As anyone who isn’t a Fox News-addled idiot with tapioca pudding for brains already knows, Trump spent weeks downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus, frittering away precious time that could have been spent containing and preparing for the outbreak to instead scoff at warnings from experts and attempt to prop up the stock market with happy talk.
That’s because Trump himself is a Fox News-addled idiot with tapioca pudding for brains, and he approaches every issue under the sun as a PR problem/opportunity for himself:
As Trump pivots to coronavirus crisis mode, let’s not forget the months of downplaying and denial. pic.twitter.com/gH1xZAHXm5
— The Recount (@therecount) March 17, 2020
When it became clear that downplaying the pandemic wouldn’t be an effective PR strategy anymore, Trump adjusted the approach, attempting to cast himself as a wartime president who is competently leading a struggle against an “invisible enemy.” Some media dupes fell for it.
As always, it’s difficult to chicken-egg whether Fox News is driving the revamped Trump PR strategy or Trump is driving the new Fox News PR strategy. But with whiplash-inducing speed, everyone got on the same page within a week:
What a damning indictment of Fox News from the Post video team here. pic.twitter.com/r8Fz8vo5KV
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) March 18, 2020
So, everyone is now singing from the same hymnal. But it’s hard to demonize an invisible enemy, so Trump/Fox (or Fox/Trump) are now injecting a racism angle. It was predictable; color-coding hate objects has proved so effective with the base. Here’s Trump on Twitter this morning:
I will be having a news conference today to discuss very important news from the FDA concerning the Chinese Virus!
I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the “borders” from China – against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!
And here’s the Fox News sycophant chorus:
Brian Kilmeade denies that calling covid-19 “the Chinese virus” is racist: “It’s actually just an accurate term of where it started” pic.twitter.com/158QbMCViR
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) March 18, 2020
When this messaging campaign sinks its hooks into soft tapioca pudding brains nationwide and discrimination, harassment and assaults on people of Asian descent increase, not only will Trump/Fox not give a shit, they’ll double-down.
That’s been their MO all along. They’ve demagogued immigration in ways that resulted in the death, physical harm and harassment of countless innocent people since Trump was elected. It works for the network, and it works for Trump, so they’ll keep at it.
So no, Dana Bash, Stephen Collinson, etc.: Trump hasn’t become presidential. He’s not rising to the fucking occasion now or at any point in the future. From Trump’s perspective, the pandemic is still a PR issue. He’s just adjusting his strategy and rebranding the enemy, giving it a human face for his supporters to punch.
No One of Consequence
Preach It.
Peace, and go wash your hands,
– NOoC
James E Powell
And we can expect that the rest of press/media will repeat & amplify the racist messaging because whatever Trump says and whatever FOX is talking about are the only real news stories.
Shalimar
They’re overreacting to take Trump down. Shame on them.
waspuppet
Well, when life gives you we-totally-fucked-up-a-global-pandemic, make we-totally-fucked-up-a-global-pandemic-ade. At least some nonwhite kids will get punched at school.
All the while insisting that they’re not actually doing it at all. “Just stating facts and asking questions.”
MattF
Overt racism really is a core ingredient in the Trumpean stew.
Mike in NC
Wingnut Wurlitzer circulating memo to denounce the “Chinese virus”. Marc Thiessen at WaPo turned out a particularly ugly column on that. Must have been co-written by Tom Cotton(elle).
MattF
@Mike in NC: Which followed his disgusting ‘Biden is senile’ column.
lamh36
Hey former FPer ElonJW got tested for COVID he posted a thread on the experience. He did the drive up testing that just started.
https://twitter.com/elonjames/status/1240270029331017731?s=21
WereBear
That and sexism. Please, don’t forget the hideous sexism, which also claims lives.
Mr. Mack
The “othering” never stops.
NotMax
Next week:
“There are no chinks in America’s Armor!”
//
Lacuna Synecdoche
I think it’s hilarious that they’re gonna try to rebrand the Trump Virus as a Chinese virus.
Mr. Mack
@NotMax: Yikes. Funny, but yikes still.
Martin
They’ve seamlessly pivoted off of latino immigrants onto china because because as long as you’re doing racism, you’re winning.
I wonder how much of the youngs backlash against boomers is really just a response to Fox News constantly shitting on young people.
Fleeting Ex-istence
When Dana Bash won some huge journalist-of-the-year award last week, I thought I remembered her as a sort of vapid blonde of the Fox variety whom I had ignored for years. I was right.
Changing my nym. Expletives continue. The fleeting part seems like a lot more likely to apply to existence these days.
Mandalay
Somewhat related, yesterday the NYT published a piece titled Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic.
The article merely calls Trump’s statement that “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic” a “remarkable assertion“. But everyone knows that is a lie. It is obviously a lie.
The article goes into great detail, showing how the president has downplayed and misrepresented the crisis for weeks, and yet the NYT still can’t summon up the courage to factually state that he lied. What it is about the L-word that reporters dare not use it?
schrodingers_cat
Exhibit # Elebenty of why I want the Orange Corona gone and have no stomach for a structural revolution right now. The house is on fire, redesigning the kitchen has to wait for another day. When in doubt he always always turns to racism and bigotry. While I am not Chinese or Mexican the low level antagonism against immigrants is ever present everywhere since Orange Corona descended from that fucking elevator.
