I know it’s a massive understatement to say there are a lot of weird things going on right now, but who the hell could have predicted Cuomo lust? Here’s a sampling. Molly Jong-Fast at Vogue:
I wanted to like Cuomo, but I was troubled by his work with the sketchy IDC, a group of supposed Democrats who helped the Republicans control the New York State Senate for many years. Cuomo just didn’t speak to me, or rather, he spoke to me in a gruff, gravelly, overly emphatic and slightly obnoxious way about obscure bureaucratic infighting. He felt joyless, not exciting. I liked him but I didn’t like him like him. He was no Sherrod Brown, no Chris Murphy, no Val Deming, no Tammy Duckworth.
But what a difference a pandemic makes. All of a sudden, I love Governor Cuomo, his soothing Queens accent, his stories about his dad Mario (himself a three-time governor of New York) and his 88-year-old mother Matilda. And then there’s Andrew the dad, embarrassing his kids with stories of their upbringing after his divorce, when he was a single father, and bringing his 22-year-old daughter Michaela to one of his coronavirus press briefings, suggesting it was “cooler” to be with him there than to be on the spring break vacation she had just wisely cancelled.
Rebecca Fishbein at Jezebel:
I worked in local New York news for years and developed an intense and reasonable dislike of Cuomo. He has repeatedly hindered attempts to reform the criminal justice system, he took advantage of a once largely conservative state Congress to keep progressive legislation on reproductive health from becoming law, he fucked around with the MTA so much he forced out the only useful subway leader the administration’s ever seen, etc., etc., etc.
And yet, in this time of crisis, with little concrete information available, I need Cuomo’s measured bullying, his love of circumventing the federal government, his sparring with increasingly incompetent city leadership. Not only that, but the less contact I have with other humans, the more I start to think of Cuomo as my only friend. I’ve started laughing at his little jokes. I catch myself touching my hair (not my face!) when he talks about an increase in testing capacity. I swooned when he told a reporter he had his own workout routine. I have watched a clip of him and brother Chris Cuomo bickering about their mother at least 20 times. I think I have a crush???
Cuomo called Fishbein later and, well, you read it.
Anyway, I watched a couple of Cuomo’s press conferences on YouTube and I don’t get the lust, but I do get why he’s so comforting, and why his asshole guy-from-Queens persona is more than tolerable right now, especially since he’s a very competent and experienced asshole, unlike you know who. His press conferences are repetitive, and could be boring, if it weren’t life and death, when saying the same true things over and over is reassuring. He is absolutely frank about the possible bad outcomes, and straightforward about the solutions. His little civics lessons, his clumsy attempt to reach out to young people who are still gathering together (“YOU ARE WRONG” on a PowerPoint was one attempt I saw), his bragging about New York’s firsts (marriage equality, environmental law) — all of this would be fodder for derision outside this context.
I keep going back to Paul Campos’ simple point that Trump could be Churchill if he just could be a normal human being. Cuomo, a guy that nobody really likes, but everybody grudgingly acknowledged was decent at his job, is a perfect example of how somebody good can be great when they rise to an occasion.
DKE-19 Strikes Over The Weekend!
schrodingers_cat
I find his daily press briefings reassuring because he tells the truth about how bad stuff is. What he is doing about it and what needs to be done that is not in his hands. He is doing his job, unlike some other prominent politicians right now.
sanjeevs
If only New York had a Sex and the City actress in charge of a pandemic response
Nicole
There are assholes who can rise to the occasion, and Cuomo is one such asshole. He’ll go back to his usual level of infuriating once this is over (some of us will not forget you aligning with the GOP in NYS Assembly, ANDY!), but for now I am glad he’s head of New York State and he’s doing a really good job.
My philosophy with politicians is to follow Janet Jackson’s adage, What Have You Done for Me Lately? Right now he’s doing a lot. I have no problem abandoning him once he is no longer.
MattF
People are also swooning over Larry Hogan, here in MD. He’s a Republican, so he never actually says out loud that Trump is a psychopathic liar— but, mirable dictu, he has been rational and forcefully decisive.
schrodingers_cat
@sanjeevs: IIRC she was championed by some on Balloon Juice.
Tim C.
Being a bastard and being competent are different attributes. Just saying.
Ohio Mom
Please just don’t add election-cancelling, abortion-forbidding DeWine to the list of governors we are pleasantly surprised by.
randy khan
There was a great piece on Cuomo in New York magazine that I will paraphrase as saying that the kind of inside baseball, make people do things you need them to do whether they want to or not, pulling the levers that need to be pulled and pushing the ones that need to be pushed stuff that we need right now is Cuomo’s sweet spot. He literally is made for situations like this. That sort of stuff also makes him nearly intolerable other times, but right now it’s what New York needs.
