Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

In my day, never was longer.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Democrats are back in array!

I really should read my own blog.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Walpurgis Night

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Walpurgis Night

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… Tens of thousands of people usually descend on southern city to celebrate Walpurgis Night, which is marked across Scandinavia.

But officials want to keep people away because of the coronavirus outbreak.

There is no lockdown in Sweden, where data show most people have taken to voluntary social distancing.

“Lund could very well become an epicentre for the spread of the coronavirus on the last night in April,” the chairman of the local council’s environment committee, Gustav Lundblad, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

Defending the decision to spread a ton of chicken manure in the park, he said: “We get the opportunity to fertilise the lawns, and at the same time it will stink and so it may not be so nice to sit and drink beer.”…

Speaking of chicken manure…

Reader Interactions

249Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    Trump ending the social distancing guidelines today is the final straw for me (and by the way, NPR just reported that the Trump campaign has sold a million plastic straws to MAGAts as campaign “merch”). Restaurants are reopening here in defiance of DeWine’s orders, just because the owners are depressed and their hearts need it.

    People are fucking idiots. I will never escape my fucking apartment for the rest of my life.

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    Lund is a great town. I taught there one summer…. University city so lots of risk taking youngs. I’m surprised nearby Malmo, which is a good deal poorer, hasn’t been harder hit by the virus.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    Laurie Garrett: “Will they pay a political price?”
    Not enough of one, if any. Because Demon-rats are the TRUE coronavirus, and FREE-DUMB, and argle-bargle.
    [For me, “enough of one” is defined as the Dems re-take the Senate with a decent “cushion” (say, 53 or 54 D/I Senators), Moscow Mitch loses his race, the Murderer-in-Chief loses, and the Dems add 20 or more seats in the House. And Shill Barr gets run over by one of the Murderer-in-Chief’s campaign buses. I realize these hopes are not realistic, but frankly, I think they’re lowballing the political price those traitors/murderers SHOULD pay.]

  7. 7.

    trnc

    I’ve become so used to seeing polls where only 40% oppose something you would think would be at least 85% (like DT holding a press conference), I’m actually surprised at the relatively sane numbers opposing school or businesses reopening.

  8. 8.

    satby

    @debbie: People are fucking idiots.

    Yes, yes they are. And most of them will not adjust their behavior until they personally know someone who dies. So I think we have to accept that the toll on this country will be in the hundreds of thousands.

  9. 9.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Not if we sue him first.

    Not a lawyer, but I thought being sued does not prevent one from suing.

    Yes, I know you were kidding.

  10. 10.

    Lapassionara

    April 30 is usually a big deal in most of Europe. We made the mistake of arriving in Florence on April 30. People were outside on the streets all night, drinking. At dawn, the mayor served breakfast on one of the piazzas. Then, of course, May 1 was a holiday and many places were closed. I don’t recall the Italian phrase for the celebration, but it translated to “white night.”

    Speaking of May 1, wasn’t Trump planning on a visit to Moscow for Russia’s May Day celebration?

    good morning, everyone.

  13. 13.

    Immanentize

    @trnc: That is where the polling is actually probing what matters in their lives — right now.  Trump has a presser?  Who cares.  My kids must go back to school with the Ianesco boy?  No fucking way!

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: This little piggy went to the doctor,
    This little piggy did too.
    This little piggy got topical cream
    And this little piggy got none.
    But this little piggy…
    This little piggy…
    This little piggy went….
    Weeeweeeweeeweee all the way home.

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    OK, thanks, but the presumptive (and postTrumptive?) President-to-Be appears to disagree.

    I know! Let’s you and him fight

    ETA: Serious question: if the “counter-suer” files a suit about something (theoretically) different — not sure what that would be — is it still a countersuit? Or does it become a new/separate action? Not sure why I care, nor if it even matters, but simple minds and all that.

  19. 19.

    artem1s

    even GOPer MAGA’s want those ‘other’ people to open schools (university eggheads so there will be sportsball again on TV). A solid 27% are Vogons and believe if they can’t see the ‘rona, it can’t see them. Since no one in their inner circle has died (yet – it was his time to go to God dontchaknow) they believe no one in their inner circle will. These are the same asshats who don’t want to continue to pay taxes for public schools because they have no kids in public schools. Deficits are fine as long as their portfolio is OK. Also, too DeWine knows the state will have to ask for bankruptcy relief if the unemployment continues to rack up. He’s walking on a razor’s edge here. Please the Chamber of Commerce by putting on a maskless Kabuki opening and sacrifice another few thousand Ohioan’s or lock down the state, mandate masks, testing and tracing and sacrifice himself up to derision by the Twittler God.

    DeWine was never a ‘good’ guy. He never will be. It’s likely he only acted quickly so he could be first in line to get supplies for OSU hospital and the Trump lovin’ Cleveland Clinic. Oh, and the Gilbert Brothers Quicken Loans gets to manage all those relief loans. He’s an old school GOPer and doesn’t say the awful parts out loud. Rural Ohioan’s are going to die by the thousands – by hey, upside, no more hillbilly heroin problem!

  20. 20.

    Chyron HR

    To be fair, 40% of the people who said public schools should stay closed are just opposed to them in principle.

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: If you haven’t seen it already, there’s a link to a WaPo report about ‘covid toes’ in the latest COVID-19 Update thread.

    The dermatologists seem to think it’s a symptom among ‘young people’ (ages 20-30)… but I personally suspect that’s because lots of us old pharts consider foot & toe issues as something that’s inevitable, like colds or seasonal allergies.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @SFAW: sadly, I am nearing the violent fantasy part of my responses to this administration, so probably best if we do not fight — at least in person.

    Which reminds me to ask: Does anyone here shoot skeet or trap? I am back to thinking that if the Immp is going to (ever get to) go to college in Texas, it might be wise for him to learn some gun safety and handling lessons before he goes….

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @artem1s:

    Trump lovin’ Cleveland Clinic.

    I had heard they actually do a good job, irrespective of whether they love the Murderer-in-Chief.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @Anne Laurie: Thanks.  I saw it yesterday.  Elizabelle posted it in one of the threads.

