won’t guarantee that the pages will be particularly readable, or even vaguely intact, at the end of the process though)

  111. 111.

    Kent

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:Not that he’ll drop out.  We’re only a couple weeks away from him screaming the Super Delegates need to veto the will of the people and coronate him as the nominee.

    He doesn’t have to drop out.  Biden can just pivot to the general election and start campaigning against Trump in upcoming swing states while Bernie is off in Oregon trying to scrape up one extra delegate in a state that will go Dem no matter what.   Bernie will be reduced to irrelevance by circumstance, whether he concedes or not.  He will become the Tulsi Gabbard of 2020.  She technically hasn’t conceded yet either.

    And Biden will probably not even lose any votes in Oregon by ignoring the state.  Momentum has it’s own effects.

    As soon as this damn race is effectively over, Biden needs to go into general election mode and just ignore whatever Bernie is doing.  These are the last primaries.  Biden should ignore them all except WI and PA:

    • April 4: Alaska and Hawaii party-run primaries; Louisiana primary; Wyoming caucus
    • April 7: Wisconsin primary
    • April 28: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island primaries
    • May 2: Guam caucus; Kansas party-run primary
    • May 5: Indiana primary
    • May 12: Nebraska and West Virginia primaries
    • May 19: Kentucky and Oregon primaries
    • June 2: District of Columbia, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota primaries
    • June 6: Virgin Islands caucuses
  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: Jesus Christ, no.  Biden was wrong in 2003, but he was wrong about Bush’s good faith.  At the time, he said what he is now saying that he said.  He wanted to strengthen Bush’s negotiating hand.  If you want to attack him, attack his judgment on that.

  116. 116.

    Ohio Mom

    Opiejeanne, Happy Birthday, and I second the plea for you to call your doctor.

    By my calculations, in your end of the continent, the doctor might still be on his/her office, but if I counted time zones incorrectly, call anyway.

    The answering service will have the doctor call you back in short order. My friend’s husband is a PCP and he’s always getting calls at home. Don’t be shy.

    Martin: I am not surprised the nursing home is still short of tests. The shortage of tests is a disgrace. Other countries have been able to ramp up testing, we have no excuse (except Trump).

  117. 117.

    WereBear

    @opiejeanne: At this point, whatever it is, you will be better served to call now, see if you can get an anti-viral or someone to pay attention to you and your age. Especially if you have any compromises in your respiratory system; gastro could be a nasty blessing in that case?

  119. 119.

    West of the Cascades

    @Kent: Don’t ignore Oregon!! We’d like to see Uncle Joe out here.

    More seriously, I think there’s something to be said for Joe going to each of the remaining states (COVID-19 willing) — to limit any lingering Sanders votes, but also to whip up enthusiasm for down-ballot Democratic candidates, including state and local candidates. That’s as important in a year where the state legislative elections have direct implications for redrawing congressional districts and state legislative districts.

  120. 120.

    Scout211

    Anyone have suggestions on how to handle the card reader keypads? We have hand wipes that we use after touching the keypads but our supply will run out soon.  The stores around here are out of them right now and also out of hand sanitizers. If we are headed right home after shopping, no problem, we wash our hands when we get home.  But we live rural so a shopping day is typically several different stores. Any thoughts?

  122. 122.

    Kent

    @West of the Cascades:@Kent: Don’t ignore Oregon!! We’d like to see Uncle Joe out here.

    Do you want him to win the White House or do you want your egos stroked?

    There is no fucking margin for error this time around.  We don’t need Biden doing a victory lap in CA the week before the election like Hillary was doing.  The called it fundraisers, but that’s what it was.

  123. 123.

    Another Scott

    In other news, Charlie Pierce at Esquire:

    […]

    And on Tuesday, a federal court ruled that the House was entitled to see the grand-jury testimony gathered during Mueller’s investigation. From the AP:

    The three-judge panel said in a 2-1 opinion that the House Judiciary Committee’s need for the material in its investigations of President Donald Trump outweighed the Justice Department’s interests in keeping the testimony secret. The opinion authorizes access to information that Democrats have sought since the conclusion of Mueller’s investigation, giving lawmakers previously-undisclosed details from the two-year Russia probe.
    […]
    Writing for the majority, Judge Judith Rogers said that because Mueller himself “stopped short” of reaching conclusions about Trump’s conduct to avoid stepping on the House’s impeachment power, the committee had established that it could not make a final determination about Trump’s conduct without access to the underlying grand jury material.

