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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Fear Is Real

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The Fear Is Real

by Anne Laurie|  May 2, 20206:14 am| 295 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Open Threads, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

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This exactly. Fyre Festival was oddly prescient; a conman finally gripped by the heels of reality and other people mostly paying the price. https://t.co/wwlyRNxMX1

— James "Stay In. Make Masks. Test People" Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) May 1, 2020

We’re all witnessing some ugly reactions to the pandemic and its victims, even from people who have previously shown themselves reasonably intelligent, politically aware, or at at least capable of reading the room. This plague is touching everyone, and one of the oldest primate hindbrain reactions to such a situation is to wrap oneself in the misplaced security that IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO *ME*. It’s probably not really happening at all — crisis actors! — or, if it is, it only happens to bad people, old damaged otherwise ‘weak’ people, people at the mercy of cruel circumstance or nefarious foreign actors (Gyna’s bioweapon lab). Not ME: A good person, pillar of the community, someone who treats their body as a temple, someone who would never lower standards to consort with *those* people!

Trying to reason with people reacting this way is like trying to reason with an injured cat that needs to be transported — wear gauntlets, have heavy blankets at hand, and be prepared for teeth & claws. Or, if at all possible, stand well clear of the operating theatre and let the professionals handle the problem. Walk away, delete that person’s social media contacts from your list, turn your mind and go watch some duck videos or catch up with your most absorbing hobby.

If it’s someone you must deal with — a household member, a boss — well, all I can offer is my sincere sympathy. Just as I would if you had a literal death in your family. For the little that’s worth.

I realize this might sound like hypocrisy coming from The Front-Pager Designated to Hunt Down Stuff Guaranteed to P*ss Us All Off, but seriously: I’m one of those twisted personalities who feel *better* for poking the snakes with a stick. From the comments to my posts, there are others of my kind here, and it’s easier for the optimists when we consort with each other rather than befouling random posts, right? (I do make an effort to headline my nasty threads honestly, to keep the worst bits below the fold, and to intersperse the most depressing link-rants with respite or uplift posts.)

But seriously, remember: Unless you are on the NSA/GRU/DSA clock as the blog’s minder [old hippie joke], you are not required to read any of the posts here. If you want to share your bile, if you need sympathy / suggestions, if you just prefer to know exactly how bad the bad things are, welcome & come sit at a safe internet-intermediated distance from me. But if the situation is simply overwhelming you… taking a break, or at least only reading posts clearly labelled as respite, is very much an option. Like the bar in Cheers, we’ll still be here when you’re ready to come back!

A big difference between now and 2016 is that a lot of people (mostly men) in the media were clearly having fun. It was the raucous bachelor party before 8 years of Hillary as the nation's ball and chain. But there's no party now. New York is running out of places for graves.

— Jeni's of Cold Stones (@agraybee) April 30, 2020

Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts and other celebrities are helping to lead the Call to Unite 24-hour livestream global relief event. The event was initiated to help inspire people to endure and overcome the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/TpuKVpYlGe

— AP West Region (@APWestRegion) May 2, 2020

If this embed doesn’t work for you, you should be able to watch it on PBS:

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Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / Saturday, May 1 – 2
Next Post: And The World Didn’t End »

Reader Interactions

295Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 6:29 am

    It was the raucous bachelor party before 8 years of Hillary as the nation’s ball and chain.

    That’s a good analogy.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    May 2, 2020 at 6:29 am

    I also like poking the snakes with a stick. Because this increases the chances they will go away.

    I got very upset the other day, checking in on the Navajo Nation, putting the horrible situation on social media, and sending some extra money towards the little boy we are sponsoring there. No specific word back yet, but I know the organization is busy taking care of people Donald Trump is trying to kill.

    Just another log on the fire of my rage.

  3. 3.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:31 am

    Right there with you! Probably our Irish heritage, we don’t appreciate sunshine blown up our butts and we’re raised to be aware that the end is heading for all of us at different rates.
    Even the guy cutting my lawn yesterday expressed amazement at how many armchair medical experts he suddenly knows. Only the relatively lower population of states like Indiana will blunt the huge spike in cases coming. 900 people in one Tyson plant tested positive yesterday. Parties broke out all over my ‘hood within hours of the governor’s speech yesterday. South Bend and the local county officials can try to put stronger restrictions in place, but their governor just undercut them.

  4. 4.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:33 am

    @WereBear: Just another log on the fire of my rage.

    Exactly how I feel.

    BTW, get my email?

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 6:34 am

    A good person, That’ll be the day.
    pillar of the community, the community kicked me out.
    someone who treats their body as a temple, more like a badly maintained sewage treatment plant.
    someone who would never lower standards to consort with *those* people! I’d have to actually have standards before I could lower them.

    Definitely Not ME.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    May 2, 2020 at 6:38 am

    What’s up with the new trump approach of pretending the virus just magically went away.

  7. 7.

    JoyceH

    May 2, 2020 at 6:38 am

    @satby: Those relatively lower numbers aren’t going to help them because their hospitals are distant and tiny. It will only take a handful of cases to overwhelm them. There’s been a rash of closings of rural hospitals in the past few years. You saw what happened in NYC? I’ll bet these rural communities have fewer hospital beds per capita than the city has.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 6:41 am

    Pouring gasoline on the fire: Global markets recoil as Trump threatens US-China trade war

    Faced with a deep recession in an election year, Trump escalated his attack on Beijing by claiming he had seen evidence showing the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory. The US president is increasingly making China’s handling of the pandemic a major issue as his ratings sag ahead of his November re-election campaign.

    Reports suggested the White House is crafting renewed import tariffs that would be applied to Chinese imports in retaliation, in a major escalation of the trade standoff.

    The US and China had signed the first phase of a trade deal earlier this year to de-escalate trade tensions between Washington and Beijing that had damaged global growth last year and sapped business investment around the world. However, progress has been derailed at the onset of a blame game over Covid-19 as the number of infections around the world climbs, with the US recording the highest official death toll of any country so far. Analysts warned a renewed US-China trade conflict, as the world heads for the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s, could inflict additional damage for jobs and growth.

    Brad Bechtel, of the US bank Jefferies, said: “It seems that as we start to unwind lockdown measures and head back into election season the Trump administration will amp up the blame-game rhetoric, further alienating China.”

    A trade war is just the leech we need in this time of pandemic.

  9. 9.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:42 am

    @JoyceH: not only fewer hospital beds farther away but also an older, fatter, unhealthier population. I’m pretty chunky, and when I moved to rural MI I was somewhat svelte for my age by comparison. Which honestly was frightening.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    May 2, 2020 at 6:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: trump pays attention to the Dow, so he’ll back off.

  11. 11.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: well, might as well torch the country (ours) on his way out if we don’t appreciate his stable genius.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 6:45 am

    @satby: We don’t, and he will.

  13. 13.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:46 am

    Well, into the jaws of death (the farmers market) I go after I take a shower. Mask and sanitizer ready! Have a good day everyone!

  14. 14.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 6:46 am

    @JPL: What virus?

  15. 15.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 6:46 am

    @Baud: exactly.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 6:47 am

    @Baud:

    And those of us sounding the alarm about him were ” hysterical”…

    Remember???

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 6:47 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 6:48 am

    @satby:

    Please be safe ???

  19. 19.

    ThresherK

    May 2, 2020 at 6:49 am

    @Baud:

    This part is just as important.

    A lot of people (mostly men) in the media were clearly having fun.

    It had never crystallized for me into exactly these words.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 6:49 am

    @rikyrah:

    Remember?

    To my dying days.

     

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  21. 21.

    Fair Economist

    May 2, 2020 at 6:50 am

    @satby: Yeah, I think Indiana will be ugly. It has multiple epidemics going on – Indianapolis, SW rural, Tyson and other meat processing, I assume near Chicago – and they are cutting restrictions now?

  22. 22.

    JPL

    May 2, 2020 at 6:59 am

    The Blue Angels are flying over Atlanta today and I should be able to see them.   My son will have a perfect view since he lives near Northside Hospital and they are doing two flybys.   It’s a big waste of money, but I might as well watch.

  23. 23.

    Dog Mom

    May 2, 2020 at 7:01 am

    The fear is real sometimes.  I am lucky to be able to work from home. Mostly, it is a mix of frustration, anger, disappointment, irritation, disgust and hatred.  I am irritated when the talking head on tv (wearing  a mask around his neck) is wondering if people are just too afraid to come back to restaurants. I want to scream at the tv -“NO, it is a very conscious decision – I value my life and health and that of others.  I am staying home.  I will do my best NOT to patronize business that puts workers at more risk.”

    I am frustrated by well meaning women who make masks from their stash of quilting remnants, but don’t want to think about how we got here and take any stand because they don’t like politics.