Just this weekend on my street, at an intersection less than a 10 minute walk away from my home I found Swastika graffiti on a Stop sign. We are deep blue here. Bluer than Boston but still there is no escape from the ugly even here.
wjs
The next president should declassify the Presidential Daily Briefing that Trump has been receiving throughout this crisis. Specifically, we should be able to see to what extent they have been informing him of this crisis and what was being done about it.
Kidding. His PDB is likely just a series of flattering pictures of Trump being fawned over by lickspittles.
Ruckus
Bigotry is the base of the republican party.
They call it conservatism and what they are trying to conserve is bigotry. Racism is the main and obvious form but misogyny, tribalism, and basically whatever ism you want to discuss, that’s in there. They talk about being tough and all but none of the “leaders” do any more than rile up the true haters for power and money. Oh and believe their own bullshit. It’s always about what is making their lives dangerous or less powerful but the reality is that it’s all racism. They are and have been for my entire life. They are the Stepford party. Everyone has to hate the same things, everyone has to be the same color, the men have to be in charge, everyone has to speak the same language, everyone has to be religious, everyone has to be the fucking same or their entire world and all it’s pettiness is all for nothing and they can’t give up that pettiness because it’s the entire point. They look in the mirror and see, not what’s in it but what they think it represents, that they are the best, the brightest, the chosen people. It’s shallow, it’s stupid, it’s not true. And trump is their leader because he is the among the worst among them and that makes him the best. It’s illogical, it’s insane, but it’s the republican party.
RoonieRoo
I have a wonderful BIL that’s Chinese and a niece and nephew that are half. I’m terrified for them now. This positively infuriates me.
Maybe this will be another dose of reality in my other sister’s racist head as she loves the Chinese side of the family equally. Probably not but maybe. She’s a Republican that believes in the wall for obviously racist reasons but loathes Trump because “He’s clearly insane”, in her words.
Belafon
It was Tucker Carlson who finally got Trump to take it seriously: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/17/1928547/-Not-scientists-not-medical-professionals-not-epidemiologists-Trump-needed-Tucker-Carlson?utm_campaign=trending.
scav
Well, if they’re going to play the “Oh! It’s the origin card” faux ingenue card, make sure they call the whopper flu epidemic of 1918 the American Flu. First recorded case is ours. They’ll enjoy that. Biggest, Bestest, Killed Millions! All their favorite hobbies.
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC:
So perfect. Rebrand him so that we think of toilet paper and what it cleans up.
Elizabelle
@scav: It could actually be the Kansas USA flu, is that the case??
James E Powell
@Ruckus:
Excellent summation. That’s been the Republicans in every campaign since Reagan.
Ruckus
@Mandalay:
They might get sued.
To say he lied they have to be 10,000% sure, have irrefutable proof, and better lawyers. And their paper has to first be convinced and that is the tough part with the FTFNYT.
JAFD
Meanwhile, for people with children and teens at home…
WQXR is doing a series on ‘what do these pieces of classical music cause you to think about…’
https://www.wqxr.org/listeningchallenge/
all the music is streaming
Hope it’s helpful.
BBA
High-ranking officials in the Chinese government have spread conspiracy theories that the virus is a US Army bioweapon.
There are many ways to retaliate against this, but of course Trump and his simpering kapo Miller had to pick the maximally racist one.
So now US media is banned from China, and Xinhua is posting anti-racism memes. Looking forward to being told that it’s “racist” to question the tenets of Xi Jinping Thought or challenge Chinese sovereignty over the waters within the Nine-Dash Line. Or to point out that the, ahem, illegitimate government occupying Taipei and environs has done a much better job containing the virus than the legitimate Chinese government has.
JMG
This is too late. Virus already has a name that has been adopted by the general public and the media. It’s like trying to give the Super Bowl a new name.
Ruckus
@James E Powell:
Well before that. Before this country existed. Conservatives have always been this way, just the name of the party has changed.
It is what they are trying to conserve. Everything else is just icing.
Mandalay
@Ruckus:
For what? Defamation of character? Trump is a public figure. The reporter can state that Trump lied, and provide the abundant evidence.
What are Trump’s lawyers going to do? How are they going to win a case when Trump obviously lied?
RandomMonster
Damn, Betty, that is one hellavu good post.
Frankensteinbeck
Also they’re all white supremacists and they believe this ‘foreigners cause disease’ shit. It’s disgusting.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JMG: are these terms in general use? I was in a bit of a bubble before this blew up, but most people I see/hear call it corona virus, or, ‘this thing’ or something like it
JAFD
In other perjurative descriptions, I was in to see my Primary Care Physician in January, welcomed her back from her spell with the Egyptian Flu* …
She’d never heard that bit of 1960’s slang before.
*an oft-dreaded condition…
that takes a young lady…
and turns her into a mummy
chopper
@NotMax:
for his next press scrum, i’m sure someone in the WH has written in big letters on trump’s notepad ‘DON’T DO THE ‘ME SO SOLLY’ BIT’
lamh36
Very informative thread…I’m not a pandemic expert, so I leave the floor to those who are. I can only go my experience during a regular viral season. In this case, I always err on the side of the experts…
Ohio Mom
“No, I don’t take responsibility at all.” I’ll always remember that, Friday the 13th was my 65th birthday.
Just like when John Dean started spilling the beans on the day of my high school graduation, and when my brother, the executor of our mother’s estate, finally finished the paperwork that would allow him to sell her stock on Friday afternoon, October 16, 1987 — that Monday, the stock market crashed before he could get started.
