This made me laugh out loud:
Truth.
by John Cole| 83 Comments
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus
This post is in: Excellent Links, NANCY SMASH!, Proud to Be A Democrat
Pelosi not invited to today’s WH signing ceremony on stimulus, per aide. She and Trump have not spoken in more than five months. More on that here: https://t.co/ickLNTZubI
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 27, 2020
Karen Tumulty, at the Washington Post, applauds “A troublemaker with a gavel”:
… Though Nancy Pelosi does not lack for self-confidence, she rarely indulges in public self-reflection. On that night at the Smithsonian, however, she gave a nod to those who had paved the way for her.
“The women who did all of this — oh my gosh — we revere them. We hold them up as icons. But what we hear people say is, ‘Yes, they were icons. You are troublemakers.’ They were considered troublemakers in their time, so maybe there is a future for all of us,” Pelosi said with a laugh. “But I can just tell you, a troublemaker with a gavel — that’s the real difference.”
This troublemaker with a gavel is the highest-ranking female elected official in the nation’s history and, [last] Thursday, Pelosi will also mark a personal milestone: her 80th birthday. Fittingly, it comes at the end of Women’s History Month. Just as appropriately, Pelosi will be marking it by attempting a huge, complicated and vitally important legislative lift — marshaling support for a massive spending bill to blunt the impact of the coronavirus.
Pelosi will be tested in the coming months, as her generationally divided party looks for a way to navigate the coronavirus crisis while regrouping behind a presidential nominee. Then, in the fall, every seat in the House will be on the ballot and, with it, Pelosi’s 35-seat majority. Voters will render judgment on her decision to press forward with President Trump’s impeachment last fall. But it is likely they will be focused more on figuring out which party can be trusted going forward, and specifically, which is better equipped to manage the next phase of the government’s response to the most challenging peacetime crisis in a century or more…
Excellent Read: Nancy Pelosi Remains A BossPost + Comments (106)
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Pet Blogging, Something Good Open Thread
Update from Deb S:
Shakespeare invites the community to curl up with him for a nap. He does not necessarily recommend that you emulate his posture.
He wants you to know he is doing well in his new home, and that he enjoyed getting up from his nap on the rug this morning to watch the snow. When it stopped snowing he headed for his favorite bed on the heating vent for another nap.
His new mom says he is healthy and putting on weight. Obviously napping is good for you.
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Chill-Out Assistance from A Past MasterPost + Comments (136)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs
WHO Director General: "The pandemic is accelerating at an exponential rate. The first 100,000 cases took 67 days. The second 100,000 took 11 days, the third 100,000 took just 4 days, and the fourth 100,000 just 2 days."
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) March 26, 2020
A factory in South Korea is now making 350,000 COVID-19 test kits a day – almost as many as the country has used in the entire outbreak so far. Daily output will increase to a million next month.
https://t.co/pjr8m9oS0i— Laura Bicker (@BBCLBicker) March 27, 2020
When do countries on #Covid19 lockdown know it's safe to ease up on restrictions? What can be done to keep the virus from coming roaring back? @sxbegle packs a prodigious amount of information into this piece you must read. https://t.co/gVmZ1ufzCy
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 25, 2020
Rapid, point of care diagnostics open up opportunities for shifting to more targeted control strategies. We're not there yet, but this is another piece of the puzzle. https://t.co/wdvFLi3jIt
— Caitlin Rivers, PhD (@cmyeaton) March 28, 2020
Looking thru product information, looks like an isothermal nucleic acid amplification-based test
— Grace Vezeau (@grace_vezeau) March 28, 2020
This would be a very hopeful thing. And it might be cheaper for the federal government to establish rapid testing in every airport in America than it would be to subsidize the airlines for another several months of not flying. https://t.co/K6MGA62nJf
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) March 28, 2020
Let’s hope Trump doesn’t take control of them & switch production to SUV’s https://t.co/rYvpNyACmX
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) March 28, 2020
An idea for speeding up a #covid19 vaccine from @mlipsitch and colleagues: infect young volunteers. Story by @antonioregalado https://t.co/mrFwjGGZtT
— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) March 27, 2020
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Trumpery, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)
Donald Trump is suing to take this off TV. You guys know what to do. https://t.co/MixFNN4ARf
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) March 26, 2020
the president will be responsible for a campaign of mass murder vastly more consequential than 9/11. https://t.co/uJxN09zWgs
— grocery store stakhanovite (@Theophite) March 27, 2020
Trump Wants to ‘Reopen America.’ Here’s What Happens if We Do. https://t.co/RNBIHOLY7y
— ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ ????? (@MackayIM) March 28, 2020
Yes—getting masks and ventilators made en mass “is a great point of leverage, it’s a great negotiating tool”
(Keep this in mind when people you know start dying) https://t.co/k95omRfhoC
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 26, 2020
Every day this thing exists in the highest seat of power is another stain on America's legacy that can never, ever be cleansed. I only hope that future generations can laugh at this. But it's truly an incredibly embarrassing time to be an American. https://t.co/2d7sCHoqhB
— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) March 28, 2020
He is attacking Michigan. He is waging war against one of the United States. He is essentially starting a civil war.