    And I only play an old man on this blog.  I feel it gives me gravitas.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: it might be wise for him to learn some gun safety and handling lessons before he goes….

    I don’t know what Rice is like but it’s never a bad idea if there’s a chance somebody might invite him to a shoot.

  30. 30.

    Anne Laurie

    @Lapassionara: Speaking of May 1, wasn’t Trump planning on a visit to Moscow for Russia’s May Day celebration?

    Russia’s May Day celebrations have been ‘postponed’, as of a week or so ago, IIRC.

    May Day celebrations are common all through temperate Europe — it’s basically a ‘YAY, summer at last’ in opposition to the October 31 ‘Damn, back to long nights & short rations.’

    Here in America, ‘we’ moved the celebration to Memorial Day weekend, for a bunch of reasons.  Part of it was removing the ‘taint’ of socialist May Day workers’ rights celebration.  Another part, of course, were the inherent commercial opportunities of a long holiday weekend.  But the impulse to get together, preferably at a vacation spot, and throw a noisy party remains the same!

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @Lapassionara:

    Speaking of May 1, wasn’t Trump planning on a visit to Moscow for Russia’s May Day celebration?

    He wasn’t, but Ron Johnson and a few other R senators were. [Kidding, but it would not surprise me if I were right.]

  33. 33.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @debbie: There is a quote from Stephen King’s  post-apocalyptic novel The Stand that keeps occurring to me since January/February:

    “Show me a man or a woman alone and I’ll show you a saint. Give me two and they’ll fall in love. Give me three and they’ll invent the charming thing we call ‘society’. Give me four and they’ll build a pyramid. Give me five and they’ll make one an outcast. Give me six and they’ll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they’ll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.”

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    Today’s bailout thought —

    If the Republicans really cared about 1) getting businesses open (or keeping vital ones like processing plants open) and 2) not wanting those businesses to be crippled by lawsuits of people harmed by being forced to go back to work,

    Instead of giving liability immunity, the federal government should offer indemnification — sort of a worker’s comp for these special circumstances — as long as the business acted “reasonably” in trying to protect the safety of it’s workers.

  35. 35.

    John Barleycorn

    If the wind blows right, I’ll probably be able to smell the chicken shit on the park in Lund. Valborg is big here, with large crowds of mostly young folks drinking all day in the park. Last year we saw some rather humorous sunburns on folks days after… This year the park is fenced off and they set the weather machines on ‘cold, wet and breezy’ so it should be a quieter affair. While there aren’t many mandatory restrictions, most folks are behaving reasonably. I hope these measures help everyone remember what they are supposed to do and we aren’t tracing a big spike back to tonight.

     

    Stay safe, all.

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: TBH, I was glaring at my own toes when I snarked about that.  (I’m just a year or so shy of being Social Security eligible.)

  40. 40.

    Anne Laurie

    @Immanentize: This year, however, was the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Hitler. It was going to be one big event. Actually amazing it has been postponed.

    Yeah, I mostly know about the postponement because Corona Twitter was snarking that Putin wasn’t really as sanguine about ‘Covid-19 will never assault the Motherland’ as he was proclaiming at the time.  Looks like they were correct!

  44. 44.

    hueyplong

    @SFAW: The answer is kind of boring.  The “counter suit” is a counterclaim regardless of whether it’s about the same subject.

    But if it’s something totally unrelated, the new claim must fit the court’s rules (statute of limitations, jurisdiction, etc.) in order to be included in the same suit and and this new claim can’t just get in automatically, the way “related” claims can.

    This kind of inquiry usually comes up in the context of suits in federal court.

    If you’re still awake, now you see why no one else responded.

  45. 45.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: That was my thinking….  I suspect things like gun clubs will be back in operation this summer, so I want to check out that possibility.  It seems like a mentoring/adult group in the Northeast that has serious rules (both trap and skeet are Olympic sports) would be a good way for him to be eased into gun culture.

  48. 48.

    Sab

    @Immanentize: My 95 year old dad used to. Wear earplugs. He didn’t and as a result has had 60+ years of tinnitis.

    I am so old that I remember getting actual NRA gun safety training as part of riflery at summer camp in the South.

  49. 49.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Baud:

    A veces le hago cosquillas en los pies a mi mamá para hacerla reír. Si me estoy escondiendo debajo de la cama y lo hago cuando ella se acuesta, salta y grita. ¡Necesitas un cachorro como yo!

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    @Sab: Yep.  The NRA used to be the leading organization on gun safety.  It was like the Shriners and their focus on disabilities….  Or the Lions and eye glasses….

    Imagine if the Shriners decided to go wackadoodle national like the NRA did. I would like seeing all those fez wearers and the little cars everywhere. Parked in front of meat packing plants and gun shops.

  53. 53.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m fantasizing about Pence getting covid from his maskless Mayo Clinic visit and taking it back to Trump. I can’t stand the way they shift all the harm onto other people.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    Because my memory sucks, to paraphrase Camus (The Plague), “Stupidity has a knack of getting its way, as we would see if we weren’t always so very wrapped up in ourselves.”

  62. 62.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Baud: Mi mamá nunca me patearía. Nos acurrucamos mucho cuando está triste por el mundo. No entiendo mucho de esto. Me encanta comer y estoy creciendo muy rápido. ¿La crema tópica sabe a plátano? Amo las bananas. Esa es mi primera cosa cuando nos despertamos.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: It seems like a mentoring/adult group in the Northeast that has serious rules (both trap and skeet are Olympic sports) would be a good way for him to be eased into gun culture.

    Gun culture is pretty universal but a hunter safety course administered/mandated by the state is probably a good way to go. Here in Misery it is done by the MO Dept of Conservation, our wildlife agency, and all hunters born after a certain date are required to attend one. Safety is what they stress. I don’t recall if a firearm is a prerequisite for attendance or not.

    I am assuming Mass has something similar.

  67. 67.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Immanentize: A veces mordisqueo, a veces lamo. Sobre todo, huelo. Estoy muy interesado en esta crema tópica de la que habla el Sr. Baud si sabe a plátanos. Ayer, mordí uno de los cactus bebé de mi mamá. Eso no fue divertido.