On another note, drive-by testing for those referred by their doctor starts today in the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, at the UC hospital. I think that’s a bit of positive news.
Betty Cracker
O/T: I wish to Christ Andrew Cuomo was my governor right now instead of the Trump-humping lunkhead who actually is. Cuomo seems to be handling the outbreak competently, as far as I can tell. But sweet, weepin’ Jeebus, he is such an insufferably smug prick.
scav
There’s a certain theme to recent Republican administrations and their devotees.
“When we torture, it’s ok because terrorists do it!“ “It’s ok if we’re racist because they’re racist!” “We’re the best because we’re exactly like the worst!”
syphonblue
Trump and Fox News may have changed their tune, but the cult followers are still in full-on “THIS IS A HOAX” mode, judging by my wife’s Facebook feed. I saw one of them screeching about how “48,000 people have recovered, so what’s the big deal?!”
Which is…a take. Should we be celebrating the black plague? 2/3rds of the population recovered from that afterall!
lamh36
Hmmm…dont’ know it this is true or not…but it it is…
You will know its coming when Bri Bri and nem start rendering their garments. I wonder if the Sanders camp can have something written in therir severance that the bot gang can’t trash the campaign or post negative shit bout the new nominee
Nicole
As a horse-racing fan, I’ve been reading articles and comments over Churchill Downs’ decision postponing the Kentucky Derby until September, and it’s really, really obvious which of the fans get their info from Fox News because “Chinese Flu” and “Wuhan Flu” get tossed around in comments (even by those who are fine with the decision to postpone). It’s astounding how they march in virtual lockstep in their terminology.
My stepbrother and stepmom are Asian (though not Chinese, though, of course, your average ‘Murican is uninterested in being able to tell the difference) and I am curious if my stepbrothers will start to think their long-standing alliance with the Republican party. I know at least one of them voted 3rd party in 2016. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start.
Ruckus
@Mandalay:
You asked. You didn’t ask for reality, for the law, you asked why they won’t. The truth is about a millionth of an inch below that surface. The owners of the FTFNYT are conservatives, they want what they want, and that is the world they see in their closed minds, not the world that exists. The being sued is the cover for them.
scav
@syphonblue: For that matter, shouldn’t they be thinking of all the babies that aren’t aboirted?
Nora
@Mandalay: Saw that this morning. In God’s name, what would it take for them to call it a lie? It’s so clearly and obviously a lie that NOT saying it in so many words makes them look stupid and gullible.
PsiFighter37
Bernie is out according to Axios. Fingers crossed it is true.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: No, Trump is a public figure as has been for a long time. The standard for public figures to win in a defamation suit is extraordinarily high in the US.
J R in WV
Haven’t read preceding comments yet, but watched this cute yet repulsive video last night at about 5 am and wanted to share my opinion. These people are all professional preverts! Their facial expressions are identical no matter which lie they have been told to tell, the biggest varition is the color of their costume!
The earlier posture, facial expression, eyes and speech of their original lie “This virus is just a new variation of the flu and no one will die who wouldn’t have died of the COMMON COLD!” is IDENTICAL to the posture, facial expression, eyes and speech of the new and more racist lie that “President Trump has protected this nation from the CHINESE VIRUS in a unique, new and fresh manner that no other President could have invented!”
I would not have believed that these monsters could have pulled off such a tour de force of acting — there is no way a common FBI lie detector would catch them for any crime against the state, or even a common crime like embezzling the framastotz from their church~!!~
Baud
@PsiFighter37: That would make my day.
tokyokie
@Ruckus:
Who’s going to sue them and what grounds? Trump? For defamation? If the president isn’t a public figure for purposes of Times v. Sullivan, then nobody is, and that means that Trump’s lawyers would have to show that The Times knew that its claim that he lied was false or it showed reckless disregard about whether it was true or false. That’s a high legal hurdle to clear for a legal team as it appears to be objectively true that Trump did in fact lie, and truth is an absolute defense in defamation cases.
No, The Times didn’t use the L-word for fear of being sued. It did so because it’s run by chickenshits who fear that were the paper to do so, some Republican might be mean to them. Wankers. FTFNYFT.
chris
Here in Canada our conservatives, same as yours, are in high dudgeon because we are not shooting asylum seekers at the border. Same as it ever was.
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: DeSantis is no prize, but he’s actually been a bit better than Abbott in Texas, who’s basically told local governments to handle it.
susanna
Hmmm, after all these years, wondering why no one is referring to ‘him’ as the PinocchioPresident.
zhena gogolia
Am I supposed to stay 6 feet apart from my husband at all times? This seems impossible. We only have one bed.
debbie
THIS MONSTER PIG MUST STOP USING THE PHRASE “CHINESE VIRUS”!
SiubhanDuinne
Well, Trump just started his presser and in the very first sentence referred to the “Chinese virus.” This is deliberate, tactical racism and xenophobia.
EDIT: Or what Debbie said, more succinctly.
Sister Golden Bear
@WereBear: And also don’t forgot the homophobia, and especially the virulent transphobia, that’s provides the extra kick to the Trumpean stew.
Mr. Mack
@Nicole: Not being at all judgmental here…but just wondering if you’ve seen the reporting done by the Real Sports team at HBO about U.S. horse-racing?