Hey, @GOPLeader, are you siding with the president, or are you siding with California & the rest of the United States? https://t.co/lT5OLA1C7s
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) March 27, 2020
Professor Pamela “Nostradamus” Karlan, ladies and gentlemen. https://t.co/HtiM5998U0
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) March 28, 2020
There is, incredibly, no government agency publicly tracking all corona cases in the US.
So the NYT is doing it. https://t.co/GBPbosTpvD
— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) March 27, 2020
The seemingly miles of beds being set up at Javits. It is absolutely unreal to see what the National Guard & first responders have put together here in just days. pic.twitter.com/dD0AQg4PO4
— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) March 27, 2020
COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday/Saturday, March 27/28 (Domestic Edition)Post + Comments (18)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Open Threads, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, All Too Normal
Clothing:
!! Walmart EVP of corporate affairs Dan Bartlett tells @YahooFinance that amid #coronavirus: “We are seeing increased sales in tops, but not bottoms” because so many people are doing video conferences from home. and all that matters is the above the waist shot. $WMT
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) March 26, 2020
Food:
The Cheesecake Factory tells landlords it will not be paying rents on April 1 https://t.co/AHjWusegPa pic.twitter.com/XlAevQxwWm
— Eater (@Eater) March 25, 2020
It begins. Seems to me like CF has the leverage right now; they can demand mitigation because their landlords don’t have much of an option. From what I’ve seen of them, repurposing those joints would be a massive undertaking. And there’s not gonna be a shortage of empty restaurant spaces, once this is over (or at least settling down to a dull background roar)…
… The Calabasas Hills-based company informed all of its landlords in a letter dated March 18 (reproduced [at the link]) that a severe decline in restaurant traffic has decreased its cash flow and “inflicted a tremendous financial blow” to business. Cheesecake Factory’s affiliated restaurants, such as Rock Sugar and North Italia, will also not make April 1 rent payments.
Company chairman and CEO David Overton writes, “Due to these extraordinary events, I am asking for your patience, and frankly, your help.” He continues, “we appreciate our landlords’ understanding given the exigency of the current situation.” The letter says that the company hopes to resume paying rent as soon as possible…
… In total, it operates 294 restaurants in 39 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Toronto, Canada. In 2019, the company also acquired Phoenix-based Fox Restaurants, including North Italia, Flower Child, and The Henry. Most of the company’s landlords are malls, including Simon and Westfield…
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Cheesecake Factory has closed 27 locations across the country, and pivoted other locations to a takeout and delivery-only model — which it said just days ago was enabling the company to “operate sustainably at present” — and its stock price has fallen by more than 50 percent in the past month.
With 38,000 employees, the Cheesecake Factory is one of the largest restaurant employers in the country. Given its recent stock woes and the ongoing reduction in business due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems possible that it, like many restaurants, could end up needing a bailout to survive…
And to complete the economists’ clothing, food, shelter trilogy of basics — AirBnB has pretty much lost its regulatory argument with big-city governments; it’s not just a handful of nice amateurs renting out their spare rooms on an occasional weekend…
700 new Craigslist ads for furnished rentals in SF, posted this weekend. All in houses/apts, not in short term rentals. Are we seeing the implosion of AirBnB in real-time?
— ?? (@becauseberkeley) March 23, 2020
Business Under Lockdown Edition: Street Level RetailPost + Comments (148)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Open Threads
Okay I've had the 90 day trial and would like to return 2020
— Siobhan ??/?? #iKON (@Hipployta) March 27, 2020
Most British response EVAH, via commentor Chris:
The Police in London are trying to brighten the mood.
The are going up and down the Thames in a police boat playing "Always look on the bright side of life" on a loud speaker.
How wonderfully British. Love it ????????????#CoronaCrisis #coronavirus #COVIDIOT #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/4dcGsd5sJH
— News Addict ???? (@addicted2newz) March 21, 2020
In times like these, I recall what my grandma, Juanita Greengard, always used to tell me before I took a trip: "If you can't be good be careful, and if you can't be careful be sanitary."
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) March 21, 2020
I do not understand how mcdonalds can serve two billion hamburgers every year but when I order five million at the drive thru it overwhelms the system https://t.co/f70fUIY7MF
— kilgore trout, stonks autographer (@KT_So_It_Goes) March 21, 2020
I'm all in on victory gardens. Just need to figure out how to plant this toilet paper tree.
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) March 21, 2020
Each night in Spain at 8pm, ppl come to their balconies to cheer the country's healthcare workers.
Last night, a caregiver brought her Alzheimer's patient to the balcony to play his harmonica.
She lets him believe they're cheering for him.
Humanity.????pic.twitter.com/9xmXmyQN8U
— Rex Chapman???? (@RexChapman) March 23, 2020
Apart from that… how’s everybody holding up?
Semi-Respite Friday Evening Open Thread: TGIF?Post + Comments (346)