    I could go on and on, but I am going to get up, make my coffee and get ready for my weekly trek for food.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:04 am

    @JPL:

    What’s up with the new trump approach of pretending the virus just magically went away.

    You effing libtards with your Democrat hoaxes just never quit, do you? If you were a REAL American, you would want to know how/why the MSM is covering up Joe Biden’s rape and murder of Tara Reade.

    If Biden’s crimes against humanity were not real, the liberals at the FTFTFNYT would not keep trying to bring them up.

    I keep hoping I’ll wake up from a dream, and Poe’s Law will have no meaning. [Because all the RWMFs will have self-deported to either Dumbfuckistan, or the bottom of the Marianas Trench.]

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:09 am

    @SFAW: You misspelled Mississippi.

  26. 26.

    Shalimar

    May 2, 2020 at 7:11 am

    I can’t remember where I saw the article yesterday, but apparently 80% of those who have died have been in counties that voted for Clinton.  So this isn’t real for everyone.  It is spreading in the US because it mostly hasn’t had any impact on Republicans.

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You misspelled Mississippi.

    I was thinking Texas would be big enough to house them all (and subsequently wall them all in). But maybe Missouri Missississisipp  Misasipi  Misspee  — damn, you’re right, I CAN’T spell it — would be better. with a lot more AR-15s dropped in, to help them alleviate the crowding.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @Shalimar:

    I think I’ve heard that deaths are also disproportionately POC, which the RWMFs consider a “win.”

  29. 29.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @rikyrah:

    One friend of mine pointedly asked me in late 16-early 17 why I was unwilling to “give him a chance”.

    I told him, but it never really sunk in.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Does that friend still support the Murderer-in-Chief? Or has he realized you were right?

  31. 31.

    JPL

    May 2, 2020 at 7:25 am

    Since I had nightmares before he was elected, I think I knew how bad it would be.    If he is reelected,  he’ll be unleashed and all hell will break out.

  32. 32.

    Jack Canuck

    May 2, 2020 at 7:25 am

    @satby: I take it from your comment that you’re in Indiana. I’d love to hear a bit more about your perspective on how the state is being hit and the responses to it. My mom & her husband live in Lake County – very rural for them, and they have been staying in their house and on their property pretty consistently since the stay-at-home order. But before that, they were still doing church-related stuff, and her husband is undergoing treatment after an operation for a very serious brain tumor. My mom is in good health, but is over 70. I’ve been checking the Indiana state gov map/statistics online from here in Australia, but that doesn’t really give me a sense of what’s happening on the ground, so to speak.

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 7:25 am

    As Omnes said many moons ago, fuck these fucking interesting times.

    What’s the over/under on how long it takes for my upstairs neighbors to drop something on my ceiling today?  Someone’s gonna get yelled at this morning me thinks.

    Hope everyone’s well this Saturday morn.

  34. 34.

    Jinchi

    May 2, 2020 at 7:30 am

    @Shalimar: It is spreading in the US because it mostly hasn’t had any impact on Republicans.

    Even in Republican states, they think it isn’t affecting ‘real’ Americans. Smithfield denied the outbreak was tied to their plant, instead blaming it’s immigrant community.

    “Living circumstances in certain cultures are different than they are with your traditional American family,” the Smithfield spokesperson said, pointing to a Fox News interview with South Dakota’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, who said the disease had spread because “a lot of these folks who work at this plant live in the same community, the same buildings, sometimes in the same apartments.”

    Not that they don’t want these people declared critical to the nation’s well-being and ordered back to work. They just don’t want any liability.

  35. 35.

    Kristine

    May 2, 2020 at 7:32 am

    @SFAW: it’s more like ‘how do you stop spelling “Mississippi?”’**

    **with a nod to Sir Pterry.

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:33 am

    @Jinchi:

    Fucking racists/bigots. Am I a bad person if I hope those racist motherfuckers contract COVID-19, and die gasping for air?

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:35 am

    @Kristine:

    Never heard that one. Like it. [Of course, with Pratchett, that’s pretty much a given.]

  38. 38.

    Shalimar

    May 2, 2020 at 7:35 am

    @Jinchi: Yeah.  I think Republican politicians are being very short-sighted.  Six months is forever in virus time.  It will get into all the nooks and crannies where their voters live, and there won’t be minority communities in most of them to blame it on.  But we will see.

  39. 39.

    davecb

    May 2, 2020 at 7:36 am

    I just ran into an article on testing sniffer dogs on the BBC

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-52507749/dogs-trained-to-try-to-sniff-out-coronavirus

    If this works, then adding odor as a coarse-screening mechanism sounds brilliant, because it scales up.

    Just like dogs, machine learning can be trained to recognize odors presented to it digitally, and you can even build a nose at home on a 3d printer, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190124124739.htm. The gas-sensing kind, not the kind Tycho Brahe wore.

    That means we could have sniffers everywhere, not just at the airport, and I could check for a smell-detectable disease when I arrive at the office, or a conference, or a crowded theater.

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:37 am

    @Shalimar:

    I thinking they’re counting on the low population densities of many of the Red states as being some kind of protection. And, to be honest, there’s some logic to that. Not a lot, but some.

  41. 41.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @WereBear: my last 12 days of my yearly New Mexico trip (Jan/Feb/March) were spent in Gallup, Window Rock, Chinle, Shiprock and Farmington. It was my third extended stay there in the last 5 years so have gotten to know some folks. It’s devastating and still being underreported. Stayed in an AirBnB with nurses in Farmington until 3/12 when I started driving back with new puppy JoJo. Have kept in touch with the nurse who owned the house in Farmington. I can’t even begin to put into words the stuff she is telling me now. Do you have friends and/or family in Navajo Nation?

  42. 42.

    Jinchi

    May 2, 2020 at 7:39 am

    @SFAW: Am I a bad person if I hope those racist motherfuckers contract COVID-19, and die gasping for air?

    Possibly, but we’re grading on a sliding scale these days so I think you’re in the clear.

  43. 43.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 7:39 am

    I’ve been likening arguing with Trumptards to playing chess with a pigeon (it doesn’t understand the point of the endeavor and then shits all over the board and knocks all the pieces over) and used it handily after someone got super enraged with me on a friend’s feed with me a couple of days ago.

    Basically, I had countered his “it isn’t a statistical big deal, we’ll get our hair mussed a bit ‘but the economy’” with a patient explanation of what it feels like to be unable to get oxygen into your lungs using the example of the sensations I felt when making a dumb mistake at 30 feet below while diving a few years ago (wife spotted it and buddy-breathed me to the surface, including safety stop. I got roundly screamed at, and have heard about that incident every single dive trip since). I pointed that a reactive, competent government untethered to economic ideology could essentially freeze productive capacity and capital accounts in a kind of a stasis, and while there would be some structural revenue needs regarding tax increases at the other end, there wouldn’t be long term economic pain.   I respectfully asked “knowing that, which of your relatives – parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends or children do you want to point at and say ‘you get to die a painful, terrifying, choking death for my 401K and the rest-election of Donald Trump, thanks for your service’?”

    His response was that he was not going to live subject to my “fear” and rambled on about his freedums (I also realized that he is a mask refuser). By the end of our exchange, he called me “libtard” and dropped all civility, telling me to fuck off – but in fairness, I’d called him an amoral asshole.

    Thing is, this dude felt free to talk this way under his real name, not as a pseudonym on a random blog. I find that worrisome.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 7:40 am

    Florida’s shitty Trumpster gov announced that most businesses can reopen Monday at 25% capacity (customer party size limited to 10 people). Bars, salons and gyms are excluded, though my informal local survey tells me most bars plan to scoot under that restriction by claiming to be restaurants.

    The populous counties in South Florida will continue on full lockdown because that’s where most of the known COVID-19 cases are. But the fact is, we don’t know how widespread the virus is because testing has been inadequate, especially in the northern part of the state.

    The shitty Trump admin and craptacular Republican-run state government made the choice to provide no/inadequate help to the people it put out of work with the lockdown, so lifting restrictions whether conditions warrant it or not is really the only play they have.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:41 am

    @Quinerly:

    Do you have friends and/or family in Navajo Nation?

    It would not surprise me if I heard/read the RWMFs saying they (as well as other tribes/nations) are vulnerable because they’re not “real Americans.”

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:41 am

    @Shalimar: and there won’t be minority communities in most of them to blame it on.

    When did that ever stop them from blaming minorities before?

  47. 47.

    Kristine

    May 2, 2020 at 7:41 am

    @SFAW: IIRC it’s from Guards, Guards!, the first book featuring Carrot. The dwarf king sent a runner to ask Mistress Magrat how to stop spelling ‘recommmendation.’

  48. 48.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Give him a chance?