Dorothy A. Winsor
You can tell BJers are isolating at home from the number of comments. I go away for five minutes and I can’t catch up! Not that I’m complaining.
Eolirin
@Nora: The reason why journalists avoid the term, generally, is that it requires knowledge of intent. Trump being in the throws of dementia is a defense against lying, for instance, and no reporter can know for sure what’s going on in his head. They make a pretense to not editorializing and this kind of thing is one of the easiest ways to maintain that pretense. That they violate that pretense constantly in so many more subtle ways only makes it more important that they cling to language policing.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
IKR? Right after commentators spoke of his new-found ability to act presidential. JFC
SFAW
@NotMax:
Pointless anecdote alert:
First job out of college. One day, a few of us were eating at a table in the company cafeteria. Some “old” guys down a few seats, eating their lunch. One said to the other “There’s gotta be a chink …” My friends and I stop chewing, somewhat stunned to hear that epithet, then the old guy said “There’s gotta be a chink in the armor somewhere.” Relieved, we started chewing again
ETA: “Old” because they were 20-plus years older than we were. Which means they were 20-or-so years younger than I am now.
WaterGirl
@debbie: You are to be commended for not using flashing red with that. :-)
Bill Arnold
@syphonblue:
It’s interesting. This pandemic is massively differentially killing older people, and due to the nature of our systems of power, the powerful tend to be older or old.
So the powers that be are taking this seriously. US excepted but that’s because the GOP death cult[1] is utterly disconnected from reality.
We need to seize the initiative from the death cultists. Paid sick leave. Basic health care for everyone, no exceptions, and that includes the undocumented. Proper unemployment insurance. All of it, especially including measures to seriously help the paycheck-to-paycheck class in America to make it through this without going bankrupt (loss of income and/or medical costs), getting evicted, losing their house, etc. Many will regardless, but we need to try. It’s a very big fucking deal, and the GOP is utterly unequipped, due to ideology mostly, to usefully participate.
[1] They’re trying to pivot 1984 style from death cult to not death cult, we were never a death cult, Democrats are the real death cultists. We cannot let them. No forgiveness. Nice clip of Fox before and after.
The Thin Black Duke
Thing is, the hardcore Trump voters can’t be reached. That’s a lost cause, and trying to convince them otherwise is a waste of time. And unfortunately, the fake progressives who see Biden as a ‘band-aid’ candidate, aren’t on our side either. More than ever, this crisis has illustrated how dangerous DonaldTrump and the GOP are to the United States, and the only goal that is important right now is getting him out of the White House. Nothing else matters.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke: Agree.
dexwood
Keep fluffing president Asshole, Mike.
scav
Will someone officially deep six the originator of comment fifty six?
Soprano2
I was just in the lunchroom, and they had his press conference on. It took all my self-control not to start yelling at the TV screen “Thousands of people are going to die who shouldn’t die because of you and your administration’s inaction and lies”. It’s so disgusting how Pence pumps him up constantly.
JPL
@debbie: Wait until trump discovers the first few cases in GA were from folks returning from Italy.
Martin
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, sacrifices need to be made. Ms Martin had to hang onto the back of the car just to maintain separation on our trip to the store. I felt bad, but rules are rules, man.
Shalimar
Dow Jones Industrials currently below where it was when Obama left office. We are in negative territory for the entire Trump peesidency, just like we were negative for the entire Dubya presidency between the Clinton and Obama booms.
Ksmiami
@Ruckus: and that’s why we can’t compromise or negotiate with them- burn the GOP to the ground. treat the party like the Nazi party.
germy
Mandalay
Nobody could have predicted that Rand Paul would delay coronavirus legislation….
What a massive dick.
J R in WV
Being retired hermits, self-isolating up the hollow is no problem for us.
Wife hasn’t left the farm in over a month. I’ve been to town once a week, coming home with 3X the normal amount of material. First such mission was all kibble, 8-30 pound sacks of dog kibble and two 17 pound bags of cat kibble. My last trip I got 4 more bags of dog kibble and 2 more cat kibble. Was pretty organized about it, although I now realize I forgot the apocalypse milk/dried milk powder and such. Did get a dupe of most 90-day prescriptions last visit using a Good Rx card, which did help some, statin, blood pressure med, glaucoma eye drops, the most important things.
Could have gotten a couple more sacks of King Arthur whole wheat too.
Have wine and beer to last! ;-)
Won’t be going into town again for a least another 8 days, can’t refill a couple of prescriptions until then, so will wait for that. I would bet we’re good for 6 or 8 weeks, although it might get boring after the first month or so… … …
Bill Arnold
@Ruckus:
They could point out that one of these two is possible:
(1) That he was lying when he was downplaying the notion of a pandemic or a severe crisis.
(2) That he is lying when he said that he always thought it was a pandemic.
Either way, he is a liar, proven, about this.
germy
germy
Bill Arnold
@germy:
No bailouts for corporations without substantial, effective bailouts for people living paycheck to paycheck, or trying to survive on no paycheck at all.
germy
germy
@Bill Arnold:
And the sooner the better.
satby
I wanted to touch base with my Chinese exchange son and his family in NYC, where I hope they’re less impacted by racism at least. But got the devastating news that his mom was killed in a freak accident in January, when a sign blew off a building. She was a lovely woman and the main caretaker for her ailing husband and my son’s young children, as his wife is a nurse and working a lot of OT during the pandemic. I’m just crushed for them all.
opiejeanne
This is compiled by a teenager who lives on Bainbridge Island, very near Seattle; he started tracking the virus in December. He updates it twice daily, better than the CDC.
https://ncov2019.live/data
zhena gogolia
@Martin:
Okay, no sarcasm tag but I think I have my answer.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
“That’s from Shakespeare, you can look it up!”