    Of course, this could be the treasure of Sierra Madre for people who have been chasing this story for three years. Almost all the principal actors in the drama testified before that grand jury. What is becoming clear is that certain elements of the federal judiciary are fed up with all the tap-dancing and micro-parsing and outright defiance on the part of what increasingly looks like a mob family in retreat. There are still judges who love their work.

    OhPleaseOhPleaseOhPlease…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  125. 125.

    Kent

    @Baud:Clare says Biden will win MO and MI by double digits.

    She’s probably right.  She is DEFINITELY right about much of the white rural Bernie vote in 2016 actually being anti-Hillary votes (deplorables).   Cole was here telling us that weeks ago.  It is much harder to hate Joe than Hillary.

  127. 127.

    Martin

    @Kent: That wasn’t a victory lap – it was helping downtickets. And it did – CA was the only state that pushed left in 2016. But still, that wasn’t where she should have been.

  130. 130.

    zzyzx

    Everything I’ve seen about Corona testing in WA is that they do it for the most critical cases only. It would be nice if there were easy tests, but lots of things would be nice.

  132. 132.

    opiejeanne

    @Ohio Mom: It’s 4:30, and my doctor has probably  gone home, but I can email her. She’s only at my clinic on Monday and Tuesday, and after that it’s the other doctor. Both are also pharmacists, which has been a blessing for working out what to do about my Type 2 diabetes.  My blood sugar is now under very good control. right now I’m wondering why I haven’t gotten a notice from my pharmacy that my prescription for the next Freestyle gizmo I stick to my arm has been refilled.  It runs out on next Tuesday.

  133. 133.

    Kent

    @West of the Cascades:

    @Kent: Don’t ignore Oregon!! We’d like to see Uncle Joe out here.

    More seriously, I think there’s something to be said for Joe going to each of the remaining states (COVID-19 willing) — to limit any lingering Sanders votes, but also to whip up enthusiasm for down-ballot Democratic candidates, including state and local candidates. That’s as important in a year where the state legislative elections have direct implications for redrawing congressional districts and state legislative districts.

    That’s true.  But he should be focusing every bit of attention on Trump and just ignoring Bernie if he has a big lead.  And his people should be telling everyone in the media that is what they are doing.  Just acting like the presumptive nominee makes it even more likely that he will be.

    “Bernie…bless his heart, he’s still out there banging away in futility as is his right.  But we need to move on to the general election.  Our target at this point is Trump and not Bernie, and we encourage the Bernie Campaign to focus their efforts on Trump as well.”

    Keep saying that kind of shit 100x a day and the media will absorb it.

  134. 134.

    Martin

    @opiejeanne: Evergreen retracted that from their website, so not sure what they’re actually doing.

    At a minimum, let your doctor know, especially if you get a fever. I don’t know if Evergreen has on-call nurses, but my provider does and they’re excellent.

  136. 136.

    Martin

    And my campus just closed up like the others. Thank goodness – fewer contingencies to write now.

  137. 137.

    The Moar You Know

    Apparently der Blogmeister has a twitch over the AUMF like Raven’s Fuck LBJ! kneejerk.

    @Uncle Cosmo: I have noticed that military and ex-military folks who have been in combat (that’s the important qualifier, as most are just REMF who only see weapons in boot camp) who are witness to a political body sending people off to war tend, for some odd reason, to not take it well when the reason for doing so is abject, obvious bullshit.  And they tend to hold a grudge about it forever.

     

    Biden has always been my preference this cycle, and I voted for him happily.  But I get people who get hung up on the original AUMF vote (and for that matter the whole “fuck LBJ” thing) because the people that voted for it did so knowing that most of the “evidence” they’d been shown was ludicrous bullshit.  I mean, hell, I knew that and I was just some jerk out of college playing music and making coffee for a day job back then.

  139. 139.

    CaseyL

    @debbie: Jill Stein is a rare 4-Year Cicada: hibernates between Presidential campaigns, then emerges from her dacha to entice  Dumb Progs and fleece them for every cent.

  141. 141.

    Martin

    @Baud: He did that Super Tuesday. I wouldn’t read anything into it. And if they’re cancelling rallies, he can probably do most everything he needs from there.

  142. 142.

    Chyron HR

    @Baud:

    Probably worried that the Democratic Establishment is close to finding his phylactery*.

     

    * Or “horcrux” as you kids call it.