  71. 71.

    satby

    @Anne Laurie: tomorrow my health insurance flips from the ACA to Medicare. Wow. And it will cost more. Less pleased than I thought I would be by this milestone (the insurance, not the age. Always happy to last another year. And no, tomorrow isn’t my birthday).

  73. 73.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Victory Day of The Great Patriotic War is actually celebrated on May 9. I know people may conflate it with the socialist May Day, but it’s a different holiday. This year wasn’t only 75 years, May 9 falls on a Saturday. So canceling the parade is huge.

  74. 74.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @satby:

    Many people are surprised Medicare costs anything at all, and it sucks that it’s more. Still, we’ve found it’s good coverage. The drug and dental add-ons are less so, but Medicare itself (and our AARP supplement) are argument free and cover pretty much everything.

  75. 75.

    JPL

    There might be some news that is going to post about trump, cuz he is rage tweeting about MSM again.

    It’s a day that ends in y so maybe it’s nothing.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    Dan Kelly, the Walker-appointed, Trump-endorsed Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who lost the April 7 election, will hold office through July 31. Today, he announced that he's un-recusing himself in the WI voter purge, which was previously deadlocked 3-3.https://t.co/QAo6tQW3ZQ— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 29, 2020

  77. 77.

    MomSense

    I realized during my insomnia session last night/this morning that my grandmother was 20 years old in 1918.  She told me stories about all the major events that happened, personal and political, in her life except the 1918 influenza.

    Do you think we will want to talk about this when it ends?

    I am also thinking about the roaring 20s in a new way.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

     

     

    Because we defeated Kelly on April 7, the voter purge will take place before Kelly's term ends on July 31, which means we'll have time to work with purged folks to get them re-registered and eligible to vote on Nov 3.— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) April 29, 2020

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    So Kelly’s just like Fat Nino Scalia, who was an “original intent” asshole, except when doing so would not let him accomplish his political goals. Including when he didn’t recuse himself for Bush v. Gore, even though his kid was (I think) one of the Bush’s legal team.

    I don’t know if it’s possible, but the WI Dems should sue (or whatever) to prevent that evil bastard from un-recusing himself.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    @MomSense: I wish I kept a journal from the beginning for my grandson who is only one.    It might have added to his future studies.

  83. 83.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe life with Mother is so bad that he prefers the alternative?  Or perhaps he’s so arrogant that he thinks god will save him from COVID.

    Last time I checked, I believe that a picture of Pence was next to “arrogant prick” in the dictionary.

  89. 89.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: comparing plans, I lean toward the AARP G Medigap plan. I’m just gagging a bit at the almost doubled cost.

    I already have a dental plan, and the eye doctor just contacted me yesterday to see if I wanted to pick up extra work at the office because they’re relaxing restrictions in this state for elective eye and dental care. Told her I have to hold off until I’m certain my wheezy breathing is allergies and not contagious.

  92. 92.

    ArchTeryx

    @SFAW:  Depends on what part of “that” you mean. I experienced both “thats” with the Cleveland Clinic.

    The part that serves Saudi Arabian royalty is absolutely fantastic. Had my Crohn’s surgeries – both of them – there, and they are first rate (even if they close entire floors and the observation decks for said Saudi royalty).

    The ER, which has to serve the actual Cleveland community, is an absolute shitshow. They left me to lie in my own filth an entire night when my ostomy bag failed to adhere. My surgeon, who rescued me from the place the next morning, was white-hot furious and wanted heads to roll, but he was overruled by the admin. Whatchagonnado? The n*****s insist on getting treated there, so they get what they deserve, and if a white person gets caught, well, it’s a sacrifice worth making.

  94. 94.

    Amir Khalid

    An interpol report (via the Guardian’s liveblog) warns that criminals in some countries are disguising themselves as food delivery people, or colluding with food delivery people, to transport drugs and stolen goods and stuff.  Although sometimes:

    Legitimate food delivery drivers have also been used as unwitting drug mules. In one Malaysian case, a food delivery rider in the Gombak district of Kuala Lumpur contacted police and asked for his food package to be inspected after he became suspicious.

    The rider had been tasked with delivering a single order of Indian flatbread yet the parcel weighed approximately 11 kilograms.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    Donald Trump does not want to be in charge of any of this. He wants to play president on TV. He doesn't want responsibility for governance in a time of crisis, and in every way he can, he's refusing to do that job, and lashing out at those who ask him to do it.— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) April 29, 2020

  96. 96.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize: My son learned gun safety and handling while at Rice. He and his buddies would go to an area shooting club, or whatever they call them. For a while I was worried he was going to turn into a Texas gun freak (and he does like guns as cool machinery), but he returned to Chicago and has a leftie girlfriend, so all is well.

  97. 97.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @satby:

    I think that’s the supplementary plan I have too. Even after my heart attack, I paid almost nothing. I can’t remember the exact number but it was under $100 and I spent 2 nights in the hospital.

  98. 98.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah:

    Yes, we are. Look at how reassuring Cuomo is in contrast, even when he’s giving terrible news. Trump is basically saying “You’re on your own, suckers,” and people can sense that even when they don’t take the trouble to parse his nonsense.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: See an insurance agent. Don’t do it by yourself. The # of plans and options available are bewildering.

  100. 100.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: yeah, and none of the “free” online resources to compare plans ever do just that, it’s a scam to collect your info so they can bombard you with sales calls. I hate sales calls.

  102. 102.

    Immanentize

    I heard the garbage truck on my street (luckily the other side gets picked up first).  I had to run out and put my trash out as well as hussle the 10 bags of leaf waste to the street because today is our first leaf pick up of the year.

    It’s not that I forgot today was Thursday (our trash collection day). Rather, I had it in my mind that this week was last week when we had a holiday which pushed pick up to Friday. I guess I am starting to get the vaguest inkling of what life was like before clocks, etc. It’s interesting — especially if you are acting out-of-time while others are still in their routines.

  103. 103.

    WereBear

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I highly recommend the eBook reissue which is ALL the original material.