Junior high hilarity included Chinese kids squabbling over which got to play the “Chink in the wall” in Midsummer Night’s Dream.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: You could listen to the Gov of California who talked for what was probably over an hour last evening.
He was pretty frank about where things stand, but he was calm and not alarmist. Toward the end, he said something like “this doesn’t mean that you can’t ride in a vehicle with a friend or a loved one”.
He talked about keeping your circle small, the point being that if someone in a small circle gets it, the impact is only on the small circle of people. But if different small circles of people are overlapping, there’s trouble.
jonas
@Belafon: I forget where I read it, but it appears now that Jared Kushner, who had encouraged Trump’s earlier sanguine response to the pandemic by framing it as liberal media hype, is now really in the doghouse with his FIL now that everything’s blown up in his face.
Baud
Earthquake in Utah!
trollhattan
“Don’t make me come over there or you’ll regret it” county tells Elon.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184565/tesla-shut-down-california-factory-coronavirus-lockdown
Billionaire douche versus local gummint. This should be good.
trollhattan
@Baud:
Fracking?
Baud
@trollhattan:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/57-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-salt-lake-city/story?id=69662609
trollhattan
@The Thin Black Duke:
Yup. They prove time and again that even if they’re going to lose it’s okay, because at least they’re dragging the rest of us down with them.
Lovely people, all of them.
Gravenstone
@WaterGirl: We can do that?
/makes notes
Gravenstone
@Martin: At least buy her a trunk mounted luggage rack.
jonas
@WaterGirl: On one side you have Democratic governors like Newsom, Cuomo, and Inslee who are showing how grownup leaders act in a crisis like this, and then there are utter arseheads like the wingnut governor of Oklahoma posting pix on social media of his family eating in a crowded restaurant the other day, telling people to get out there and have a good time.
gwangung
Some threads of hope here:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1239941983633838080.html
WaterGirl
@Baud: How do you shelter in place at home to be safe from the pandemic if you just lost your home?
sdhays
@Mandalay: It’s so predictable, you can set your watch to it. Here’s another guy who actually deserves to be contract the disease (preferably from Dump himself).
WaterGirl
@Gravenstone: Ha! I have been super impressed by the judicious use of color on the new site.
The developers said “noooooooo, if you give them color, it will trash the site and make it unreadable.” I said I thought that, as crazy as it sounds, people would use it responsibly. I’m not always right, obviously, but I do like being right on that one!
Nicole
@Mr. Mack: I have. It… wasn’t the most accurate of reporting. I say this as someone who has been a horse owner (a rescue) and has followed horse racing pretty faithfully for decades. There’s plenty I can criticize about the sport, but the Real Sports was not an accurate look at the actual problems in racing.
Equine fatalities on the track actually hit their lowest level in 2019 since they started keeping track in 2009 (with an eye towards improving racetrack safety). They’d been on a downward trend for years at the time Real Sports did their piece.
The PETA gotcha video (which I watched), in particular, which was cited, was really irritating, because they counted on the average viewers not knowing jack shit about horses- demonstrated by the inclusion of a veterinarian describing a horse’s leg as “ice cold.” For horses, ice cold legs are a good thing. There’s little circulation in the legs (the big reason it’s so hard for horses to heal from a broken one; not much blood gets there to heal things), and a warm leg is the sign of an infection.
jonas
@Shalimar: Third time in my working life now that my retirement savings have been blown up and set back multiple years by some market crash: after 9/11, 2007-8, and now 2020. When the hell has that ever happened to another generation in American history? And under Republican administrations each time. When the fuck are people going to start noticing a pattern here?
BBA
I crossed a line. I’m sorry.
But I’m not going to watch the CCP turn “antiracism” into code for parroting their party line. Trump is the enemy, but that doesn’t make Xi our friend.
jonas
And if they do throw a lifeline to any industry, it had better come with some ironclad conditions on how it can be spent (e.g. on avoiding layoffs, retooling to produce medical equipment, etc.), because otherwise it will be 2008 all over again and the taxpayers will end up just paying for hookers and blow for the C-suite while the rank-and-file are living off food pantry donations.
Mr. Mack
@Nicole: Ok, yes we own several quarter-horses and a couple are rescues. Real Sports usually does a very good job in their reporting, and they look at stuff no one bothers reporting. Still, there has been widespread use of drugs to keep injured horses racing, and we do tend to start them at too young an age. I may go back and watch that episode again, with a little warier eye. (boy that was clumsy to type)
Betty Cracker
@BBA: And importantly, no one suggested that he is. Or if they did, I sure missed it.
Nicole
@Mr. Mack: Earlier this month, prior to Covid-19 taking over the news, in fact, several indictments went down via the Feds for “mislabeling” drugs used in racing (translation: several vets and trainers got busted for doping, but as that’s not technically “illegal” from a federal standpoint, what they got caught on was mislabeling drugs, which is illegal). Rumor is the feds were investigating something else (money laundering, I think) and found this out as well. The majority of people involved in racing are pretty happy about it, as the “juicers,” give the entire industry a black eye.