Capri
Reminds me of Guiliani. I remember his press conference right after 9/11 – he was measured and reassuring but honest while W was in hiding. The entire nation lionized him for that. Same for Churchill, who was exactly the type of leader needed during wartime, but couldn’t turn into the type of leader that was needed a little later.
What this crisis is revealing about human psychology is fascinating.
leeleeFL
As a New Yorker who has relocated to FL to be near family, I miss The Cuomo Clan something fierce! Mario should have been President, and Andrew looked like he might do that eventually. He has had some hiccups along the way, but being a Man of the People is his heritage and legacy. He, Newsome, Pritzker and, amazingly, Dewine, have helped in keeping the calm in my heart. And then there is Dr. Fauci.
Trump’s and Pence’s antics have angered, frustrated and frightened. No surprise, but saddening. Makes a person wonder if Mother Nature has finally gotten tired of waiting for us to clean our room
Major Major Major Major
The YOU ARE WRONG slide was amazing and is currently my second-favorite meme format (after ‘printer go brr’).
I’ve also been enjoying his smackdowns of De Blasio.
Betty Cracker
Gov. Cuomo’s charm is completely lost on me. I damn sure wish he was my governor instead of the Trump-humping flop-sweat shithead who actually is. I get that Cuomo’s truthfulness and basic competence must be extremely comforting to New Yorkers, especially in contrast to Trump’s unending stream of lies and flailing. But crush on that condescending prick? Nopity-nope-nope.
leeleeFL
@Capri: Funny, I was pissed at Rudy from minute one. Of course, I had worked in the City when he was Mayir, and I knew he was a putz already.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: I definitely took flak for saying I didn’t think she would be a good governor.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: As did I. DeBlasio seems to be uniformly hated by New Yorkers. I have to yet meet one who likes him.
The Moar You Know
Most people who are “decent at their jobs” have what it takes to be great, given the right circumstances. Sadly, the guy supposedly running the show known as “America” is not one of them. Of course, it was widely acknowledged, especially by the people who voted for him – hell, point of pride for those folks – that he wasn’t and never had been good at ANYTHING, but somehow, he’d “rise to the occasion”.
JPL
He waited to long before he shut down the state and he also said if someone has symptoms stay away from them. He never mentioned until recently that you can be a carrier, and not have symptoms.
He does speak in complete sentence.
schrodingers_cat
Also too T is a midget so almost any competent person looks like a giant compared to him.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: That is the sum of his charms. Basic competency is going to become a huge turn on for all kinds of folks over the next couple of years.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: New Yorkers are weird about what we want in a politician. We go for a level of ugly, devoid-of-charisma assholeness in candidates that would be the kiss of death in any other state. It’s weird.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: That’s because he’s a pretty bad mayor! No clue how he got re-elected (his original election made sense, it was part of the Occupy zeitgeist).
dmsilev
@The Moar You Know:
Right now, he’s pushing for “go back to work next week”, because he’s an idiot with no concept of long term thinking and who puts his trust in a son-in-law who is every bit as qualified as he is.
I expect all of the sane governors (all of the Democrats, and a few Republicans) to ignore that suggestion with extreme prejudice.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: I was honestly shocked by how quickly and enthusiastically so many white Southerners embraced Trump. We have a long tradition of electing racist assholes too, of course. But the former Confederacy used to despise mouthy New Yorkers on general principles and preferred its demagoguery delivered with a drawl.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Nicole:
Also, Cuomo’s opponent one year was Carl Paladino. That guy makes Cuomo look like the soul of enlightenment and sensitivity.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: How are you holding out? Are all the cray cray spring breakers gone?
germy
Major Major Major Major
At some point we have to start assuming Trump’s goal is to spike the curve as much as possible, kill millions of Americans, and hope the stock market recovers in time for the election.
bemused
@dmsilev:
He said protect the high risk people and the rest go back to work to save economy. Insane. Everyone would be high risk if all went back to work.
geg6
I’d like to add some praise for my Governor, Tom Wolf. He has been very on top of things, lets the experts speak to any of the medical/virology/epidemiology matters. Has no desire to have the spotlight. Has taken fairly tough, strong measures gradually. I only wish he’d let the state Liquor Control Board ship. I have only four bottles of wine left. It’s gonna be a tough several weeks of being housebound without a few drinky drinkies.