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:43 am

    @Quinerly: A friend who’s a doctor in Gallup, tho we don’t communicate anymore.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 7:47 am

    @Jinchi:

    Wrote yesterday about the red state hotspots

    Meat packing plants

    Nursing Homes

    Prisons

    Yeah, let them continue to raise their racist flag ??

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 7:47 am

    @SFAW: Nope.  This is the shitstorm the idiots wanted.  “I like him because he’s not a politician.”  Well have your teeth drilled by “not a dentist” as bluegal says.

  52. 52.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 7:48 am

    @SFAW:

    One of my maternal great-grandmothers caught (and survived) the Spanish Flu while living on what was a dirt track in a lightly populated part Central Kentucky (about 10 miles from the nearest town of 200 or so people at the time), and there was no interurban rail line even serving the town.

    I don’t think that road got paved until at least the 30s.

    Using that example, ruralities aren’t going to be spared.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 7:49 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    On NPR the other day, they interviewed some reporter [Paul O’Neill/O’Neal, maybe?] who had been covering things like this (Ebola, SARS, etc.) for 30-plus years. When discussing the amount of testing needed to get this under control (long-term), he said something like 50 Million per day. [It might have been 5 Mil, but I don’t think so, because my recollection is that the upshot was a one-week period to get the entire nation tested.] And, of course, after six-plus weeks of the Murderer-in-Chief’s dithering, we’ve only recently reached 5 Million TOTAL.

    Which is only one of the reasons I keep referring to him as the Murderer-in-Chief.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 7:51 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    1. What about your prisons

    2. He has been lying and not giving the real numbers about nursing Homes

    3. You are not testing enough

  55. 55.

    Ohio Mom

    May 2, 2020 at 7:51 am

    I stay home except for limited grocery trips, wear a mask, wash my hands, and all the rest, but I admit that I cultivate and maintain a certain level of denial of the “No, it can’t happen to me, I’m a careful, smart suburbanite, bad things do not happen to my kind” type.

    Else I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. It’s a funny tightrope, especially since I read Anne Laurie’s posts carefully and follow several other Corona sites.

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 7:51 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I pointed that a reactive, competent government untethered to economic ideology could essentially freeze productive capacity and capital accounts in a kind of a stasis, and while there would be some structural revenue needs regarding tax increases at the other end, there wouldn’t be long term economic pain.

    Exactly! That’s one of the most maddening aspects of this shit-show. It didn’t have to be this way.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    May 2, 2020 at 7:51 am

    Morning mirthlet.

    Endorsed by Luke Skywokker.

    :)

  58. 58.

    Jinchi

    May 2, 2020 at 7:52 am

    @rikyrah: Wrote yesterday about the red state hotspots

    I saw that, it was pretty shocking.

    Unfortunately I think the takeaway for lots of Republicans is that they are safe because they don’t work in a meat packing plant, don’t live in a nursing home and aren’t in prison.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:53 am

    via LGM, ARBEIT MACHT FREI, JB

    Dennis Kosuth, RN@Dennis_Kosuth
    ·
    16h
    This was one of the signs at the “Re-open Illinois” event today. She assured those that she was not a Nazi, and stated, “I have Jewish friends.” Thank you for representing yourself and your “movement” for what it is.

  60. 60.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:55 am

    @SFAW: it’s that and “why aren’t they clean?” and “why don’t they want running water?”

    I’m a member of several very serious FB closed Dine/Cultural sites groups. The trolls have invaded, even the Acoma and Chaco Canyon groups. When you check their joining dates of the groups, they all have joined in the last 3 weeks

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 7:57 am

    @Ohio Mom: “No, it WON’T happen to me, I’m a careful, smart suburbanite, bad things do not happen to my kind” type.

    FTFY, You know it can, but you are doing what you can to see to it that it won’t and are hopeful that you are correct.

  62. 62.

    Jay Noble

    May 2, 2020 at 7:58 am

    M I crooked letter crooked letter I crooked letter crooked letter I humpback humback I. Thanks Mom.

  63. 63.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 7:59 am

    The idea that “red states” are sparsely populated is ridiculous. Texas is the second-most populous state. Florida’s third. Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Georgia, none of these are windswept prairie locations where the few people mostly live 30 miles from the nearest gas station. The virus is in all of them. Not going away on its own, either.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @NotMax: I don’t need them, I never eat Chinese in the dark.

  65. 65.

    Jinchi

    May 2, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: “ARBEIT MACHT FREI”

    What are the odds she knows the literal translation of those three words and yet has never stumbled across the reason they are recognized by non-Germans all over the world?

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    May 2, 2020 at 8:01 am

    @satby:

    I was somewhat svelte for my age by comparison.

    When I was spending summers teaching in Europe, it was always the most shocking thing to fly into, say, Chicago or Atlanta, to switch for the remainder of the trip home and just see how largethe people in this country were. And I am not really talking “tall.” It really was always a shock, even when I knew it was coming.

  67. 67.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 8:01 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “He’s different from the normal politician” was the idiot comment from a lawyer I had previously thought of as smart back in 2016.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:02 am

    @JPL:

    It’s not new at all. “Democrat hoax.” The fluke was when he appeared to be taking it seriously. Just another scam of his.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:04 am

    @Jinchi: Zero, that’s why she stipulated that she has “Jewish friends” because uttering those magic words are a shield against all accusations that she is a Nazi POS.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 8:04 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Ugh.  My eyes don’t usually roll out of my head this early in the day.  Have you seen them?

  71. 71.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Wish someone would ask me. I’ve hated him since 1978. I could have given the questioner a real earful.

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I guess you read about Gallup being closed?

    In other news, seeing a lot of our Red since the Venice is closed. She’s working here today on the basement project that has turned into full fledged art project. I tease her that I’m going to end up with a a mini City Museum in my basement. New puppy JoJo loves her dearly. I can say, “Red is on her way.” He runs and waits at the gate for her arrival. 4/29 was his 6 mos birthday and she brought him milk crates stuffed with bags of Smart Bones, treats, Kongs, that stuffing stuff for Kongs, balls, toys. Some warehouse connection she had. She went to get Smart Bones for him and the guy who owns the warehouse kept loading up her Jeep with stuff. So sweet. We are lucky to have her in our lives. ?❤️???

  73. 73.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:07 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    via LGM, ARBEIT MACHT FREI, JB

    I think it was CNN that translated that as “Work is liberty.” My German is rusty, and was never particularly colloquial, but I generally translated that as “Work make you free.” Maybe one of the better-German speakers can either set me straight, or affirm my version?

    Be that as it may, I think that motherfucker should be flayed for that bullshit. Yeah, Pritzker is just like Eichmann, Heydrich, Hitler, and the rest of them. Fucking asshole moron. Be glad you don’t have to worry about a real Endlösung, you fucking pig.

  74. 74.

    Ladyraxterinok

    May 2, 2020 at 8:09 am

    @Jay Noble:

    Thanks for same help to my mom likewise

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Zero, that’s why she stipulated that she has “Jewish friends”

    “Some of my best friends are ki- … uh, I mean Jews, yeah, that’s it.”

  76. 76.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:10 am

    @Jinchi: Work will not set us free, any more than it set the Jews free. As a Jew with a fairly decent grasp of history, I despise grotesque analogies to anything holocaust related, and in this case it makes no damn sense.

    But literally, sending people back to work right now and trying to force things back to a false normal will be a death sentence for thousands.

  77. 77.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @SFAW:

    He’s much quieter now – I think he grits his teeth and grimaces a lot.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m sure the Jewish community there took it as irony. //

    Here, there have been a couple anti-Semitic signs and insinuations against the Health Director. It helps that it’s easier to bully a woman. I admire Amy Acton’s composure through all this.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 8:12 am

    I have white friends.  I guess that means I can let my freak fly.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @Quinerly: I need to call her, just so she knows I still care.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:12 am

    Obama’s vetting of Biden included nearly 10 lawyers who spent nearly two months digging through records and interviewing dozens of people about Biden. Tara Reade’s name — or any other allegations — never came up. My latest with @AnnieLinskey @WaPoSean: https://t.co/dNta3IiBLD— Matt Viser (@mviser) May 2, 2020

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:13 am

    @SFAW: You are correct.

  83. 83.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:13 am

    @rikyrah: Well nice to see that Annie Linskey is done hate stalking Elizabeth Warren.

  84. 84.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 8:15 am

     

     

    @SFAW:

    I could never be counted on as a counter-protestor – I’d be incapable of leaving that shit alone, and would likely start beating people with the sign.

  85. 85.

    WereBear

    May 2, 2020 at 8:15 am

    @Quinerly: Do you have friends and/or family in Navajo Nation?

     
    No, but both Mr WereBear and I have Iroquois Confederacy lineage. This led to us wanting to sponsor such a child, without the religious trappings that we don’t trust. Turns out, this combo is hard to find. In addition, his local connection has a casino, so they are doing better than in many other areas.