What’s funny to me about it is that the big Thoroughbred trainer who got caught, Jason Servis, was the trainer of Maximum Security, the horse disqualified from the Kentucky Derby victory this year (his owners filed several lawsuits, none of which have been successful so far, to get the disqualification overturned). The federal indictments made it clear Maximum Security was one of the horses doped (and he went on to win several other very big races last year and this year, including the inaugural $20 million dollar Saudi Cup). Now all those victories have been thrown into question (although it’s unlikely he’ll be disqualified; unfortunately, the thing with the stuff he was injected with is that the tests don’t exist to detect it yet, which Servis and another indicted trainer are on recording discussing).
Were I Maximum Security’s owners, I would keep my head down and shut up (they are loudly claiming they had NO idea Servis juiced, to which I say bullshit; it wasn’t much of a secret, but, much like calling Trump a liar, people in racing are afraid of going public with names for fear of being sued). BUT- no, the Wests are continuing to sue to attempt to get Maximum Security’s disqualification from the Kentucky Derby overturned. Even though they have no chance in the world of prevailing, and now, with it being public knowledge the horse was doped, getting the victory reinstated isn’t going to raise the horse’s stud value one penny; he’s tainted forever now.
But, rich people are going to rich people.
(I WISH the horse would be disqualified from the Saudi Cup victory, as the horse who ran a very game second, Midnight Bisou, is a filly and I like it when the girls beat the boys.)
satby
@jonas: Boeing’s problems aren’t due to the coronavirus as much as they’re due to the drop in orders for new planes after the latest version killed hundreds with its new “enhanced” autopilot software. That Boeing didn’t insist pilots be retrained on.
Airbus has been kicking Boeing’s ass for a year or more in new plane orders. This is Boring grabbing on to the pandemic as a Hail Mary to stay afloat.
Renie
@jonas: Right there with you. I’m hoping that since we are 4 years still from retiring some of the savings returns but the loss of gains is hard to take. Took many years after 2008 to get back to where we were esp since it took my husband 2 years to find another job.
Nicole
@Mr. Mack: Oh, I LOVE QHs! The last horse I rode regularly at the riding stable I went to in Queens was a 5-year-old QH and how he ended up there I have no idea because he was a bit fancy for the place. When the stable closed I didn’t worry about him, because I knew someone would grab him up, so I paid $450 for the elderly Appy gelding I’d been riding prior to graduating to Mr. Fancy and kept him for 8 years until we had to have him put down due to old age around age 30. :)
QH racing is, in my opinion, a bit dirtier than TB racing (which is not to say plenty of cheating doesn’t go on in TB racing, but so it goes with any professional sport, human or equine). Since you know horses, I’m attaching a link to a podcast done by the Thoroughbred Daily News; it’s a really good, and honest, discussion of the big indictments that just went down in the TB world. It’s a really interesting listen, and what comes across the most is how intensely the people on the podcast love the equine athletes who keep the sport going:
https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/podcast/trainer-tom-morley-on-racings-doping-scandal-on-the-march-11-tdn-podcast/?utm_source=The+TDN+Writers+Talk+Racing%27s+Doping+Scandal+in+a+Podcast+for+the+Ages&utm_campaign=Podcast&utm_medium=email
Duane
@jonas: How about we repeal Trumpov’s 2017 corporate tax windfall then we’ll talk about corporate bailouts. Otherwise let the hand of capitalism work its magic. Enough of the socializing their losses.
satby
@Renie: you all were probably too young to have also lost $$ in the downturns during the early 1980s. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. Every single time I get a nest egg of even modest size a Republican administration comes along to basically destroy it.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: My dad had a gorgeous Tennessee Walker that lived to be 33. I cried like a baby when Shadow was put down because I’d known that horse practically all my life! Kudos to you for rescuing the Appy.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: My Appy spent his last 8 years living with a Tennessee Walker! Big gorgeous dark bay. Show quality, but too nervous for the show life, so my uncle, who owns him, got him for a song. The TW, fortunately, has never been very horse social, so he’s content to be an only horse these days.
Thirty-three is a great run for a horse; that’s awesome Shadow had such a good long life.
mrmoshpotato
@waspuppet:
Yup. Like Bill O’Reilly would be too chickenshit to just say things. “I’m not saying this, The Factor (his show) is.”
or stating repulsive bullshit as questions. “Should (non-white-man group) be blamed for…?”
sdhays
@satby: Yep. If Boeing hadn’t built planes that drop out of the sky, they wouldn’t be in any particular squeeze due to the coronavirus
ETA: But they were always expecting to get a bailout due to “too big and critical to fail”.
mrmoshpotato
Nice compilation by the Post. Surprised there was none of Fucker Carlson’s White Power Hour, but then maybe he’s still blaming non-white people for the slightest inconveniences.
opiejeanne
This seems kind of important:
https://youtu.be/uClq978oohY
mrmoshpotato
@Lacuna Synecdoche: “What do you mean this is spiraling out if control because of our orange god emperor’s idiocy? He’s tremendous bigly, and this virus came from JHI-NA!”
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: Shadow was a bit of a skittish fellow too. Our relationship was mostly me feeding him and patting his head. My grandfather had a couple of Appys, both wonderful horses and very gentle. I don’t know much about horses — maybe it’s a breed trait? Sounds like yours was a sweetie too.