    Oddly enough, I was in the middle of it, for the second time, when the pandemic started… I’m bogged down now, just because, I guess.

  104. 104.

    satby

    So, can I just share what a friend in Thailand is doing during the corona pandemic? Nick is a U.K. expat living in northern Thailand near the Hmong hill tribes (not far from the elephant project I volunteered at). The hill people are often desperately poor and don’t have the resources or documents needed to qualify for the modest government aid that Thailand gave it’s citizens, so Nick and his partner Aom have been collecting funds to purchase food and distribute it in the tribal villages. 

    Edit: that’s the Facebook link, which I think is public, it’s astounding how much they can purchase locally.

  107. 107.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: @O. Felix Culpa: My first year I played pin the tail on the donkey because I was running out of time and completely frustrated. This last year I focused on a single type (G? J? Ida Know) picked at random and sorted thru the various plans for the one that was best for me. Afterwards my neighbor gave me the number of her agent and I’ll do it thru him next year.

  109. 109.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I thought of you this morning.  Mr. DAW is the bridge player, yes?  There is an article in the once-wood version of the NYTimes about the bridge group in Colorado Springs (right wing haven) that ended up with several deaths and many infections from one day of bridge.  It’s a contact sport!

  110. 110.

    geg6

    @Immanentize:

    They also saved my sister’s life (well, Drs. Turnbull and Fazio did) when she was dying from Crohn’s way back in the early 70s.  Crohn’s was not well understood and she had some treatments and surgeries here in Pittsburgh that almost killed her.  My parents had to do their own research, find the world’s best experts (the above mentioned doctors) who did ground breaking work on Crohn’s, hire an ambulance to take her from the hospital here where she was going downhill fast and drive her to Cleveland.  They literally saved her life and she is now 70 years old with a granddaughter.  Still fighting the Crohn’s (she only has a few inches of intestine left), but still winning.  She still goes to Cleveland for check ups once a year or any further surgeries.  I love Cleveland Clinic.

  114. 114.

    SFAW

    @JPL: 

    I’m certainly not a lawyer, but on what grounds?

    How the hell should I know? I’m not a lawyer, either, which I’ve said (or otherwise indicated) multiple times. That’s why I wrote “I don’t know if it’s possible” and “(or whatever).” I’m looking for anything which can prevent a miscarriage of justice by a person who’s supposed to uphold it, but being a Rethug, naturally will not.

  116. 116.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Will businesses/schools reopen to only sparse customer/student attendance?

    Yes, that’s why the shut down is a good idea, the idiot 20% of the population isn’t enough to sustain the economy, only prolong the pandemic.

  117. 117.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: I recall when at the very (very) highest levels of the game they had to introduce screens across the tables so the players could not see each other. I wonder if that would have helped with disease transmission.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @ArchTeryx:

    Sorry to hear about the terrible treatment you got. There’s no excuse for that.

    My info, such as it was, had to do with the training/ability of the docs there, so clearly I was only getting one side of it.

    By the way, glad to see you’re still here. I remember your deep concerns (to put it mildly) about your health care if the Murderer-in-Chief got elected, and have not seen your nom/nym for awhile, so I was concerned.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Local house rules there forbid bidding no trump?

    I oughta club you for that one, but I don’t have the heart to do it. But someone should slam you.

  122. 122.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize:

    It absolutely is. He’s been playing online at a site called OKBridge, which is endorsed by the American Contract Bridge League, so he still gets points. Every club he plays at has cancelled until at least the middle of next month. Bridge players are old! They should not be gathering, sharing snacks, and passing cards hand-to-hand.

  125. 125.

    Calouste

    @rikyrah: America will never be a grown up democracy until they get rid of this outdated idea that there should be a significant amount of time between the election date and the date of taking office, and that elected officials still have power during that time even though they lost their re-election.

  126. 126.

    Barbara

    @ArchTeryx: Institutions like the Cleveland Clinic basically show how little engagement they have with the community around them when it comes to their ER.  Most just view it from a point of complete aggravation for why STUPID PEOPLE keep coming to the ER for things that aren’t “true emergencies.”  I used to date a resident.  The jokes that are made about people sitting in the ER are cruel and demeaning.  Issues of access or being on time for work or child care just kind of don’t enter into their consciousness.  Now that they HAVE TO assess EVERYONE (thanks EMTALA!), they have a huge chip on their shoulder. I will spare you the story of my sister’s long time friend at Mt. Sinai Medical Center or my dad’s “treatment” at UPMC except to say that sneering doctors in the ER insisted that they were drug seeking hypochondriacs and dismissed their symptoms out of hand and ordered them to leave and managed in BOTH CASES to miss the fact that they had aggressive cancers.

  128. 128.

    rikyrah

    BREAKING: Over 30 million Americans have now applied for unemployment in the past six weeks.Another 3.8 million applied last week. Roughly 1 in 5 Americans are now unemployed.#jobs— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) April 30, 2020

  129. 129.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Immanentize: If the Republicans really cared about 1) getting businesses open (or keeping vital ones like processing plants open) and 2) not wanting those businesses to be crippled by lawsuits of people harmed by being forced to go back to work,

    As the man said, the Republicans simply don’t care. The want to play the role of great leader on TV, not actually do it (I mean have you see Cumo, the man’s clearly tired and frustrated, not relaxed and happy like Turtle)  That’s their cunning strategy “how we keep the spot light on us a much as possible?”

  130. 130.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize: Inorite? I was kinda worried about his )mercifully brief) good-ol’-boy’ phase, but there was too much city boy in him for that to take permanent hold. And perhaps momma raised him right, or so I like to think. The girlfriend is a boon. I was worried about him being too much alone, especially with the family tendency towards depression, and they seem to be well-suited for each other.

  132. 132.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: nicely done by Whitehouse.  I do not know why he isn’t more in the public eye.  His choice, I guess.