Joe Falco
@Betty Cracker: A combination of carpetbaggers moving here and an IV drip of right-wing talk radio has made the South more accepting of New York vulgarity as long as it says all the right things.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve been assuming that pretty much from the get-go. Massively stupid of him of course, along with massively evil.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Amy Klobuchar’s husband has COVID19
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: I reached that point last Friday.
J.
@Betty Cracker: Right there with you, Betty. I’m a Native New Yorker, now Floridian (gag), and have never been a fan of Andrew (though loved Mario). But everyone I know up there is swooning over him. Still, no way will he be elected president.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: I was dismayed to see a tour boat blast past the swamp compound a little while ago. The “swamp tour” airboat fleet wasn’t running yesterday, so I figured someone told them to stop packing tourists into boats so they can marinate in each other’s germs. They’re back, which strikes me as criminally irresponsible. :(
We’re doing fine, though. My husband finally got through to his mother, who swears she’ll call us if she needs anything instead of using any excuse to run to town. (She’s a wonderful person but a social butterfly, so this social distancing thing is hard for her.)
How are y’all doing?
L85NJGT
So disappointed. You could have had Cynthia Nixon scratching the dirt and clucking at things. Anyone have a guess as to why the Sanders camp put her on point in Florida to smooth things over with Latinos? Because that
seemsis crazy, and suggests AOC was likely done with that campaign when it became clear they could not be civil in dealing with Warren.Miss Bianca
@germy: Ugh. That fucking guy. Do your ACTUAL JOB, Sanders, you putz, rather than chase after the one you want but clearly don’t know how to get OR do.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: @Gin & Tonic: I’m usually on team “incompetent not evil” for a lot of his bullshit, but this is altogether too much. It looked like he might be willing to do something last week after his chat with Tucker but I guess that wore off.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6: I know jack shit about PA laws in this area, but there are often exceptions for wineries to ship direct to consumers. You may not be able to have a state store ship you your favorite Malbec from Mendoza, but there are plenty of wineries in PA. Give a couple of them a call.
rikyrah
Major Major Major Major
@L85NJGT: Why did you use a strongly-gendered insult?
As to your second point, Sanders sure seems to love NY pols who can’t win anything (see also: Zephyr Teachout).
Sloegin
I always respected Inslee, but thought he was too much of a bland policy wonk to make a good Governor or Presidential candidate. We’re lucky to have a 100 percent policy wonk in WA state right now.
When your leaders are sensible people making the right choices and are also working their tails off during a crisis, admiration just happens.
germy
U.S. surgeon general warns of worse week ahead
Chyron HR
@germy:
Sanders told me last week he was dealing with a “f—ing” global crisis
Ah, see, the problem is that you think he was referring to a medical or political crisis when in fact his crisis is that the voters “stole” the nomination from him again.
arrieve
I’ve never liked Andrew Cuomo, even when he was top advisor to his dad, whom I did like very much. But I’m glad he’s our governor now, and his briefings are the only ones I can stand to watch. His bluntness is refreshing, as is the fact that he apparently understands the situation and is telling the truth about it.
He has absolutely risen to the occasion.
germy
‘We really, really need everyone to stay at home,’ U.S. surgeon general says
rikyrah
ewrunning
With Cuomo and Biden bith speaking this morning and Gov Pritzker’s criticism, the President*’s head may literally explode today. Here’s hoping.
artem1s
@Ohio Mom:
DeWine didn’t cancel the election. It’s postponed but you know that. It was the right thing to do and meant Ohio is going to be ahead of the curve as apposed to the states that went ahead with physical voting on March 17. He’s effectively shut down the state as of tonight. He is also a dominionist asshole who will use this as an excuse to advance his religion’s interest over the rest of the state. His order specifically excluded abortion services as essential surgeries but NOT SURPRISINGLY the order allows the continuation of religious services.
12. Essential Businesses and Operations. For the purposes of this Order, Essential Businesses and Operations means Healthcare and Public Health Operations, Human Services Operations, Essential Governmental Functions, and Essential Infrastructure, and the following:
e. Religious entities. Religious facilities, entities and groups and religious gatherings, including weddings and funerals.
No DeWine is not surprising by being competent. He’s an experienced legislator. I expect him to do his job since he was elected to do it. So in no way do I find his actions surprising. But I also expect him to continue to make the wrong decisions when it comes to reining in the Diocese’s demands to be given special considerations.