One of my grandfather’s Appys was named Dollie and would drink an entire bottle of Coke in one long glug. I have no idea how my grandfather taught the horse that trick, but we used to beg him to do it because it was so funny.
Neither my dad nor grandfather have/had a ton of money, but they are/were devoted to horses. My dad still tells the story about how his father saw a colt for sale out in the middle of nowhere in the 1950s, pulled the backseat of the car out and tied it on the trunk and made my dad ride back home in the back with the horse! :)
catclub
@mrmoshpotato: Did I read here or somehwere else that instead of being woken up by that paper from Britain mentioning 2.2M deaths in the US (there were reports of that), Trump was woken up by Carlson’s show.
Given the report was in a small font and more than one page. The carlson theory resonates with me.
NCSteve
“There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy. ”
George Orwell, “1984,” Part 2, Chapter 9.
Bill Arnold
@opiejeanne:
Ah. I dug at that a little yesterday. The nutshell is that it might work for certain kinds of mass respiratory failures e.g. botulism, but perhaps/probably not for COVID-19. But there is a lot of looking and improvisational engineering going on so something like it might happen. A lot of motivated smart people are working on things like this, and on (possible) treatments. ETA: oh, if anyone is actually already successfully doing this for COVID-19 patients, then never mind. Links:
A Single Ventilator for Multiple Simulated Patients to Meet Disaster Surge (2006, Greg Neyman, MD, Charlene Babcock Irvin, MD)
Using readily available plastic tubing set up to minimize dead space volume, the four lung simulators were easily ventilated for 12 hours using one ventilator
and papers that cite “A single ventilator for multiple simulated patients to meet disaster surge”:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=3675707628580852970&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en
e.g.
One ventilator multiple patients—–What the data really supports (2008, letter)
Search the google scholar links for papers that cite the first link. There is also a response to the response, and perhaps more, and some other related work.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It’s weird the whole sudden pivot on the virus from both the American and English right. TPM was talking about how the whole Climate Denial industry had switch to Virus denial and Monday it was like someone threw a switch.
So what’s up; there some cabal of very rich old white guys who are driving this, all rubbing their hands with glee how the poors. gays and browns were going to do die until their doctors pointed out they will die in this too? This all feels so Kotch Brothers.
Ruckus
@jonas:
One of the problems that I see is that our retirement savings are basically playing the market. And either your return is lowish and reasonably safe or slightly higher and much riskier. I also lost my retirement account due to the GWB recession and it’s not the first republican recession that has cost me dearly. And of course it looks like if I had any retirement account it too would be burnt, killed and buried. I keep my retirement in cash, in the bank. That’s not entirely safe and of course it doesn’t grow at all, but a market, correction – pardon me if I laugh for an hour or so, but it also doesn’t die near as easily. The market has been sold as the end all be all of our financial needs. It is important because it is involved in so much of our economy but it is semi regulated gambling, with our economy and lives. The get rich scheme has been sold to a large segment of the population and people get massively wealthy over it, while adding little actual value to the world. Bloomfield is an example. His entire empire is about money, not making ventilators or building hospitals and training people to work there, it is only about making money by manipulating – money. Boeing should be about making planes. And yes they have to make money to continue and be strong, but the 737Max was and is about not doing that right, because of it not making enough money or costing a bit extra. Airlines often charge way less than cost to put butts in seats, because their base business is not about effective air travel but making lots of money. Your wages are kept low so that someone can make more money. There is a guy who owns a corp who was making 1.1 mill/yr, while his average employee made something like 40K. He gave everyone a raise to 70K/yr and cut his pay to the same, and the company is doing far better than it was, because it’s more than just a crappy job to the people now.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker:
I love Appaloosas, but I think the sweet ones are the exception, rather than the rule. My riding instructor used to say, “Why did the Indians ride Appaloosas off to war? So they’d be good and mad by the time they got there.” And my uncle, when I and my friend arrived with our two rescue horses to board for us, angrily declared, “WHO BROUGHT THE APPALOOSA?”
That said, my boy was a sweet angel. He could be a recalcitrant s.o.b. when riding (and man, he did NOT like to be out on a trail if there were no other horses around), but he had such nice ground manners, especially a year or so into retirement and having a big box stall to himself. Kind to children, friendly to dogs, content to be hugged and kissed; he was a good egg.
Your granddad sounds like he and my uncle’s father would have gotten along great. My uncle tells a story of being out doing farm work with a donkey his dad had just purchased, and the donkey up and kicked my then-teenaged uncle square in the chest, knocking him flat. My uncle howled out a “God damn it!” as he went down. His father looked down at him on the ground and said, “Son… please don’t swear.”
WereBear
@Sister Golden Bear: I never do forget! Agreed.
Feathers
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: They don’t think they’ll die. They realized that reality was overtaking their lies, so they pivoted fast. Three Days of the Condor is showing on Prime, I think I’ll watch tonight.
The Moar You Know
@Martin: They tend to not watch Fox, so rather small.
They’re just simply pretty well informed on why, compared to my generation (X) and their grandparent’s generation (Boomers), their futures will be shit. And they will be, in comparison.
Can you blame them for being mad? Can you blame them for cheering on a virus that’s not going to kill too many of them but quite a few of the people who (largely unwittingly) stole their futures? I can’t. They’ve earned their rage, the kids.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
By george I think you’ve got it!