    We wound up finding a secular organization, Children Incorporated, supporting Navajo Nation children.

    We graduated our second! We are on our third child, an adorable little guy now in fourth grade. Right now, he’s our connection to the area. We sent extra money in case he and his family needs it.

  86. 86.

    Dog Mom

    May 2, 2020 at 8:15 am

    @Immanentize:  Reminds me of a meme floating around a few years ago – a very bloated statue of David captioned with something like “David after his 3 month vacation in the US”.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @debbie:

    Wish someone would ask me. I’ve hated him since 1978. I could have given the questioner a real earful.

    In mid-2016, I asked my brother (who still lives in NY), about the remote possibility that the Murderer-in-Chief was just gaming the Rethugs, and after accepting the nom he would say to the Convention “You guys are all morons. I was just saying whatever bullshit I thought you wanted to hear, but I’m actually going to adopt more-liberal policies.” [At the time, the depth of his assholery and narcissism was not something of which I was much aware.] It was a naive hope, of course. Which my brother immediately dashed, by telling me “No, he’s just an asshole.” Not unexpected, but not what I was hoping to hear.

  88. 88.

    Immanentize

    May 2, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Her sign also has the upside down “B” (small part of the loop on the bottom not the top) which was only ever found in one place.  Any guesses?

  89. 89.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 8:17 am

    @debbie: The Dump hatred is strong with this one.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 8:18 am

    Good Christ, the fucking cloud makes an appearance in The Times:

    In a Friday interview on MSNBC, Mr. Biden resisted these calls, insisting that his Senate papers do not contain any personnel files and so could not possibly shed light on Ms. Reade’s allegations. He added that they do, however, contain sensitive information about his past work that could be unfairly exploited in a presidential campaign.

    While understandable, this concern is not prohibitive — and Mr. Biden’s word is insufficient to dispel the cloud. Any inventory should be strictly limited to information about Ms. Reade and conducted by an unbiased, apolitical panel, put together by the D.N.C. and chosen to foster as much trust in its findings as possible. Admittedly, this would be a major undertaking… But the question at hand is no less than Mr. Biden’s fitness for the presidency. No relevant memo should be left unexamined.

    Come the fuck ON, motherfuckers! How stupid do they think we are? None of these self-important, navel-gazing fuck-sticks gives the slightest half-shart about sexual harassment or assault. They demonstrated that amply when they greased the skids for Pussy Grabbor. As a woman, I find their blatant politicization of the issue in service of their holy both sides shtick offensive as hell.

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:18 am

    Maddow is really the only one on this story.

     

    Tennessee tested one prison.

     

    2700 inmates

    HALF TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

     

    HALF

     

    But, the prison is ‘over there’

     

    Ah, yes, but the people who work there live in town. The thought that Ms. Rona will stop at just the prisoners ?

  92. 92.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 8:19 am

    A friend on a Zoom chat last night commented that we are all living through the very definition of trauma- we don’t have any control over this, and we don’t have any idea when the pain is going to stop.  We’re all going through a long traumatization, and it’s unsurprising that we all have different ways of dealing with it,  and I figure, as long as it’s not hurting someone else, however one needs to deal with this to get through it, it’s fine.

    For me, I like these threads and I like the update threads, because I need to know, which I suppose traces right back to when my mom died of breast cancer when I was child and no one told us anything about her illness so that right up until the morning my dad told us she died, I believed she would eventually get better.  So, I obsessively listen to Cuomo’s briefings and read the  links Anne Laurie  does such a good job aggregating for us because it makes me feel better to at least “know” how bad it is.  But I wouldn’t look twice at someone who needs to not think too much about it because it’s too hard (as long as they’re not behaving recklessly and putting other people at risk).

    So yeah, I’m grateful for the threads to rage and despair (or, for me, to find relief reading that other people are mad and despairing, too), but I get why some don’t want to talk about it.  But I do really, really appreciate these threads (and the daily updates).

  93. 93.

    Immanentize

    May 2, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @John S.:

    But literally, sending people back to work right now and trying to force things back to a false normal will be a death sentence for thousands.

    THAT is the analogy. She was demanding people be sent to work, even if it kills them. Them. Them.

  94. 94.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I had no idea you speak German. Neat. I may ask for other (potential) corrections in the future.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:21 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    ????

    Get the ENTIRE Phuck Outta Here with that bullshyt

  96. 96.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:22 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Are they fucking kidding? It’s going to be “but her e-mails” turned up to 14.

    I wish Pinche Sulzberger would sell the FTFTFNYT to Bezos.

  97. 97.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:23 am

    @Betty Cracker: I’m not even a journalist and I can do a better job than these clowns.

    ”Reade makes serious allegations, but there are little facts to corroborate”

    And what facts there are show that she has changed her story many times, updated articles after the fact to match her story, and there are no records of anything she claimed that would have records.

    It’s really not that hard.

  98. 98.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:23 am

    @WereBear: ?❤️???

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 8:24 am

    @Immanentize:

    Her sign also has the upside down “B” (small part of the loop on the bottom not the top) which was only ever found in one place.  Any guesses?

    I should get the reference, but I don’t. Hints?

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @Nicole:

    I appreciate the threads too. I like having a storage place for information. I hope that AL understands how much those posts mean to folks. I check it everyday.

  101. 101.

    Sab

    May 2, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @Quinerly: Did you know that Jojo goes on line when you aren’t watching?

  102. 102.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @Immanentize: And that is what makes that scumbag a Nazi sympathizer at best, and a morally bankrupt human being at worst. Gleefully feeding human beings into the wood chipper so you can go to the beauty salon is about as low as one can go.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @John S.:

    If there’s nothing to corroborate, then, um, maybe it’s because

     

    SHE IS NOT CREDIBLE ?

  104. 104.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 8:28 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    When will the NYT dispel the cloud that their political reporting is garbage?

    I call on them to open up their internal files to scrutiny.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:28 am

    @John S.:

    You remember the ‘protestor’ who said out loud that he wanted to back to a restaurant to get free refills.

    How it annoys him to get multiple drinks at the drive-thru ???

  106. 106.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: that would be really great. Some bad stuff has come up. I encourage you to call her. Please. She’ll be here after 3. You could call then. I probably won’t be around or will be in the yard.. You could have complete privacy while you talk. Please call her at some point, if not today, some day. It could be a long convo.

  107. 107.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @rikyrah: That is correct, and those are the facts. Which is what journalism is SUPPOSED to be about, but somehow we have ended up in a timeline where that is not the case.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @Immanentize: Good catch.

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @John S.: Even if you leave all that aside, how is a DNC spelunking expedition going to change the dynamic? It’s ludicrous on its face.

  110. 110.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 2, 2020 at 8:30 am

    @JPL: The Thunderbluebirdangels are scheduled for a noonish  crisscrossing of the Baltimore area. I can think of two decent places to watch from, but have to pick one, they’re too far apart to beat the jets to.

  111. 111.

    Sab

    May 2, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @rikyrah: In Ohio the contrast between the virus raging through the federal prisons is startlimg when compared to the state prisons, where the director has a public health background.

  112. 112.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @rikyrah: As Spock Jenkins famously said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few – or the one.”

  113. 113.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @rikyrah: The guards are “those people” too. That’s why they pay them so little.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @Jinchi:

    Unless you are IN GERMANY,

    Why would a protest sign be in German?

     

    OF COURSE SHE KNEW.WHAT SHE WAS PUTTING ON THE SIGN??

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    May 2, 2020 at 8:33 am

    @SFAW: Auschwitz.
    ARBEIT MACHT FREI
    Was a sign over the entry to a few concentration/death camps. But only Auschwitz had the inverted “B.”

    Dachau has an all block letter capitals version of the phrase at a gate. It’s a neo-Nazi thing to put the “B” upside down to speak to fellow travellers.

  116. 116.

    mad citizen

    May 2, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Jack Canuck: I’m also in Indiana–in fact work in state government in Indy, but I don’t have any special knowledge of on the ground.  All we can do is stay home as much as possible and wear protection when we go out, wash hands, etc.  My agency is working from home through May.

    My county’s case numbers jumped yesterday from a steady 10/day to 40.  I realized last night, listening to the Governor’s 5 stage plan (was joking it was a 23-step plan, like Leslie Knope), that the likely outcome is our case numbers will start going up, perhaps dramatically, throughout May, and the total lockdown (or at least as much as midwesterners do) will come back for the summer.  The governor’s whole “northstar” is simply not overwhelming the medical system.  I guess it’s sustained pandemic management, not an effort to reduce the cases to near zero.

  117. 117.

    WereBear

    May 2, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @rikyrah: You remember the ‘protestor’ who said out loud that he wanted to back to a restaurant to get free refills.

    He’s like a mascot for my WTF and is forever a symbol of their callousness and inhumanity.