Those in the Ohio Democratic party who are pushing for a lawsuit should just give it up. It won’t help elect more Dems and will make them look petty in light of the emergency at hand. It’s also a waste of money that would be better spent on House races, state and federal, in the general election. Attacking DeWine right now is a bad political move for the party.
rikyrah
Jim, Foolish Literalist
there are some details floating around twitter, but it sounds bad
MattF
@rikyrah: There are a few new symptoms that have arisen lately– loss of smell and taste, gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea. That’s in addition to the basic ones; fever, dry cough, shortness of breath.
germy
Nicole
@download my app in the app store mistermix: Oh God, yeah. Paladino. I forgot about him (with good reason).
Major Major Major Major
@germy: Reason had an article the other day headlined “There Are Only Libertarians During A Pandemic”, they’re not going to take this lying down!
Mostly about regulatory failure and the danger of having a buffoon in charge, which are fair criticisms, but the solution to that is better government, not less government.
Origuy
My dad died today. Not of COVID-19, he was a few days short of his 92nd birthday and his body just gave out. There won’t be a funeral anytime soon, of course. He and most of my family are in Indiana, while I’m in California. He served two terms with the Corps of Engineers during the Korean War, came home and married my mom. They had three kids and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary just before her death in 2002. He was a heavy equipment operator, a member of the International Brotherhood of Operating Engineers. He graded the ground for most of the buildings of Indiana University of the last half of the last century.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: I think a lot of people are easily swept up by HEY A CELEBRITY I KNOW THIS PERSON.
And Trump, as much as I cannot STAND to see or listen to him now, makes for good TV. I enjoyed him on the first season of The Apprentice, back when I just thought that’s as far as his career would go. He fits exactly what middle America wants in a politician: tall, white and male and good on TV.
My home town in PA was covered in Trump placards in 2016. Still is, actually. Sigh.
germy
frosty
@geg6: Grocery stores in my part of the state are carrying wine and beer… if you’re not picky. Whiskey etc though – well I’m glad I live on the MD line.
MomSense
In the age of Trump, competence is sexy.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Pace I. Montoya: This word reason they use. I do not think it means what they think it means.
;)
lgerard
I just watched Charlie Baker’s news conference and the comparison with the orange obstructionist is stark.
Baker was calm, determined and confidant. He was able to answer questions with a level of detail that made it clear that there was a well thought out plan in effect and all the state resources were working together to implement it.
trump has basically made himself irrelevant in this war and he might as well start taking about how his bone spurs are acting up.
L85NJGT
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Origuy: I’m sorry for your loss, and for the added stress these circumstances must be causing for you
NotMax
@Origuy
Condolences.
germy
Gin & Tonic
@Origuy: So sorry to hear that, especially when the family will be unable to get together to grieve and remember.
Curiously, my regular cycling route to the office takes me past an IBOE union hall and training facility – lots of heavy equipment in the yard, but I guess I don’t go past at the times when the training is going on.
Barbara
@Origuy: Condolences to you and your family. It’s hard to lose a parent even if you know it was after a long life well-lived.
Gin & Tonic
@L85NJGT: Respiratory virus, can’t help wondering about the connection with vaping and/or weed, both pastimes among the young.
germy
Archon
How could Trump be Churchill? Was Churchill calling the Nazis a hoax in 1938?
dexwood
@Origuy: Peace and strength to you and your family.
germy
germy
@Gin & Tonic: And alcohol suppresses the immune system. But liquor stores are considered essential businesses and product is flying off the shelf.
Major Major Major Major
@Origuy: Ugh, how awful. {{ Hugs }}
NotMax
@Archon
Shecky Churchill, minor toast of London music halls.
:)
Steeplejack
I’m listening to Cuomo’s press conference on MSNBC. He is way overselling the “silver lining” of the shutdown—quiet time, more time with family, less stress, etc. He is revealing his upper-class or upper middle-class blindness. How does he think that the majority of Americans who can’t handle a $400 emergency and are suddenly out of a job—or have to keep going to a potentially dangerous job—are going to see this as a positive situation in any way at all?!
gbbalto
@Origuy: My condolences and best wishes. ETA also sorry that family cannot come together – hopefully a remembrance later
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack: Or the kids who escape to school because Daddy gets angry when he drinks.
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: I’m willing to bet that many European countries have higher rates of youth weed and cigarette smoking than we do, and of course merely breathing the air in Chinese cities is worse than both of those.
@germy: Europeans also drink way more than we do so we’d expect a bigger effect there in that case.