  143. 143.

    opiejeanne

    @zzyzx: This is true. My squawking that I need to be tested probably won’t get much interest unless I’m in serious respiratory distress. Evergreen has told us that if we think we have the virus we are to call first, and not just show up at the walk-in clinic or the emergency room. That way they can take precautionary measures against the spread of the disease. I remember when my sister had chickenpox, and the doctor sent her and Mom out the back door of his office immediately. When I caught it from her they told us not to come in at all. I don’t remember any prescription medicine, just calamine lotion, which does nothing unless it has Benadryl in it and back then it didn’t.

    The city of Kirkland is without the majority of their firefighters right now because of exposure to the virus at Life Care, and last I heard they hadn’t been tested. They are quarantined at what was an empty fire station for two weeks to wait for the illness to appear.

  147. 147.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Me, I’d rather have the guy who admits the mistake and tries to make up for it, but I’m funny like that. ?‍♀️

    @WereBear:

    I think that’s probably true. Very few people admit to mistakes anymore, especially since every admission will live on the internet forever, only exceeded by the continuing outrage over the actual mistake. 

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    @opiejeanne:

    If they refuse to test you, call your state representative and the governor’s office to raise a stink. It sounds like Inslee is trying to stay on top of things, so it might actually do some good to complain.

  151. 151.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Martin: He did badly on Super Tuesday. I don’t think this is an indicator that he’s going to drop out, but it may be a minor indicator that he expects to do badly again

  152. 152.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Baud: Okay. I’ve got some confidence in her ability to call it correctly, though she was a bit bitter after 2018.

  153. 153.

    Amir Khalid

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Already happening in European sportsball. Some countries are closing venues for matches, Italy has suspended all sports events until April 3. Britain is considering closing venues too but the official stance there is that venue closures are premature at this stage.

  154. 154.

    opiejeanne

    @Martin: Huh. That’s something new. They emailed us the other information that is now missing, but they didn’t email us the correction. I’m sure they got a lot of flak from their staff and patients.

    Yes, they have an on-call nurse but when I woke up at 7am with appendicitis 3 years ago, she wasn’t on duty until nearly 8:30am. I mean, they couldn’t find a single person to call me back until then for advice on whether to just go to the clinic to be checked or go to the emergency room (I wasn’t in a lot of pain, just knew something was very wrong).

    That was the day before Thanksgiving but I don’t think that was the problem. If they’ve got any sense, they’ve got someone 24-7 now.

  155. 155.

    zzyzx

    @opiejeanne: Yeah I’ve had a cold/flu/corona for a few days now. A lot of my coworkers have something. We’re all in enforced work from home mode now, so it’s just hoping that we’re OK.

  156. 156.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yes, his judgment sucked. My main point was that he learned from that and, when the time came to advise Obama on the surge in Afghanistan, he told Obama NOT to do it based on Biden’s previous experience with lying, over-optimistic generals. I think that’s a good thing.

  157. 157.

    Martin

    Shit, 10 nursing homes in Washington have coronavirus cases. That’s the opposite of what should be happening in a mitigation approach.

  158. 158.

    opiejeanne

    @Sebastian: Thanks, I’m looking forward to about 30 more years on this mortal coil. I have long-lived family, even under primitive conditions.

  159. 159.

    Josie

    A question that I have not seen answered: Can the test identify the virus after a person is no longer ill?

  165. 165.

    Martin

    @opiejeanne: I think they got shit from the feds. I’d give them a call.

    I forget what it’s like to not have a large provider (I have Kaiser). They have folks 24/7.

  166. 166.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne:  Ha! I have some of their phone numbers already. If there are tests enough to go around, I will. There really isn’t any treatment for this, other than respiratory support. It’s a nasty virus that may settle in the bottom of the lungs, if one is unlucky.

    What was really disturbing was hearing that some went from a seemingly healthy person to dead in only a few hours. The quickest was about 2 hours. No symptoms, to distress, to dying as soon as they got to the hospital.

  167. 167.

    opiejeanne

    @Martin: I loved Kaiser in SoCal. Less in NorCal, but moving back to SoCal in 2001 was a relief. They were wonderful to work with, treated mr opiejeanne’s cancer swiftly, and took good care of me when I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, and I now test negative.

    Kaiser is now in WA, and CalPers says we can now switch during an open enrollment time. We looked over the nearest clinic and they were still getting their act together because it was so new. We decided to do it this fall. Might have been a mistake.

    This new clinic is in Redmond, the hospital is in Bellevue, and we live just outside Woodinville.

  168. 168.

    CaseyL

    @opiejeanne:

    @Sebastian:

    I thought COVID-19 was a wet cough, not a dry one.  (Correct me if I’m wrong.) And nausea isn’t one of the symptoms, nor dizziness.