    Don’t think “die for my free tea refills” is much of a rallying cry but it’s what they got.

  118. 118.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yeah, that part made me laugh.  As if the people who don’t trust Biden will trust anything the DNC does.

    All the trolling that’s fit to print.

  119. 119.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @SFAW: I took 3 years in high school. That was ummmmmmmm…. a really big number of years ago. Not sure I can do that kind of math anymore. Damn sure I can’t do any kind of translating.

  120. 120.

    John S.

    May 2, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @Betty Cracker: Ludicrous is the point. It’s not a serious attempt to solve anything. Looking for a smoking gun when no shot was fired is even more pointless when the person jumping up and down screaming they were shot makes it obvious to everyone they were not. And then grabs a ketchup packet after the fact and squirts it on themselves claiming it’s blood.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @Quinerly: I best wait for a rainy day then.

  122. 122.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:42 am

    @SFAW:

    Absolutely. Trump was always proud of his assholism, as he acknowledged when he appeared on Letterman years ago (paraphrasing from memory): “You’re not very nice to women, are you?” “No, not really.”

    All anyone needed to do was look at the election results. In New York County (a.k.a. Manhattan), he got 9.71%. There are plenty of Old Republicans living there, so it’s not just libtards.

    Donald Trump is thoroughly hated by those who have known him the longest.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    May 2, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @rikyrah

    “You vant freis mit zat?”

    //

  124. 124.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @Sab:

    Did you listen to the news conference where she went through everything that was being done? It was awesome. I don’t know her name, but she should be on the federal pandemic task force.

  125. 125.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 2, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s been a fundamental rule of hygiene since forever: Never eat in a dive so dark you can’t see what you’re eating.

  126. 126.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 8:46 am

    Huh:

    Reade's former neighbor–central to backing up her claim, was on Democracy Now tonight:
    "I saw [Biden] on Morning Joe this morning, and he looks very believable, too. But I’m hearing this today, and I heard Tara a long time ago telling me that. So, I’m struggling with it."

    — Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) May 2, 2020

  127. 127.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s time to throw aside the high road. Point to the Pussy Grabber in Chief and demand equal treatment.

  128. 128.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:48 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Contrast this with there being no struggling with Kavanaugh.

  129. 129.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 8:48 am

    @debbie:

    Equal treatment doesn’t help us because the two men are not equal.

  130. 130.

    NotMax

    May 2, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @debbie

    Trivia: New York county, in land area, is the second smallest county in the country.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Do you remember the Dolt45 supporter who said

    ” He isn’t hurting the right people”

     

    I always remember where she worked- it was at a prison. I remember it because, while reading it, I said to myself, ‘ of course.’

    The prison is like the main economic engine in small towns like that

  132. 132.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @NotMax:

    But high in population density.

  133. 133.

    danielx

    May 2, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Was this from the editorial board or a particular person? I would like to know which entity is emitting this cloud of pompous, sanctimonious, self serving horseshit.

  134. 134.

    WereBear

    May 2, 2020 at 8:50 am

    Red State complacency is rooted in biological ignorance. Republican voters have lived for sooooo looooong with blasé indifference to “others” and smug certainty that the cruelties they support will never apply to themselves.

    I guess it took the lowest biological agent known to science to cut through the bullshit of the lowest political philosophy on earth. Human-generated influence will always be distorted by money and spun by power.

    Virus don’t care. And while they may have lots of room between their houses (often enforced by “jokes” about shooting strangers, BTW) they all shop at the same places. It’s routine for Wal-Mart to be the only place within 50 miles, and they claimed they wanted that.

    For COVID-19, that’s not that much different from people in NYC elevators or public transit. Especially since they scorn precautions like mask wearing and keeping social distance.

  135. 135.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 2, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    I wouldn’t watch them if you paid me. I’m kind of in the “fuck them for their mooching ‘service’” territory.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:51 am

    Before @JoeBiden was selected VP by @BarackObama, vetters for the campaign scoured every aspect of his record, career and life. Tara Reade or complaints of sexual harassment or assault never came up. I know. I was there.Here are my recollections:https://t.co/eBwX0ji6ao— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) May 2, 2020

  137. 137.

    Jack Canuck

    May 2, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @mad citizen: Thanks for the info. Not that I could do anything even if I were closer than Melbourne to Crown Point, but it all seems so much worse there than it is down here in terms of numbers. My mom and her husband aren’t remotely stupid people, and in some ways it might be a good thing that he has very little energy and hence little interest in getting out of the house right now, but they’re definitely highly vulnerable. Fingers crossed, I suppose – about as much as any of us can do when it comes to our loved ones far away at the moment.

  138. 138.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: that would be great. Just be prepared. I hope I’m not speaking out of line. I have known her almost 30 years… I guess you, too, have known her that long. She needs her friends.

    Now on a happier note… JoJo las Orejas sez, “Mamá, he tenido mis dos trozos de plátanos. Eso significa que salimos a caminar y yo huelo. Deja de jugar con esa cosa en tu mano y presta atención a mí. ¡Soy el cachorro más interesante del mundo!”

  139. 139.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @Baud:

    No, but the shittier human being should not get away with what the better human being is being harassed with.

    We already know the nature of the American people. Hoping they’ll change or become more enlightened or live up to principles and ideals is futile. Fuckem all.

  140. 140.

    rikyrah

    May 2, 2020 at 8:52 am

    Did the @nytimes @nytopinion call for the RNC to investigate ALL 25 claims of sexual assault made against Trump and ask his campaign to cooperate? ? https://t.co/f8iqHcWhPY— Midwin Charles (@MidwinCharles) May 2, 2020

  141. 141.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 8:55 am

    It is becoming very hard to evaluate the Times’ political coverage in any light except that of the fact President Donald Trump has been very good for the business of the New York Times Corp.

  142. 142.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: Way back in the day, when Lafayette Square was still trying to crawl out of the hole of slumdom to respectable middle class*, I did a fair amount of work there. One of the few available eateries was a literal shotgun hole in the wall Chinese take out called Park Chop Suey. Really good food, but I never looked to close at what I was eating. I was afraid of what I might find.

    *Lafayette Square long ago blew past the simple middle class into the “well to do” class. Beautiful neighborhood too. Back then people thought those urban homesteaders were nuts.

  143. 143.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:58 am

    @rikyrah: Yep, pretty sure she still doesn’t get the fact that she is the “right people”.

  144. 144.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 2, 2020 at 8:58 am

    I have bad news for the MAGAts who think this is a city disease:  Covid has already been shown to spread just as well in light population densities.  It just takes longer to get there because vectors travel that way less.  The second wave is just starting, and it’s little bitty Red State towns that may never add their numbers to the official tally.  They’ll still suffer as bad as the rest of us.

  145. 145.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 8:59 am

    Yestermorn at Outside the Beltway I said, “Nothing screams WHITE PRIVILEGE like armed protesters storming the Michigan statehouse.” John Pavlovitz gets it: The White Privilege to Terrorize

    As a white man watching the Michigan protests of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders, all I could think was:

    Black people don’t get to do this.
    Muslims don’t get to do this.
    Latinos don’t get to do this.
    People who don’t look like this don’t get to do this.

    They don’t get to swarm American capitol buildings in tactical gear with high-powered weapons, screaming in close proximity to police officers.
    They don’t get to dress up like Call of Duty cosplayers and attempt to physically intimidate politicians into bending to their wills.
    They don’t get to get to stop traffic in city streets decked out like they work at the Death Star and brazenly wield semi-automatic rifles.
    They don’t get to terrorize decent people and walk away.

    Only white people get to do this.

    A truly righteous rant.

  146. 146.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 9:01 am

    To add to my earlier post, I discovered the quote from the Times was from an editorial. In my experience, editorials are misnamed. They should be called publishertorials, because that’s who’s got the final say.

  147. 147.

    Anne Laurie

    May 2, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @Kristine: I flashed on  Witches Abroad, where Nanny Ogg ‘knew how to spell banana, but didn’t know how to stop.’

    (While on vacation, she has of course learned to love daiquiris, a word she doesn’t even *try* to spell correctly.)

  148. 148.

    terben

    May 2, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Did you notice the upside down Bs on her sign. Now check the B (and the M) on the photo of the entrance to Auschwitz. Definitely not a Nazi!

  149. 149.

    PST

    May 2, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Immanentize: The actual meaning of the words ARBEIT MACHT FREI is almost a red herring. The point is to allude to Auschwitz and the governor together on the sign. The woman carrying it might as well be saying, “We’re coming for you, Jew.” I saw a couple of these turds yesterday cycling down my street. One carried a sign saying “Impeach Pritzker” and the other had an American flag too big to be safely carried on a bike.

  150. 150.