Nicole
@germy: A friend pointed out that maybe suddenly forcing millions of alcoholics to go cold turkey might also result in fatalities. And the effects of withdrawal would further strain the health care system.
Nicole
@Origuy: I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. He sounds like he had a very full, very interesting life. May your family have a chance to get together and celebrate his life down the road, after all this has passed.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: True, but not sure about vaping. I haven’t seen much of that in Europe, but maybe I haven’t been hanging around in the right places.
ByRookorbyCrook
Cuomo is an ass. He is a bully. He is not stupid and will go to experts to find an answer. I don’t like Cuomo, his education policies are terrible, he will always lean towards giving himself more power or control if it is there for the taking. Fortunately, these qualities are very useful in a crisis. This is the same Andrew Cuomo that made sure the NYS Senate was controlled by the opposition party through a handful of lickspittles. He knows how to leverage the engine of the state and is pretty upfront with what he is doing. The contrast between state and federal is stark, but this is not Cuomo rising to the challenge. It is Cuomo being Cuomo. Blunt, slightly sociopathic and stubborn.
Steeplejack (phone)
@geg6, @Gin & Tonic:
If Total Wine is in your state (Pennsylvania, I believe), they might be able to do home delivery. They do here in Virginia, which has semi-draconian liquor laws.
Matt McIrvin
The Cuomo cultism is bad but predictable–it’s much like the way that, after 9/11, Bush’s approval rating shot up to 90% and Rudy Fucking Guiliani turned into America’s Mayor; people will rally around any leader who says an even slightly reassuring thing and projects confidence in a crisis. Trump is obviously not that guy, but it doesn’t actually take much to be that guy. I think some of the “where is Biden?” frustration comes from people wanting Biden to be that guy RIGHT NOW. But the fact that Biden is not actually in a position of power makes it harder for him, in addition to the constraints imposed by his personal risk from infection.
germy
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2020/03/who-needs-russians-when-you-have-murdoch.html
The above is fascinating. According to the blogger, Murdoch is pushing Cuomo as an alternative to Biden, to make Biden appear weak.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Much as I abhor the promos and think the whole implementation of the concept was stupid, TCM Wine Club?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gin & Tonic:
Right. Or if school is the place where they get their only decent meal of the day.
Our “ruling class,” even on the Democratic side, is woefully out of touch with the lived experience of far too many Americans.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: Fox News is definitely banging the “Cuomo is a threat to Biden” drum.
PST
@geg6:
Here in Chicago, not only are liquor stores considered essential, but the largest chain, Binny’s (I mention it in case anyone needs a drink), is reserving noon to 1:00 p.m. daily for old folks (like me) and other vulnerable people. We have so much “essential” business that I fear shelter in place may be somewhat of an illusion, but the streets do look empty.
Nicole
@Matt McIrvin:
Respectfully disagree; it’s Bernie/Russian/GOP social media manipulation.
Just watched Biden’s address from his house (he took the weekend setting the rec room up as a studio). It was fine- a little wandery, but in Biden’s always-been-that-way style. I did appreciate him pointing out we got through the 1918 epidemic, the Great Depression and 2 World Wars. It helps to be reminded this too, shall pass.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack (phone): How was your Vegas trip?
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Doing well.Going to do yard work as exercise. Its hard to stay indoors when the weather is nice out so I have been going for walks. I have to be careful though I usually get spring colds that can be nasty and have allergy induced asthma. Spring is terrible for my allergies.
Worried for family in India which is also ruled by incompetent buffoons and more densely packed and with less resources.
p.a.
Meh: just got an email reminder- approaching efg’s 1 year anniversary (anniversary is the proper word, correct? Sounds too celebrational. Do other languages have a single word for death day?)
satby
@Origuy: Condolences to you and your family. Sounds like he was a good one and will be much missed.
Steeplejack (phone)
Has Trump’s 11:30 blat been delayed, or is it just late, as usual? Cuomo finally rumbled to a halt, and MSNBC has gone back to regular programming.
satby
@p.a.: Jeezus. I miss efg. Seems like it was a lifetime ago, not just a year.
NotMax
@PST
“Sorry, buddy, guy in the long trenchcoat in the next alley handles wine. I do toilet paper.”
//
mad citizen
@Origuy: My condolences to you. I appreciate the details you added. As a 59 year old lifelong Hoosier, I spent four years (grad school) walking around those buildings at IU that your father graded. It’s one of the most beautiful campuses around for sure. The best to you and your family.