    Headache, nausea and dizziness are symptoms of a migraine – opiejeanne, do you get those? – Maybe (knock wood) all you have is a cold and a migraine.

    Everyone ailing – hope you feel better soon!

    ETA: opiejeanne, the “Kaiser” that is now in Washington used to be Group Health.  A lot of Washingtonians have been with Group Health, including me.  If it’s the same now, as Kaiser, the PCPs are mediocre, but the specialists are terrific.  So  you go to your PCP and tell them to refer you right away to a specialist.

  170. 170.

    Geminid

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Virginia does not have partisan registration, but the poll of VA registered voters released Dec. 2019 by the Wason Center (Bitecofer’s outfit) caught my eye. Ideological self identification: Very Liberal 7%; Liberal, 13%; Moderate lean  liberal, 23%; moderate lean conservative, 16%; conservative, 22%; very conservative, 11%. Virginia has more African Americans, military, and civilian federal workers than many states, but has a fairly representative Democratic electorate. And the Richmond suburbs seem to track politically the suburbs of Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City etc. In 2018, Abigail Spanberger, Lucy McBath, Colin Allred, and Sharice Davids all flipped seats in these suburbs running as moderates.

  171. 171.

    JAFD

    Happy belated birthday, Ms. Opiejeanne !

    and hope you feel lots better real real soon !  Stay hydrated.

    (You beat me into the world by a few months…)

  172. 172.

    Alaska Reader

    @Scout211:

    Maybe use a pen or similar device you carry to push the buttons, not your fingers.

    Carry the pen in a ziplock with a wipe inside to keep it sanitized.

  173. 173.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Scout211:  Is it possible to use a stylus? Some pin-pads will let you do that, and if you’re carrying your own it will probably be less risky—you could keep a little jar of rubbing alcohol to clean it in the car.

  175. 175.

    Matt McIrvin

    @CaseyL: The initial Chinese reports said it was a dry, hacking cough with fever, with little nasal congestion or runny nose. But there’s a more recent German report going around saying that there can be an early stage that just resembles a common cold, before it gets into the lower respiratory system and causes greater havoc. Many people may just get the “common cold” stage (which of course makes them carriers).

  176. 176.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Geminid: Sharice David was running in the Kansas-side suburbs of the Greater Kansas City sprawl; she’s now my nephew’s representative, while my brother still has Emmanuel Cleaver.

    We felt like part of her victory was a No vote in the unofficial referendum on Brownback’s failed effort to carry out the Koch brothers’ plan for Kansas* and part was that the Republican in place couldn’t stay out of trouble

     

    *Failed in that the entire plan doesn’t work, and not in the sense he didn’t carry it out to a T.

  177. 177.

    opiejeanne

    @CaseyL: Dry cough is what they’ve been saying all along. and diarrhea, nausea are possible symptoms but not ones that everyone gets.  WHO is one of my sources for this. I don’t much trust the CDC site right now. I don’ t get headaches, let alone migraines although I might have had one  25 years ago, but just the one. This isn’t that intense and responds to Tylenol which migraines do not. My youngest had migraines for a few years when she reached menarche..

    And yes, I hope this is just some other thing, like a cold or a stray version of the flu.

  178. 178.

    opiejeanne

    @JAFD: Thanks. I’m feeling a little better.

    I’m watching Kornacke and Chris Hayes having a meltdown and laughing. Blah blah blah. Some of the percentage numbers they’re showing need an explanation, like one that has a block of about 40 % of the counted votes that are simply missing. Can’t remember which state.

    Oh, it’s Missouri and it’s corrected now to 25% Bernie, 55% Biden. Where are those other votes?

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @dmsilev:

    (besides, everyone knows that you use a steam autoclave to sterilize things. I won’t guarantee that the pages will be particularly readable, or even vaguely intact, at the end of the process though)

    Yes! When my dad was in M D Andersen Cancer Center in Houston, they put him in a clean room for a month after killing his immune system with chemo. He got a newspaper every day, it was all crinkly from being autoclaved. Everything he touched was autoclaved.

    No salad, fruit was canned and then cooked again after they opened it.

    But it worked. He got extra years, and qualified for a clinical trial by virtue of the new blood work after his spell in the clean room. And the drug being trialed worked for his rare leukemia! So all good.

    Though he bitched about the newspapers for the rest of his life!!

  182. 182.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    Looks like Yale is following Harvard’s lead regarding taking classes online where possible…

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