    Sab

    May 2, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @debbie: Yes I saw her. We watch those press conferences every day. Dr Acton has been singing her praises for weeks. Now I understand.

    That CEO ( John McDaniel) who died of Covid a couple of weeks  after ranting about deWine’s shutdown on Facebook lived in Marion County, hotspot because of the federal prison with the worst outbreak in Ohio.

  151. 151.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @Immanentize:

    Thanks. I was unaware of the “B” thing.

    It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t within arm’s reach of that Nazi motherfucker.

  152. 152.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @rikyrah:

    You remember the ‘protestor’ who said out loud that he wanted to back to a restaurant to get free refills.

    How it annoys him to get multiple drinks at the drive-thru ???

    God, THAT GUY.  Yeah, I couldn’t believe he was for real.  Like, THAT’S what you’re pissed about?  Sure, minimum-wage worker, you risk your life because this douchecanoe apparently can’t pour water over a couple of bags of Lipton himself.

    But then, I had a (now ex-) friend in Florida who would bitch for a full paragraph in an email about how a particular fast-food restaurant had changed their soda brand and now she couldn’t GET THE ONE SHE WANTED.

    Needless to say, she was excited for Trump to win.  She’s in Orlando, and lives to go to Disney, so I have mild curiosity as to how she’s faring with the indefinite shut-down.   Very mild, though. ;)

  153. 153.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:07 am

    I mentioned yesterday that the retirement community I live in has had its first case of COVID. I live in independent living, which is a condo building. On campus, but in a separate building, there’s memory care. One of the residents there has been hospitalized. I find that scary as hell.

    Here’s what management is doing, which I think is probably the best they can.

    Working with the Lake County (IL) Health Department, they’re communicating with everyone the person came in contact with. This should be relatively easy since we’ve been locked down with no visitors for 6 weeks and the person is in memory care. They’re not going out for walks or groceries or anything. The only fly in the ointment would be if someone did something stupid take Gramps home with them for Easter dinner three weeks ago.

    The medical director is doing antibody testing on residents and workers in the memory unit, while waiting for full test kits from Lake County. I assume he had access to the antibody tests and decided not to wait. It’s criminal that tests are still not easily available, but you knew that.

    They were already screening workers for symptoms at both the beginning and end of their shifts, and were doing the same for residents three times a day. They already follow CDC guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting the area.

    It’s still scary.

  154. 154.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 2, 2020 at 9:07 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Sounds more like you’re in “cutting off your nose to spite your face” territory.

    But hey, no skin off my nose. I haven’t seen any sort of aerial display in over 30 years**, and never with both services at once, so I’m kind of amped.

    **The last at the Westinghouse plant where I worked til ’91. Management called a midday fire drill to get us all outside to see a flyby of a single F-16 with one of our radars in the nose. (Goddamn that little plane was loud!)

  155. 155.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @terben: Immanentize caught that too.

  156. 156.

    Spanky

    May 2, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Amir was the first that came to mind. And Otmar, although I’ve rarely seen him outside of the On The Road posts.

  157. 157.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 9:12 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Of course that’s scary, scary as hell. But at least you live in a place where management seems to know what it’s doing and is committed to same.

  158. 158.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @PST:

    The odd thing is that some of them think the lock down is THEM being put in camps. That is, we’re the Nazis. An R neighbor here said two days ago that he’s waiting for them to tattoo numbers on our arms.

  159. 159.

    Sab

    May 2, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  I have been thinking about you.

  160. 160.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 2, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: “I never looked to close at what I was eating. I was afraid of what I might find.”

    And if any of it was still moving….amirite? :^D

    Just for the hell of it, my all time favorite fortune-cookie fortune.

  161. 161.

    Kristine

    May 2, 2020 at 9:14 am

    @Anne Laurie: I need to reread some of the mid-series books. They were the best.

  162. 162.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:14 am

    @Uncle Cosmo:Goddamn that little plane was loud!)

    One time while squirrel hunting at Weldon Springs Wildlife area, I got buzzed by a Confederate Air Force P-47. I hit the ground before any WHAT IN THE FUCK thought got a chance to enter my head.

  163. 163.

    Scout211

    May 2, 2020 at 9:14 am

    I definitely can’t with these “protesters.”  32 were arrested yesterday at the non-permitted protest on the Capitol grounds in Sacramento. The CHP canceled all future protest permits after the previous one, when protesters did not social distance like they were required to do. But the local reporters, so eager to get a protester on camera, sticking microphones in protesters’ faces to get sound bites really gets to me. One protester shouted, “There’s no reason” for a shutdown.

    Obviously, there’s no reasoning.

  164. 164.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:17 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: And if any of it was still moving I thought of it as protein. (hattip to the miniseries Pacific)

  165. 165.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:17 am

    @JMG:

    I know and I’m grateful. A friend offered us her empty house in Iowa, but after thinking about it, I realized that we’d be adrift there. Her house is two hours away from the town we lived in. We wouldn’t know any doctors or hospitals or anything, and we’d be much farther from our son.

  166. 166.

    Kristine

    May 2, 2020 at 9:19 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ve been checking the Lake County Health Dept site every day and tracking the numbers for my area. There are a number of long term care facilities nearby. As others have noted, they’ve been getting slammed.

    Fingers crossed that your place keeps it contained.

  167. 167.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 9:20 am

    @danielx: Editorial board.

  168. 168.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:20 am

    @Sab:

    I have to assume there’ll be more cases in that memory unit. I don’t know if it makes any difference to treatment if they’re caught early, but for those people’s sakes, I hope so. The question for me is whether management can contain the spread.

    ETA: Or what Kristine said at #166

  169. 169.

    zhena gogolia

    May 2, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @rikyrah:

    I HATE THE NEW YORK TIMES

  170. 170.

    zhena gogolia

    May 2, 2020 at 9:23 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Very good.

  171. 171.

    Betty Cracker

    May 2, 2020 at 9:25 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Damn, that IS scary! (I missed your comment yesterday.) Please stay safe!

  172. 172.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @zhena gogolia: The Times editorial was a rather blatant effort to establish rules for a future Biden administration along the lines of “you must do what we say or we will define you like we did Hillary.”

    If there’s one positive element at all of the Trump years, it’s that he should have taught pols that you can tell the Times and the rest the Washington press corps to fuck right off and pay no political price. In fact, once you’re in office, they’ll take your abuse with a smile.

  173. 173.

    There go two miscreants

    May 2, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’d have to actually have standards before I could lower them.

    Nominee for a rotating tag!

  174. 174.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 2, 2020 at 9:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I always thought the Friggin’ Falcon was tiny & Thunderbolt The Wondercolt a monster. I just looked ’em up – & the F-16 is 13 feet longer than the P-47 (though the wingspan is 8′ shorter) and nearly twice the empty weight (19,700 lbs vs 10,000 lbs). Dang. L’arn sumpin’ ever’ day.

  175. 175.

    Butter Emails

    May 2, 2020 at 9:31 am

    The odd thing is that some of them think the lock down is THEM being put in camps. That is, we’re the Nazis. An R neighbor here said two days ago that he’s waiting for them to tattoo numbers on our arms.

    We can’t get sufficient tests for the virus and we can’t keep idiots like your neighbor from licking toilet seats, but there’s going to be a coordinated effort to ink everyone?

    Besides, I thought this was all part of Gates’ plan to get everyone injected with a nanobot containing vaccine. Presumably these would  enable effortless tracking in addition to their primary function of mind control. It seems kind of complicated given that gates could accomplish the same thing by buying fox news and all the cell phone companies.

  176. 176.

    Butter Emails

    May 2, 2020 at 9:33 am

    @JMG:

    This only applies to Republicans. The rules for Democrats are different.

  177. 177.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I loved Park Chop Suey. Started picking up stuff there in 1983 when I was in law school and doing a Legal Aid Clinic at Malcolm Bliss. Remember Bliss? ? I could write a several chapters of a book about small town rural chick in the big inner city at age 22 holding “office hours” at the city mental patient hospital and talking with patients about their legal problems. In patients and out patients. It was a semester deal for credits… Did 3 semesters of it. Taught me a lot. Actually used some of that acquired skill set when 30 years later I was at Wells Fargo. ? But, I digress ?. Loved me some Park Chop Suey. They moved to Jefferson and Chouteau at some point but don’t know if they stayed in biz. Got off my radar. Thanks for that memory.

  178. 178.

    Sab

    May 2, 2020 at 9:39 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I can’t get in to see my dad, but his nurse’s aide seems okay with working on that floor. My biggest concern is the lack of oversight. The residents who don’t have nurse’s aides are being a bit neglected by some of the youmger staff, and if family can’t check who is to know.

    In his facility it doesn’t seem to be spreading. I hope it’s the same with yours. I think good practices help a lot

    Frankly, I feel safer for him there than for me in line at the grocery.