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodingers_cat:
It went somewhat better than I expected. I reported on it here several times. I’ll see if I can find a link for you.
Elizabelle
@Origuy: My sympathies. Hard to lose your last parent, even if he had a full life of 92.
Betty Cracker
@Origuy: So sorry to hear that. It’s difficult to lose a parent, and the inability to get together with family and share the grief and memories in person must make it even harder. Wishing you strength and courage.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Origuy: My condolences. He sounds like an amazing person.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Steeplejack (phone):
Or I guess it was Biden who was scheduled at 11:30. Trump does his thing late in the afternoon?
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: I’m not happy about primary or abortion restriction but I think overall he’s done a great job. OT but I believe he was instrumental in clearing backlog in testing rape kits. I go with the Rethug I have and not the Rethug I wish I had. It’s good to see that there are a few Rethugs who know how to govern and DeWine is experienced in many facets of state and federal government.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: It’s definitely good to get outside if you can. Hope your family in India comes through this okay.
PST
@germy:
There was some kind of libertarian party bigwig on Morning Joe today. I believe he said that government needs to get out of the way and let the free market solve the coronavirus problem. Of course, I could have told you that even if the sound had been off. My ears have difficulty with the frequency those guys speak on, so I’m fuzzy on the details. They make me feel like that great Gary Larson cartoon of the man talking to his dog. What we say: “Bad dog, Ginger. You’ve ruined the carpet, Ginger. Go to your corner, Ginger.” What they hear: “Blah blah blah, Ginger. Blah Ginger. Blah blah blah Ginger.” For me it’s more like “Blah blah blah free market blah blah.”
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, that’s true, and obviously worrying perhaps. The last vaping scare was caused by black-market cannabis oil so this could be an extension of that.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Origuy:
My condolences to you and your family. ? I hope you can have an appropriate memorial service at some point in the future.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@PST:
Binny’s has an old people shopping time? I’ll have to tell Mr DAW.
CaseyL
@Origuy: My condolences. It sounds like your Dad had a long and well-lived life. I hope the family finds some way to remotely come together and wish one another well.
Take care.
PST
@Origuy: I am very sorry for your loss. People used to say that someone died of old age. I don’t hear that anymore, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to assign a cause. It was like that with my dad: our bodies just wear out. Indiana University has a beautiful, beautiful campus, so he must have done a good job.
Be BernieAPOSTROPHEs Valentine
Fandom is the elixir for all liberal ailments.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
I always told mine that I drink because they disappoint me.
Major Major Major Major
@PST: The general gist, from what I’ve read, is that when government has a systemic failure, corporations need to be able to step up. “Sometimes awful people run the government” is one of the libertarian arguments that is in fact true.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: A large supermarket chain in New England instituted an old-people shopping time last week. It sounds like a good idea on paper, but when I went to my local store Thursday or Friday morning it was a mob scene, reminiscent of Saturday afternoon the day before Super Bowl.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
“Set up at display before noon. We might finally be able to move the Rock and Rye that’s been gathering dust in the back for ages.”
:)
laura
@Origuy: I am sorry for your loss. Your father made real, tangible things and his trade – Hoist & Portable is the embodiment of infrastructure. Wishing you comfort Grace and peace in his passing.
Sab
@MattF: Another symptom is splitting headache that lasts for days,
Chyron HR
@Be BernieAPOSTROPHEs Valentine:
Please explain the difference between “fandom” and “Bernie is the one true god and Trump is the instrument of His divine vengeance upon the heathens”.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Gin & Tonic:
My supermarket chain has 7-9 on T and Th. I figure by Th things will have settled down a little. I hope.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax:
LOL. That is so true.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
The olds have been hoarding an amazing amount of food at my grocery. They do their hour, and there is nothing left.
Kathleen
@Chyron HR: According to AOC Biden won in Michigan because of voter suppression. She gets bonus points for saying this on Fox.
Kathleen
@Origuy: My deepest condolences.
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Mine was limiting all the high-demand stuff to two units per customer.
Yesterday I was in a Lowe’s, where they had toilet paper (don’t ask me why) with a sign limiting purchases to one unit per customer. That “unit” was a roll. Yes, they were selling TP by the roll.
Betty Cracker
@Kathleen: Not exactly. Here’s the relevant excerpt:
AOC shouldn’t go on Fox News — no Democrat should, IMO. But Baier asked her about a specific thing: lack of turnout after she and Sanders drew a big crowd at a college campus. She didn’t say Sanders lost because of that alone; she correctly pointed out that voter suppression among college students is a thing, which it is.
marv
@Origuy:
My condolences, and I want to add I liked reading your clear statement about your dad and a life well lived and hope it gives you some comfort to share it here when you are unable to grieve in traditional ways.