    Here is an interesting rant against 5-4 decisions:

    It can be tempting for judges to confuse our own preferences with the requirements of the law. But as this Court has been reminded throughout our history, the Constitution “is made for people of fundamentally differing views.” Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 76 (1905) (Holmes, J., dissenting). Accordingly, “courts are not concerned with the wisdom or policy of legislation.” Id., at 69 (Harlan, J.,dissenting). The majority today neglects that restrained conception of the judicial role. It seizes for itself a question the Constitution leaves to the people, at a time when
    the people are engaged in a vibrant debate on that question. And it answers that question based not on neutral principles of constitutional law, but on its own “understanding of what freedom is and must become.” Ante, at
    19. I have no choice but to dissent.

    Yes, the Dread Chief Justice Roberts complaining about the 5-4 decision in Obergfel (same sex marriage). He just HATES being in the “4” side of the equation.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    Cleveland Clinic saved my Uncle’s life with some amazing and complicated heart valve surgery.

    Cleveland Clinic also saved my dad from stage 4.5 cancer – melanoma — on his back. Took out a chunk the size of half a grapefruit. Prognosis grim, but it worked. He lived many years past that, died of COPD resulting from chemo to combat his rare leukemia, treated at M D Andersen center in Houston TX.

  134. 134.

    OzarkHillbilly

    .@khead: The meat processors moved all their facilities to right to work for slave wages states. That’s why unions can do nothing for these workers

  135. 135.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Immanentize:

    In early 60s (I graduated Rice in 61), I realized the weather was REALLY bad in Houston-Galveston area when I learned Rice had closed the school. They never did the 4 yrs I was there–and weather got bad at times. Older students claimed Rice had never closed the school in its entire history

  136. 136.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @satby: Give another perspective on the 2nd and 3rd World poor; on line friend of mine is a mayor of a rural village in India; he says since social distancing with the village elders is impossible so what they did was barracked the village from outsiders, forgo the rents during this. The village grows it’s own food so pretty much everyone is safe.

    A lot of the 3rd poor aren’t really that poor if they are in a village because the clan don’t let anyone starve(as long as the crops don’t fail), as long as you do your share of the work and do as the clan elders tell you too. The thing they dread is being told to go work in the city for twenty years, second all you money back and then maybe the clan elders will let their lazy ass back in.

  137. 137.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Ladyraxterinok: My son was there during Katrina and its aftermath. They closed school for a time if I recall correctly. My first introduction to Houston (and Texas, for that matter) was helping him move into his dorm in August. I never knew you could swim through air. It was horrible.

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL:  @Immanentize: if only there were some prominent figure on the left who had a passionate following who would declare hot dogs the mortal enemy of The People if said prominent figure told them hot dogs were full of rat scat and pigs’ hooves, if only that prominent figure could point out to his passionate followers the very real damage already done and waiting to be done by the federal courts… What, what’s that you say? There is such a figure, but he’s concentrating his energies on the composition of the office Democratic Party platform ?

    Oh

  140. 140.

    Barbara

    @Barbara: In fairness, I will say that UPMC treated my brother much, much better when he came to the ER.  They realized almost immediately that he likely had metastatic brain cancer.

  142. 142.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So here is a though; the GOP gets it way in the Red States, the Republicans don’t want to pay unemployment, they force companies to reopen, there aren’t enough customers and that same time these returning employees cause the companies expenses to spike, these company go bankrupt and shut down for good, laying off all their work force. So then what; the GOP going to force these companies at gun point to operate at a loss and banks to loan then more money?

  143. 143.

    JAFD

    @Baud: I  have told a few young ladies*

    “I’m not a foot fetishist,

    … but I’m still looking for a sole mate.”

    *When you get to my age, the world is full of young people.

  147. 147.

    satby

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: not the exact same case in Thailand. If you read the link at the gofundme it explains how the Hmong in that area have been missed in the Thai version of our stimulus checks. These people are the ones relying on the elephant project ecotourism which has completely ceased. And the elephant project mostly pays a very small stipend for the families enrolled and a larger one for care for their elephants. A lot of families don’t own elephants, so get no stipend at all.

  148. 148.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Skepticat:

    It’s waaaay past 25th Amendment time.

    Why do people keep talking about that damned amendment?  Triggering section 4 to remove Fat Bastard is harder than having the Senate vote for his removal after impeachment.

  149. 149.

    WereBear

    The Pence visit to the Mayo Clinic clarified my suspicions of why, despite blatant flouting of safety measures, the Trump Admin has managed to escape the virus in the higher echelons.

    THAT’s where all the tests are. Likely ruthless policing behind the scenes.

  159. 159.

    Jinchi

    Trump argues it is, in a way, *good news* that the US now knows it has 1 million cases

    He brags about conducting 5 million tests, congratulates himself on having only 1 million confirmed cases, and then insists there is no need for more testing.

    I’m pretty sure Trump believes 1 in 5 Americans has coronavirus and worries ‘his numbers’ would spike to 60 million confirmed cases if we tested everyone. That’s why he refuses to help states and obstructs the effort, even though it would make it safer to open the economy in a controlled fashion. Maybe the media could start hyping the infection rate, instead, and then his aids could let him know that if we tested everyone his numbers would improve.

  161. 161.

    JPL

    @Immanentize:  When Roberts was confirmed my son’s lawyer girlfriend at the time was quite upset, because she saw the writing on the wall.   Alito at least was upfront about his love of corporations

    I always thought having Whitehouse, in the White House would be sorta cool.

  165. 165.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    The then new main library building at one of my alma maters was designed and built during the campus unrest of the late 60s. Beautiful on the inside, from outside resembles nothing so much as a medieval fortress, managing to be both imposing and intimidating.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: FWIW I think the Roberts Court is going to end up in the history books as a peer of the Court of the Lochner era.  Not that it will do any of us any good.

  167. 167.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, jackals.  Enjoying listening to it rain out there.  Good day to be inside.

    …. like every day these past two months, no?

    Anyway:  Evansville, Indiana now has Betty the Weather Cat.  She joined in on her meterologist human’s weather reports from home, and now she is quite. The. Thing.  Has her own instagram page and following.

    WaPost link.
    How ‘Betty the Weathercat’ became a star on TV news in Indiana

  168. 168.

    Elizabelle

    Fun fact:  Evansville, Indiana is further south than Louisville, KY.