  179. 179.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @Butter Emails:

    This guy bitches and moans about everything. When the gym was open, he usually came to the same weight class I went to, and I made sure to be at the other end of the room because he’s such a malcontent. If he can’t see how privileged he is living in comfort here (apart from the pandemic), then there’s no help for him.

  180. 180.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @Butter Emails:

    I’m hopeful that 2016 taught a lot of people that the NYT and the media generally are not always righteous when they “investigate” Democrats and, likewise, that Democrats do not need to accommodate the media when they make unreasonable accusations or demands.

    ETA: You don’t dissipate “clouds.” You fly through them.

  181. 181.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: speaking of rain… Here’s one for you:

    https://youtu.be/b7MUcj312a0

  182. 182.

    MoCA Ace

    May 2, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @mrmoshpotato: “I like him because he’s not a politician.”

    My brother-in-law told me he supported the orange shitstain because Washington was corrupt and he wanted someone to go in and blow it all up.  I asked him who he thought would get hurt when he “blows it all up”?  The rich and powerful people or people like him?

    Next time I see him I will remind him of that conversation.

  183. 183.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 9:43 am

    Trevor Noah is paying the salaries of The Daily Show’s furloughed employees himself:

    https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-coronavirus-trevor-noah-pays-furloughed-workers-salaries-20200501-4huczo4gqffvhkvpfcjg67aisa-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3GuEPwUsg1a_6SLWhavwlBloysIq6gCG9IOiJJGYE4p-ev3yQNKG4401c

    I am… more emotional about this than I thought I’d be.  Watching The Daily Social Distancing Show is one of the small joys of being indoors together so much. We started letting our 9-year-old watch him just as the outbreak was making the news and it’s helped my kid enormously, as the information is accurate, but it’s presented in a funny way so it’s not terrifying.  Although, after one joke, I did have to answer the question, “Mom, what’s ‘masturbation’?”

  184. 184.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @Nicole:

    “Look it up in the dictionary.”

  185. 185.

    Geminid

    May 2, 2020 at 9:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:  Re the China trade war: I think Trump needs the Chinese more than they need him. Sacrificing their assistance for a dubious political grievance campaign is a typically stupid Trump move. When the US and Chinese trade reps reached a temporary detente in early February the were projections of $10’s of billions of purchases of soybeans and other commodities. Why should the Chinese leadership help Trump now? They have the rest of the world to buy from and sell to, there is a recession anyway, and they can tell their citizens that if things are tough, its because of the arrogant Orange Haired Barbarian.

  186. 186.

    zhena gogolia

    May 2, 2020 at 9:50 am

    @Baud:

    That’s how they did it in my house.

  187. 187.

    leeleeFL

    May 2, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @JPL: Business as usual.  Fingers in ears, LALALALA ing in defense against hearing anything that interferes with the magical thinking.

    Like a Doctor I heard about years ago,  whose breast cancer victim patient had such a beautiful body he just couldn’t tell her the truth and know she would be so damaged by a mastectomy!

    tRump simply will not allow the facts further damage his Beautiful Economy.

    It drops a feckin FOREST on my rage fire.

  188. 188.

    leeleeFL

    May 2, 2020 at 9:53 am

    @satby: I hope those of us who survive the conflagration have the genes of the Phoenix!

  189. 189.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @Nicole:

    It’s amazing how finding unexpected kindness is so moving these days. Also, I had to laugh at the unexpected sex ed question. Oh well. Think of it as a good chance to have those discussions when they’re not so charged.

    Another thing this place is doing is retaining all their employees even though they closed the restaurants and no longer have weekly housekeeping in each unit. They have them doing other things, like cleaning common areas and delivering carry out orders.

  190. 190.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @Quinerly: I loved the fact that standing at the window you couldn’t really see what was going on in back, it was so dark.

    Malcolm Bliss, I have a friend who was a resident there for a while. Just before they knocked it down a friend’s gf wanted to go in it and take pictures. He was like, “No way, I don’t want to get arrested.” so I took her. I think she was pretty disappointment at how innocuous it all was. I did find the top floor/attic to be rather interesting from a construction pov. Kinda sad when they tore it all down.

  191. 191.

    O. Felix Culpa

    May 2, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @zhena gogolia: Come sit 6 feet away from me. I am incandescent with rage that the FTFNYT  is at it again. They want to kill us all.

  192. 192.

    MoCA Ace

    May 2, 2020 at 9:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: One time while squirrel hunting at Weldon Springs Wildlife area, I got buzzed by a Confederate Air Force P-47

    Been there.  I was turkey hunting with a friend near LaCrosse WI  which is near Fort McCoy.  We were taking a break sitting just below the top of a ridge when a pair of A10’s flying maneuvers came from behind us, popped up over the ridge and dropped below us as they flew down the valley!  So startled I damn near shit my pants!

  193. 193.

    leeleeFL

    May 2, 2020 at 9:58 am

    @SFAW: TO BE EMPHATIC,  NO!

  194. 194.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 2, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @Quinerly: Thanx for that.

  195. 195.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 10:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I told Alexa to play Willie Nelson. Song came on while we were posting. Here’s another one that I don’t remember hearing. NOLA?

    https://youtu.be/b7MUcj312a0

  196. 196.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 2, 2020 at 10:06 am

    @Baud: Masturbate to the dictionary?

  197. 197.

    leeleeFL

    May 2, 2020 at 10:06 am

    @Jinchi: Trust me, she knows, agrees and cares not one fuck what we think of her and her Nazi poster.

    These people suck and are to be hated.   Thus endeth the lesson

  198. 198.

    Nora

    May 2, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @Betty Cracker:  I would like the New York Times to show us all the times they wrote the equivalent of this about all the accusations against Donald Trump, either before he became President or since.  Fitness for office my ass!  Reading this just raised my blood pressure another twenty points.

  199. 199.

    Josie

    May 2, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I will join you.  I am so angry I can hardly discuss this rationally.  I have very little disposable income, but I made a donation to Biden’s campaign this morning in reaction to this travesty.  It’s too bad I don’t have a subscription to the Times that I could cancel.  Tumulty’s column enraged me.

  200. 200.

    Amir Khalid

    May 2, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @SFAW:

    You rang?

    Word for word: Arbeit = work, macht = makes, frei = free. “Work sets you free” is a perfectly good translation for this particular Nazi lie.

  201. 201.

    leeleeFL

    May 2, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My greatest fear and happy dream. WTF us up with me, I ask you!

  202. 202.

    Quinerly

    May 2, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Bliss is an experience I’ll never forget. I remember dressing the girl atty part (think ’80’s, those fucking little ties at the neck collar, silk like shirts, navy blue suits with skirts and pumps) and going thru those double locked doors on the floors… Buzzed in and out, little briefcase in hand that had been a college graduation present… And to get out when my 2 hr stay was up… Tapping on the glass surround of the center nurses’ station to get someone’s attention to buzz me out. I was oftentimes tapping with a bunch of patients who, too, wanted out. Always glad that I had my conservative blue suit, blouse with the tie and little briefcase. If not, mistakes could have been made. ?

  203. 203.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 2, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @rikyrah: I remember, the gas lighting continues regarding BS campaign’s paw prints on the Tara Reade fiasco. His senior campaign aides B. Joy and journo bros favorable to the BS campaign have been pushing this story on Twitter for at least a month. MSM has taken the bait now and are trying to make this Biden’s emails, swift boat etc.

  204. 204.

    Miss Bianca

    May 2, 2020 at 10:15 am

    Was it one of the front pagers here who said that before this was all over, each of us would personally know someone who had died from COVID-19?

    Yep, just happened to me. One of my old theater buddies relayed the following to me yesterday about a mutual friend:

    He was admitted to Mt. Sinai in Queens on April 12, and tested positive for coronavirus. He seemed to be doing okay, considering. He was on a bipap oxygen machine rather than a ventilator, and was able to talk by phone to his wife Paula and his sons (Jacob, a college prof in Baltimore, and Raphael, a resident at the ICU at Bellevue and very much on the front lines of this pandemic). But a few days ago, he was put on a ventilator. This disease is persistent. He passed away this morning “on May Day 2020, fitting,” as Paula writes, “for a red-diaper baby and lifetime radical.”

    It’s just going to get worse. This friendship was from my days back in Michigan, btw. So the whole BS with armed white assholes threatening the Governor of that state has got me in paroxysms of rage. RIP, David B – you were worth 10,000 of those assholes.

  205. 205.

    Betty

    May 2, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @Betty Cracker: This one really makes me angry. All you have to do is compare the history of the two individuals. She has lots of weird stuff in her history while he is an open book, whether you like him or not. I will keep tweeting “But his archives” every chance I get to mock the media.

  206. 206.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 2, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @Betty: NYT is in the tank for the Republicans.

  207. 207.