PJ
@Major Major Major Major: A significant difference between the actions of government and corporations, which I’m guessing Reason elides, is that government is intended to operate in the public interest, while corporations operate in their own interest. Which is why the cost of protective masks has now risen from well under a dollar a piece to over $8 each. Some corporations, of course, are public minded (witness the distilleries now making hand sanitizer and providing it at cost or for free), but there should be no expectation of that, whereas, in an environment not dominated by the GOP, we would all have believe that government operated for the express purpose of benefiting the public, rather than the President and his cronies.
Be BernieAPOSTROPHEs Valentine
@Chyron HR:
Lol, listen to yourself. Even in your defensive retort, you’re trapped in a fandom mindset.
PJ
@Betty Cracker: I don’t know about the situation in Michigan, but if there is voter suppression, it is being enacted by Republican state governments in order to suppress Democratic turnout generally. Waiting in line for hours to vote is obviously a bad thing, but every Democrat wanting to vote would have to wait, and as we saw on Super Tuesday, plenty of Democrats stood on line for hours to vote in places like Texas.
Nobody should be discouraged from voting, but history has shown, and the recent primaries have confirmed, that young people will gladly show up for a party or concert in support of a candidate, but actually showing up to a polling place is a different thing entirely.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: a part of the problem that day was due to fact many students chose to register to vote that same day and first had to go to BOE. A voting official disputed AOC’s claim that there was deliberate suppression but acknowledged the processes needed to be improved. None of this should her a pass for constantly deriding Democrats and suggesting they rig everything against Bernie. Biting my keyboard going forward. God forbid anybody should point out anything negative about AOC. I’ve had it .
Matt McIrvin
@Nicole: “We” collectively got through, but a lot of individual people didn’t survive, and that’s how it is now too. That kind of reassurance always puts me a little on edge.
I sometimes hear people in this pandemic expressing nostalgia for the 80s and 90s as a time of relative safety, and I think how AIDS just ripped through the cities killing so many people, and how the majority just didn’t care that much because they thought the people affected were bad people anyway. At least we’re probably not going to get that, though the kids talking about the boomer remover are affecting a version of the same pose.
Major Major Major Major
@PJ: Right, and I agree with you, but they’re not wrong that sometimes the federal government is run by a cult (let’s ignore that it’s a cult they tend to support for this argument), and we need a release valve somewhere else. This is also an area where federalism/states’ rights (of the actual variety) is important. If the governors weren’t allowed to lock down NY/NJ/CT/PA/CA/FL etc., this would be much much worse.
So while the main answer is good governance, decentralization and some corporate help would be great. For example, the FDA should have let reputable companies make their own tests instead of demanding the incompetent CDC do it; the libertarian argument there is that maybe they shouldn’t have needed FDA approval in the first place. In this case that would’ve sped up testing by precious weeks.
germy
RobNYNY
@p.a.:
Yiddish has “Yahrzeit.”
https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US105G91207&p=Yahrzeit
Gin & Tonic
@germy: I’m going to have to flip a coin to decide whether Greenwald or O’Donnell is more insufferable.
Betty Cracker
@Kathleen: I criticized AOC right there in my reply to you (she shouldn’t go on Fox — no Democrat should, ever), so it should be obvious I don’t think it’s beyond the pale to criticize AOC. Just providing some needed context to your original comment.
joel hanes
@germy:
re: alcohol and weed
I’ve pretty much given up both for the duration.
PJ
@Major Major Major Major: This is fine insofar as private testing is actually accurate. I think most people would agree, particularly after the experience we are currently having, that decentralization is a boon when there is a larger system failure, and that private enterprise often benefits society as a whole regardless of current government actions. But libertarians want to dispense with regulation wholesale, which would mean that anyone could offer a Covid-19 test regardless of whether it was accurate or not, which I don’t think benefits anyone but the vendor.