    It’s just above the Ohio River, top of a bend.

  169. 169.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @SFAW:

    1 son worked for firm arguing Bush case in FL, 1 son worked for firm arguing .Bush side before SCOTUS. That’s what I remember reading

  172. 172.

    NotMax

    @Elizabelle

    We’ve come a long way from Uncle Wethbee.

    ;)

    Still locked in memory is the ‘hipster’ weatherperson at a Philly station, whose forecast one evening was for (actual quote) “big boomies.”

  173. 173.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL:   Betty is there to lighten peoples’ days.  She might not appear during tornado warnings.  To hear.

    LOL that it will never be possible for Trump to ever humanize himself by holding a cat at a news conference.

    Would remind most people (comedians!) of his pu$$y grabbing comments.  Also: there are two pu$$ies at the lectern.  Where’s Fauci?  He can hold the cat, and not lie at the same time.  Hand him the cat.

  174. 174.

    danielx

    @Elizabelle:

    Heh…i remember years ago when Evansville got fifteen inches of snow. I was conversing in a chat room with a guy who lived there and he said it was hilarious – being located where it is, the Evansville street department had/has like two snowplows and some donkeys. He said the local shitkickers were trying to affix refrigerator doors and plywood to the front bumpers of their pickup trucks to plow snow, with complete lack of success.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just heard on NPR that trump is going to Arizona next week. So entire vectors of mouth-breathers (never so apropos…) lined up to hoot at his motorcade, I’m gonna guess 40-60% without masks.

    I wonder if he’ll let his entourage wear masks, Secret Service, assorted toadies, etc.

    Speaking of masks, they’re sending Mother out to do damage control, so this story must be sticking

    Aaron Rupar @ atrupar
    The @MayoClinic told reporters it “shared the masking policy with the VP’s office” before his arrival. Karen Pence says Mike Pence didn’t find out about it until after he left. So either someone is lying or Pence’s staff didn’t do its job.

    there’s a third option…

  176. 176.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   And there was no extra mask for the VP, in that entire medical complex?  The Mayo Clinic?  Not strapped for funds.

    Jebus.  Karen Pence’s contempt for Americans (the sane ones) with trying to float that excuse.

  177. 177.

    Elizabelle

    Jim Clyburn is there to speak on the importance of broadband WRT remote education.

    He has learned there are parents loading their kids into the car, after dinner,  to drive them so they can surf off free wifi at the (closed) libraries or fast food places.  Do their schoolwork.

    Nancy Pelosi describes it as a broadband desert.

    Now Q&As.  She deflected the first one until end of conference.  Love how she always asks if the reporters have any interest in the topic of the day.  In this case, coronavirus.

  178. 178.

    Barbara

    @Jinchi: To me it shows his inherent stupidity. He has a marketing brain, he is clever and facile at messaging, but true insight eludes him. A really good marketing pitch can go a long way to minimizing or even denying negative information but not when the problem is existential. He has nothing to offer besides the happy talk. It now seems like his next gambit is to pretend that the worst is over.

  180. 180.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I remember my jr yr coming out of library to main quad, looking across the quad and seeing water standing in the air. It wasn’t raining but it looked like if there was any fast  movement , the air would let loose with a major torrent

  182. 182.

    Elizabelle

    Andrew Cuomo makes the cover of Vanity Fair next month.  As a highly effective leader.  Take that, dipshit Trump.

  183. 183.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   I could not hear it.  Will let you know if I find out.

    I see the WaPost ran another Tara Reade story today.  They’re getting a LOT of pushback from their readers about don’t fall for this swiftboating.

  189. 189.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: FireChrisHayes is trending on twitter. I like him, but his segment last night was shamefully one-sided. I’ll be curious to see if his grad-student earnestness overcomes his overlapping club memberships (BernieWorld, Bien-pensant Acela-corridor HipsterWorld…

    ETA: Hayes now owns this as much as anyone at The Intercept

    Igor Bobic igorbobic · 1h
    McConnell on whether Biden’s Senate papers should be released by the Univ of Delaware: “When you run for president of the United States your life is an open book and I can’t imagine he’s not going to have to participate in releasing all the information in the allegations”

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @bemused:

    I wonder if he will get his way to spread covid 19 among all his maga fans.

    if the risk were only to them, I’d be all for that

  193. 193.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Immanentize:

    In 57 when I was a freshman, there were 4 men’s colleges and 1 woman’s (Jones) completely across the campus. No coed dorms at time, girls couldn’t wear jeans or slacks on campus until after supper

    The fall of 57 was the 1st yr girls lived on campus. Before they lived in an apartment complex with a house mother

     

    When I was there it was claimed there were 4 male students to every female one. We of course said that showed girls had to be 4 times smarter to get in

  194. 194.

    mrmoshpotato

    @zhena gogolia:

    They couldn’t make Ukraine stick because “Burisma” doesn’t have the word “sex” in it.

    Well, if they’d renamed it “Burisexma”…

    I will see myself out.

  195. 195.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    True story.

    Friend was employed in the tech/engineering department at CBS and was part of team who designed and built a pedestal-like unit to be put on the set, on the screen of which the weatherperson could write with a stylus, the writing showing up on the big projected weather map (no mean technical feat back in the 70s).

    Rolled out with some fanfare for use on the local newscast of the CBS station in NYC.

    Until, on that first night, it became glaringly apparent the handwriting of the weatherperson was so bad it was completely illegible.

    Device never seen again, consigned the next day to the trash heap by the corner office honchos.

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    Cuomo:  What day is today?  Answer:  today is another day to do better.

    He got that from a priest, now deceased.

  198. 198.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: Rebecca Traister, Chris Hayes, Ryan Grim and Kellyanne Conway all agree: If Joe Biden can’t prove his innocence, he must be guilty.

    also:

    David M. Drucker @DavidMDrucker · 4h

    NEW: @realDonaldTrump‘s campaign amplifying sexual misconduct allegations against @JoeBiden, a strategy GOP allies are confident will tear down presumptive Dem nominee w/out boomeranging on incumbent w/ history of similar accusations. 