It’s the attitude, not just, well the brother left.
jonas
@satby: You’re right, Boeing was already hurting from the 737 Max debacle, but if the airline industry collapses due to air travel being effectively shut down for however many weeks or months now it looks like, airlines will cancel orders, delay orders, etc. True of a lot of industries, I’m afraid.
The Moar You Know
As regards the name: doesn’t matter what Trump calls it. Or the CDC.
The youngs have decided that it’s “Boomer Remover” and I think that’s what everyone will be calling it five years from now.
mrmoshpotato
@catclub: Belafon linked to a DailyKos article in comment 21.
evodevo
@Nicole: Yeah…most people have no clue about ANY aspect of the horse world. i don’t know how many times I have had to correct some weird idea among my Facebook friends or co-workers concerning horse behavior, physicality, or whatever. Luckily, one of the mail carriers who is there in our office now is a fellow horse person, and between the two of us we keep a lot of the nonsense out…
mrmoshpotato
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Powerful tax-dodging conmen on both sides of the pond realized “Oh fuck! This can kill us too! Shit!”
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: Such a missed opportunity: “boomer doomer” is the obvious choice. (FTR, I don’t advocate using that name either. I don’t blame the youngs for being angry; I’m angry right along with them. But glee at the mass death of innocent people — and it will be the marginalized who bear the brunt as always — is unseemly.)
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: The Shadow bloodline was a very famous pedigree of registered Walkers. Was yours registered?
Brachiator
Trump thinks and acts like a 19th century minor league criminal. I caught part of the news conference where he was asked about the Chinese Virus” thing and could not believe that he defended this shit.
But as Betty Cracker and others note, Trump has to present himself as beating the virus, and as doing the best job ever. And the Fox News cretins and others will fall in line, because they don’t know any other way. They will never step back, never criticize Trump. Not even if their lives depended on it.
evodevo
@Ruckus: Yes…we have some in the markit, and all the rest in laddered CDs. Our 40 yr old son – moderately right wing – makes endless fun of us not day trading or investing in whatever is the latest fad stock…well, over the last couple weeks he’s suddenly become a believer in more conservative investing, since his portfolio has crashed and burned. Luckily he’s in the AF and therefore safe from layoffs, but if this is what it takes to dig that MBA free market junk out of his head, I say great…
NotMax
@satby
This. This. A thousand times this.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: Dump should sic his shitpile lawyers on the virus! Is Michael Cohen busy?
“I’m going to open up the country’s suing-the-shit-out-of-viruses laws! And we can make lots of money!”
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
Hasn’t always been. Doesn’t need to be. But it certainly is now to a large degree.
But there is another angle on this. The GOP are moral cowards. There is much in Trump’s childish response about the “Chinese Virus” that is based on his instinctive, feral need to nurse resentments, and to always try to tear down anyone who he feels has ever wronged him. And he will always do it, push back, in the most vindictive and petty ways. His appeal to bigotry and sexism is clueless and mindless. He doesn’t care what harm it causes.
Trump is not only a bigot, he seems to have no ethical or moral center. He neither knows nor cares how anyone might be hurt or pained by this.
He also is much like the most recalcitrant 19th century racist in that he seems to feel that the sensibilities of a white man need never be troubled by any sympathy for any other group.
But I will bet you, sadly, that some Chinese American Republicans will go along with this, even though they know that supporting this president might mean putting themselves and their families at risk of being harassed.
But this president demands their loyalty. And they and too many other foolish Republicans feel that they must obey.
Nicole
@evodevo: You’re right. I think so few of us have any sort of regular contact with large domesticated animals anymore, so it’s easy for dog and cat owners to assume what applies to a house-sized pet applies to a large domesticate. I’ve had so many arguments with well-meaning friends involved in animal rescue that don’t know the first thing about what makes for an appropriate retirement home for a horse. Or, for that matter, which horses are in need of a rescue, and which are actually perfectly fine where they are.
Betty Cracker
@evodevo: I suspect not. I don’t know the circumstances under which my dad acquired him, but it was likely in trade for a boat motor or something like that. :)
Bill Arnold
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
There are reports that the Imperial College (London) modeling document was circulated to governments early, and shook both the UK and US governments. It was clearly, to my eye, written to be clear even to (intelligent) politicians; models “drawn in crayon” to be starkly clear. (Good for them for the well-done attempt at effective scientific communication, to be clear.) (Warning, PDF for those who care)
Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID19 mortality and healthcare demand (16 March 2020)
Since the mortality is concentrated in same age cohorts that wealth and power are concentrated in, and this has been clear from the start, probably they were just being greedily, stupidly afraid of damage to the economy and genuinely thought they could PR there way out of it. They fucked up badly, in other words, in the US at least. Lack of testing accumulated over time to mean that the only remaining measure is a shutdown of physical social contact and thus the economy. Sort of a proxy for testing; see who shows up at hospital within the next few weeks to get an idea of how widespread it is, and limit/delay further spread
Meanwhile, some of the usual suspects on the right are suspecting a plot. Involving i’m not sure who; China? George Soros?
I will note yet again that GHG emissions will be reduced substantially for quite a while. The fun conspiracy theories will be along those lines IMO.
The Pale Scot
@WaterGirl: UOOWWWWWHHH........
Anya
From now on, I am going to use “tapioca pudding for brains” to describe MAGAs.
rdale
If he’s going to use a racial slur, I’m calling it the trump*virus from now on.