You’re right that libertarianism is a cult, and the reality of the need for large scale public coordination provided by government, which would seem obvious when significant numbers of people aren’t going to voluntarily change their habits in a massive public health crisis, isn’t going to affect how they view individuals and society, since it was never based in reality to begin with.
germy
@joel hanes: Alcohol irritates my stomach and gives me a headache. Weed is, for me, unobtainable. But I doubt it would help my anxiety.
joel hanes
@satby:
Seems like it was a lifetime ago
January 2020 was a completely different world, one I can barely remember.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
O’Donnell has matured into his position and when he steps down from the soapbox he still stands on for editorializing his program is often among the most informative in the line-up.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: They’re both annoying, but I noticed how GG immediately backtracked after Lawrence’s reply. First he implies Lawrence speaks differently because of his bosses, and then says he would never imply Lawrence would speak differently because of his bosses.
Major Major Major Major
@PJ: yeah I generally consider it on a similar plane as hard Marxism: decent diagnosis sometimes, terrible treatment suggestions.
NotMax
@NotMax
Addendum.
Appearances by Michael Moore excepted from the informative column. If you’re listening, Larry, cut that out.
Fair Economist
@Origuy: So sorry about your dad and the difficulties in mourning him properly.
Sab
@Gin & Tonic: Our old people shopping time has been really good. They have it for several hours in the morning when most olds are already up. They let youngs in but few are there yet. We are all sort creeping around avoiding each other. Shelves are reasonably well-stocked except the paper towels and TP, also rubbing alcohol all gone but hydrogen peroxide in spray bottles is still plentiful.
Also, the grocery store put in glass plates blocking us from the cashiers. They all have rubber or latex gloves and we can’t breathe on them. Local chain owned by a really nice, civic-minded family.
germy
@Sab: My local supermarket used to be open 24/7. But now they close at night so a midnight shift can sanitize and restock (that’s the story, anyway). The logic, I think, is that the store is cleaner first thing in the morning when the seniors show up (between 6-7am).
I went in the morning with the seniors and noticed one or two shoppers who were obviously under 60, which sort of bugged me.
p.a.
@Sab: lots of (we) olds might be out there early buying for kids and grandkids. I assure you I have no need for the baby wipes in my basket!
Miss Bianca
@Origuy: My condolences, so sorry to hear it.
dimmsdale
@J.: may have said this on an earlier thread, but I think the Cuomo that I saw at the press conference yesterday was actively channeling Mario’s decency and humanity. Neither of these are qualities Andrew seemed to possess prior to the crisis.
joel hanes
@lgerard:
trump has basically made himself irrelevant in this war
Would that it were so.
His Orangeness is actively sabotaging better-informed efforts to manage and survive the pandemic, throwing misinformation into the gearbox and felling trees across the escape route.
joel hanes
@PST:
Blah blah blah free market blah blah.
Nothing wrong with your ears. That’s the entire semantic content.
La Nonna
@Origuy: my sincere condolences.
Origuy
Thanks for your comments, everyone. It helped more than I thought it would. It was a catharsis writing my post.
PST
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Yeah? So what’s your point?
Brachiator
Likeability in a politician is over-rated, especially in comparison to being competent.
And calling a politician an asshole, without more context, is often pointless.
WereBear
I was no fan of Cuomo the younger, but I must admit he’s more environmentally supportive than I expected re: the Adirondack Park. And he’s the one want I want for a pandemic.
I’ve always been a pushover for NYC style: my first husband (I was widowed) was from Brooklyn. So I totally get Cuomo’s style, like when he chided the public for hoarding toilet paper: “Seriously? Where are you putting 100 rolls of toilet paper?” In a NY apartment in real life, that’s a funny question :)
The key to getting through this thing is to stay in the moment. We can’t see the future, and we can only be responsible for our own actions.
We still have to chop wood and carry water, as the Zen saying goes. If people are watching Cuomo to get the real facts about what is going on and what everyone needs to do: great. I have a feeling that many people still haven’t woken up, but maybe they are starting to.
Kattails
@Origuy: So very sorry to hear of your loss. Please take good care of yourself in this already-awful time. I lost my Dad some time ago and one thing I tell people is that I found grief to often keep a low profile; that I wasn’t often emotional (his situation was not unexpected), but that it was surprisingly exhausting. It took a year or so to start to feel OK again. So just be kind to yourself. Sending virtual hugs.
Penny Dreadful
@Brachiator: Who says you have to “like” a politician? You will never be invited to their house for dinner. You will likely never meet them in person. Screw “likability.”
Hillary was supposed to be “unlikable.” Imagine her in the Oval Office.
Eric K
@Major Major Major Major: it’s incompetent and evil.
the evil is obviously not caring if people die, the incompetence is not realizing that reopening everything and letting people die will still cause the economy to crash. Chris Hayes has a good twitter thread about how it will be jus5 as bad or possibly even worse.