  200. 200.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: Hehe

    “Sorry Jim, it’s not readable.  Oh no, it’s your handwriting should be considered a war crime.”

  201. 201.

    Elizabelle

    Cuomo:  Today we are going to talk about tracing, which is the second step after testing.

    All WRT reopening.  Eventually.  When safe.

  203. 203.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   I never, ever watch Chris Hayes.  Never.  For just that reason.

    I usually like Rebecca Traister.  Disappointed in her.  Don’t really know what she said because I never, ever watch Chris Hayes.

  204. 204.

    Elizabelle

    Fuck the BernieBros.  This Biden smear actually started — or got amplified — through them.

  208. 208.

    Jinchi

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mike Pence didn’t find out about it until after he left.

    It’s funny that Pence didn’t say that when he was first asked about it. He gave a very explicit explanation, telling reporters that he and everyone who comes near him is tested regularly and that masks are designed to protect other people from your own germs, not to protect you from getting it yourself.

    Since he wasn’t sick, he didn’t need to wear a mask.

  209. 209.

    Elizabelle

    Mike Bloomberg joining the Cuomo presser via telephone.  Speaking on reopening and the importance of contact tracing.

    Never heard Bloomberg before.  His voice … is kind of high and whiny.  Was not expecting that.

    ETA:  I didn’t pick up on that in the one or two debates I saw.  Maybe it’s the tinniness of the phone line …  I mean, Bloomberg was definitely whining in the debate.  But …

  213. 213.

    Persistent Illusion

    @NotMax:  Hey, I’ve lived in Colorado Springs for more than 25 years and there are many more Ds here than there once were. When I first arrived, you explained thusly: I’m a Democrat. Now, as a DEMOCRAT and a D political consultant, it’s better.

  214. 214.

    artem1s

    @Immanentize:

    Yep they are good heart surgeries.  they are famous for all kinds of very expensive treatments.  They do transplants for Sultans and celebrities.  But their former CEO once famously told the Plain Dealer he would fire fat people if he could get away with it.  Also, try to find the entrance to their emergency room some time.  The main campus is designed to keep away the poor and uninsured.  The satellite campuses are all in very nice, well off bedroom communities and uber rich cities like Naples, Fl, Abu Dhabi and Vegas.  Not everyone who works there is evil – I’m not in any way saying that. But they hold a major fundraiser every year at Mar-a-Lago.  The board and fat cats don’t advertise their connection to Dump.  But they are all in on destroying ACA because they don’t really care about the poor and under-insured getting access to healthcare and those very expensive treatments.

  215. 215.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: I would be fine if Bloomberg went away and just sent checks (yeah, that’ll happen) but one upside to his persistent need for attention is Fred Armisen’s imitation (can’t find a good clip on youtube, but it’s hilarious )

  216. 216.

    Gremcat

    I guess I now know why Georgia was the first to reopen:  80% of the deaths in Georgia caused by the C19 virus, were African Americans.   They are monsters.

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    (Haven’t read the comments yet.)

    These “questions” to Donnie drive me nuts.

    He has no conception of the science of infection; he knows nothing about epidemiology; he doesn’t understand economics; he doesn’t care about normal people.

    Don’t ask him about those things.  Quit wasting everyone’s time.

    Ask him:

    “Mr. President, what are the specific plans and metrics to increase production and availability of PPE for everyone who needs it?”

    “Mr. President, what are the specific plans and metrics to increase production and availability of virus and antibody testing for everyone who needs it?”

    “Mr. President, what are the specific plans and metrics to start an effective contact tracing and isolation program?”

    His job is to make the federal government solve national problems.  His job is to do the things that only a president can do.  Ask him about those things.  At least try to make him go through the motions of doing his job, for FSM’s sake!!1

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  218. 218.

    Bex

    Check out the post “Tara Reade Just Got Busted Altering Her 2019 Medium Post” at Kos.  Some interesting stuff with links.  She supposedly edited the article the day before she made the rape accusation.

  219. 219.

    Barbara

    @Elizabelle: I never watch Chris Hayes.  Yes, disappointed with Rebecca Traister as well, who I normally respect.  All I can say is, when the wolf is at the door, these kinds of things diminish in importance.  It’s the reason that all the stuff about W. Clinton didn’t sink him in 1992.

  222. 222.

    Mandalay

    Yesterday the NYT did an article on Trump and Kushner bragging about their performance in fighting the coronavirus epidemic.

    The lede?…

    “We did all the right moves,” the president said Wednesday. “The federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story,” said his son-in-law.

    And the headline?….

    Trump and Kushner Engage in Revisionist History in Boasting of Success Over Virus

    And the article itself?….

    Mr. Trump has demonstrated a striking tendency to try to frame the political narrative on his own terms, even when at variance with the facts…

    No matter what those in the Trump Administration say, simply accusing these people of lying is still a bridge too far for the NYT.

    And the closing of the article?…

    “And President Trump has created a pathway to safely open up our country and make sure that we can get our economy going and get America back to a place where it will be even stronger than it was before,” Mr. Kushner said.

    All of this in what was intended to be a hit piece!

  223. 223.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: they’re mocking “BlueMAGA” and the liberals (a lot of them don’t bother with “neo” anymore) for wanting Hayes fired for “doing his job” and “speaking the truth”. but last night that thread was scorching Hayes.

    I’m usually in the “twitter is not real life” team, but I’m hoping he sees it and tries to address his own lack of professionalism.

  228. 228.

    Elizabelle

    Betty just put up a fresh thread.

    WRT the deplorable Tara Reade’s deplorable claims:  USA Today link.  Point by point analysis of why her claims are so loopy.
    Why I’m skeptical about Reade’s sexual assault claim against Biden: Ex-prosecutor
    If we must blindly accept every allegation of sexual assault, the #MeToo movement is just a hit squad. And it’s too important to be no more than that.
    by Michael J. Stern
    Opinion columnist

    Elizabelle:  I do not “believe every woman.”  I never have.  Judgement comes into it.  This whole story stinks to high heavens.

    If I did not already despise Bernie’s associates  … I will never, never support Sanders for anything.  He could stop this with a sharply worded statement.  He is not doing so.

  229. 229.

    Elizabelle

    @Jinchi:   Guess I was listening more to content than voice.

    And there was a lot of shouting and crosstalk in those debates.  I truly did not like the circus aspect of it.

  230. 230.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I looked at #FireChrisHayes earlier today. There’s a lot of whining about how Hayes is only being a journalist by reporting both challenges and corroborations and this just proves Democrats are just like Trump supporters.

    Noting that he didn’t really critically cover her allegations or address challenges in a substantive way gets a giant pile-on of rose twits.

  231. 231.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    Which reminds me to ask: Does anyone here shoot skeet or trap? I am back to thinking that if the Immp is going to (ever get to) go to college in Texas, it might be wise for him to learn some gun safety and handling lessons before he goes….

    I think this is a smart idea. I would also throw in some training with handguns, which are really common in TX, seems like everyone carries down there. If I thought it was that dangerous where I lived, I would plan to move away!

    Anyway, a professional shooting range with a real range-master to teach safety, handling, shooting with pistols wouldn’t hurt a bit. My favorite ranges are run by former Marine instructors, and have no political posters or BS of that type.

    I started with a single shot .22 rifle in my Grandma’s farmyard, killing tin cans. One tiny pop at a time. Early 1960s.

  232. 232.

    Mandalay

    @Elizabelle:

    I will never, never support Sanders for anything.  He could stop this with a sharply worded statement.  He is not doing so.

    Well said, but Biden needs to come out from hiding under his bed and say something as well. As long as Biden says nothing the issue will simmer on a low boil.

  233. 233.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mandalay: okay, I’ll bite, and I’d genuinely like to hear your response. Biden has denied this happened. Unless you’re assuming his guilt, what can he say?

  234. 234.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mandalay: also

    Well said, but Biden needs to come out from hiding under his bed

    that’s a really stupid and childish thing to say, very on brand

  236. 236.

    PJ

    @Mandalay:

     

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It doesn’t matter what Biden says, or how many times he denies anything happened, the BernieBros and the media will hound him because he hasn’t proved his innocence.

    His accuser isn’t credible at all (she has changed her story multiple times, her “corroborating” witnesses were coached by her or by BernieBros, she praised Biden numerous in the past before becoming a Putin fan, she has a history of deceit and fraud, and her writings indicate she is seriously delusional), and if she brought her claim in a court, she would be personally demolished, but Biden can’t point that out without looking like he is attacking a woman for daring to speak up about sexual assault.

    He can open up his personal papers, but there will be nothing in there about this woman, and the BernieBros and GOP will sift through them to find something for a new scandal every week until November.  He is in a no-win situation.

  237. 237.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    WRT the deplorable Tara Reade’s deplorable claims:  USA Today link.  Point by point analysis of why her claims are so loopy.
    Why I’m skeptical about Reade’s sexual assault claim against Biden: Ex-prosecutor
    If we must blindly accept every allegation of sexual assault, the #MeToo movement is just a hit squad. And it’s too important to be no more than that.
    by Michael J. Stern

    Thanks for posting the link to this USA Today piece by a former US prosecutor about MS Reade and her attack on Bernie’s rival for the presidency — former VP Joe Biden. He picks apart her history and her changing claims pretty well. I’m not surprised to see it.

    Thanks again, Elizabelle !!

  238. 238.

    dnfree

    @NotMax: there used to be morning radio hosts in Chicago, back in the 1960s, who had “Harry the weather pigeon”. They used to draw Harry on a chalkboard, over the radio. So you’d hear chalk noises, and they’d be saying “Pretty cold today, let’s give Harry a little hat with earmuffs.  And here’s his scarf.” And you could picture it. I miss those days.

  239. 239.

    sdhays

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mike Fucking Dense is supposedly in charge of the fucking task force charged with combatting this crisis. He shouldn’t need a fucking invitation/reminder to wear his fucking mask, especially to a fucking HOSPITAL. He should be doing it by default.

    Did they remind him not to French kiss all the (male) patients too and not lick the toilets?

  240. 240.

    Zelma

    @zhena gogolia:

    I have been watching Hayes but I turned him off last night when I saw where he was going.  Will not watch him again.  I may also finally drop the FYNYT.  Interesting that USAToday is actually doing an actual analysis.

  241. 241.

    Another Scott

    @sdhays: God-Emperor Donnie says he doesn’t have to wear a mask, so Mikey – Donnie’s biggest and bestest fan, can’t wear a mask (at least not where photographers may be present).

    Pence and the executive branch of the US government are living in a Hans Christian Andersen short story.

    That’s all there is to it.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  243. 243.

    Mohagan

    @Immanentize: When my husband took a gun safety class here in Ukiah (N CA) about 20 years ago after inheriting a hunting rifle from my stepfather, all the info handouts were from the NRA although ostensibly the class was offered by the county (I think the Sheriff’s office, but don’t quote me on that).  The class was required to get a gun permit.

  244. 244.

    Mohagan

    @SFAW: I agree totally.  Where is Alice Roosevelt when we truly need her (not to mention Molly Ivins?). P.S. I love your nym.

  245. 245.

    Mohagan

    @MomSense: It’s a fascinating exercise in psychology. WWI was a bloodbath, but it was human-caused and the source of endless fascination, books, etc.  I can’t even remember when I first heard about WWI. But the Spanish Flu epidemic. Barely mentioned.  I think it has something to do with the terrifying lack of control a virus represents.  And yeah, the 1920s were all about saying “fuck it”, at least in some circles.

  247. 247.

    Mohagan

    @debbie: Sad to say, humans are a virus on earth.  If we were gone, things would be so much better for everyone else.  Look at what just keeping us inside for a month has done to emissions.  The pictures of blue skies over Bejing, LA, etc. are striking.

  248. 248.

    Mohagan

    @JPL: Oh please, northern California has good Mexican food. Here in Ukiah,  we have lots of agriculture (especially grapes), tons of Latino agricultural workers, and more excellent Mexican restaurants than you can shake a stick at. The grapwvine pruning contest held every year is often won by someone who doesn’t speak English.

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