    Brachiator

    May 2, 2020 at 10:22 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Coming late to the thread, and this really stopped me.

    Any inventory should be strictly limited to information about Ms. Reade and conducted by an unbiased, apolitical panel, put together by the D.N.C. and chosen to foster as much trust in its findings as possible. Admittedly, this would be a major undertaking…

    I guess that “but his papers” will become the equivalent to “but her emails.” They found the hook that they will use to drag this crap out for the entire presidential campaign.

    And you are right, these fools adopt the perfect hypocritical tone of sanctimonious reasonableness. This is a masterpiece of bullshit pretending to be sober, balanced and fair. Other papers and pundits can now easily endorse this “plan” and claim that they are being reasonable and honorable.

    The entire thing is sickening. And worst of all, we are going to have to watch the “respectable media” work this for all its worth.

  208. 208.

    evodevo

    May 2, 2020 at 10:22 am

    @SFAW: It works until it doesn’t.  Our patient 0 here in Ky lived in Cynthiana, a small redneck town 15 miles away…she worked in the WalMart Deli section, and also managed to infect her entire small fundie church in a couple days time.  LUCKILY,  the county exec isn’t a Trumper, and shut the county down pretty fast.  They have limited their covid cases to 17, with 0 deaths…AND our Dem Gov shut the state down quick, too.  As of today,  our Ky covid toll is 4700+ cases and 240 deaths.  The right wingers are yelling about opening back up, but most here have figured it out, even the Fixed News idiots…

    We LOVE our gov

  209. 209.

    different-church-lady

    May 2, 2020 at 10:25 am

    Nice to see you doing some real writing again.

  210. 210.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:29 am

    @Baud: As we don’t  own a physical copy of a dictionary, his only option would have been to look it up online.  That, I imagine, would have opened up a whole ‘nother can of… worms.

  211. 211.

    Brachiator

    May 2, 2020 at 10:30 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    Was it one of the front pagers here who said that before this was all over, each of us would personally know someone who had died from COVID-19?

    Yep, just happened to me. One of my old theater buddies relayed the following to me yesterday about a mutual friend

    It was very sobering to read this.  You have my sympathies.

  212. 212.

    JMG

    May 2, 2020 at 10:31 am

    The idea that anyone, even Democrats, would see the DNC as a neutral party in examining Biden’s records is hilariously stupid. I guess the board figured, “an independent body of Times reporters” would make the scam a little too obvious.

  213. 213.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:31 am

    @Miss Bianca: I’m so sorry.  I lost an actor friend of mine on Sunday.  I hadn’t seen him in years, but he was a regular for awhile at my playwriting group and was always ready to hold my then-infant son on his lap when I needed to hold a script in my hands. :)

    You’re right; we will all know someone by the time this is over.

  214. 214.

    different-church-lady

    May 2, 2020 at 10:32 am

    @Nicole:

    “Mom, what’s ‘masturbation’?”

    “If you have to ask you’ll never know.”

  215. 215.

    zhena gogolia

    May 2, 2020 at 10:34 am

    @Brachiator: 
    My husband thinks pandemic and depression will keep it from being quite so effective as butter emails.

  216. 216.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 10:34 am

    I just can’t help thinking that Dumb Ass Donny didn’t just fail to control the virus when he had the chance because of his lazyness, he’s going to end up prolonging it. All I see is the MAGA hard core taking up Virus Denialism and being constant plague source for years by doing things like refusing any vaccines when it comes out.

  217. 217.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 10:39 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    Even Rachel eventually took the NYT to task over its reporting of Hillary’s campaign, and she LOVES the NYT.

    The Times will ratfuck, but I think they’ve lost a lot of credibility with the voters we need to reach.

  218. 218.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 2, 2020 at 10:40 am

    @zhena gogolia: I agree. But MSM led by the Times, the BS left is going to try their best.  They are the back up armies for Rs, you decide whether Rs are the Russians or the Republicans.

  219. 219.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 2, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Baud: How are your feet? Has the rash subsided?

  220. 220.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yes. I’m done much better. Actually just came back from a run.  I wouldn’t have been able to do that a few days ago.

  221. 221.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @different-church-lady: Ha!

    From the look of horror on his face when I told him (as simply as I could), I presumed puberty has not begun for him yet.

  222. 222.

    Miss Bianca

    May 2, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @Nicole: David and I were in a production together of Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist 30 (!!) years ago in Ann Arbor. I worked for the theater space, the Performance Network, for a while. He had such an intense but wacky energy, he was perfect as the anarchist. Was just thinking about him and some of his colleagues from back in the day the other day, in fact. Kind of spooky.

  223. 223.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @Baud: I’m glad your feet are improving!

  224. 224.

    catclub

    May 2, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @JPL: It’s a big waste of money, but I might as well watch.

     

    The US Federal Government is BIG. This flyby is a flyspeck in the Department of Defense budget for today.

     

    How small? lets guesstimate.  The DOD Annual Budget is ~ $650B(?), so not quite $2B/day. If the flyby costs $1M, it is 1/20 of 1% of today’s DOD. The salaries of the pilots and ground crew are paid whether they do the flyby or not. The only real question is whether the cost per flight hour of the planes is $50k or $150k each (or $25k).

    Also the amounts ‘wasted’ on Trump’s junkets on AF1, or Congressional salaries.

    flyspecks in the $3 (now 5 or 6)Tr  overall federal spending.

  225. 225.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 10:47 am

    @Nicole: Thanks.

  226. 226.

    catclub

    May 2, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @Baud: The Times will ratfuck, but I think they’ve lost a lot of credibility with the voters we need to reach.

     

    They never had it, neither did all the other newspapers. About 99% of major newspapers endorsed Hillary over Trump, including the NYT.

    It made not a bit of difference because they don’t have any real credibility. I am not sure they had it when Harry Truman held up the DEWEY WINS! front page.

  227. 227.

    chopper

    May 2, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    all these goopers claim to be savvy business guys but somehow think that these places that survive on thin-ass margins during good times are going to gladly reopen for at best a quarter of their worst business.

  228. 228.

    Brachiator

    May 2, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @Baud:

    The Times will ratfuck, but I think they’ve lost a lot of credibility with the voters we need to reach.

    The Times has a great deal of influence with the rest of the media (or what remains of it) and with the political elite, but the average person doesn’t much care about the Times. It’s not that they have lost credibility, it’s that they never had any credibility.

    And this is probably magnified in the age of social media. I know more and more people who get their “news” from Twitter and Facebook, but who have little idea of the source of a story. The one exception may sometimes be Fox News, which tries hard to brand its bullshit.

  229. 229.

    hueyplong

    May 2, 2020 at 10:49 am

    When it comes to Trump and his 27 percent, the analogy shouldn’t be to anything but Nazis.  The only deviation from that is that Trump himself is more of a Mussolini than a Hitler.  But the rest are Nazis and they’re not bothering to hide it.

    I recently read Ian Kershaw’s “The End,” which goes through the 10 months or so from the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life to May 8, 1945 (VE Day) and explores why they kept going and in fact ratcheted up the horror instead of quitting when it was obvious that the game was up.

    The overriding theme over the last month of the Nazi regime was to wipe out those who would otherwise live to exult in their downfall.  It’s not difficult to perceive the Trumpers as acting similarly.  If the miracle weapons don’t arrive in time for them, at least they’ll have done as much damage as possible to those haughty libruls and uppity POCs.

  230. 230.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @Miss Bianca: What a cool play to have done together.  Did you play Maria?

  231. 231.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 10:51 am

    @Baud: Running is one of the other things keeping me sane during this time.  I’m glad you were able to get out to do it.  It’s gorgeous in NYC today; I’m going to run in the park this evening after the Virtual Kentucky Derby.  If I’m sober enough to manage to get my sneakers on, that is.

  232. 232.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 10:51 am

    @catclub:

    The editorials couldn’t undo the damage their political reporting did, and their political reporting used to be more respected among Democrats than it is today.  It actually still surprises me how many people are recognizing what garbage it is.  As an early adopter, I can tell you it’s definitely more common than it used to be.

  233. 233.

    catclub

    May 2, 2020 at 10:53 am

    @MoCA Ace: I asked him who he thought would get hurt when he “blows it all up”? The rich and powerful people or people like him?

     

    well put.

  234. 234.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 10:54 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Word for word: Arbeit = work, macht = makes, frei = free.

    Thanks. Although I’m no longer conversant in Deutsch — I was never fluent — I knew what the word-for-word translation is. But I didn’t know if there was a colloquial phrase that was in line with the CNN mangling. [Semi-interesting side note: according to Wikipedia, the phrase “Arbeit macht frei” apparently predated the Nazis by 60 or so years.]

    Fucking Nazis and their sympathizers. Deport them all.

  235. 235.

    chopper

    May 2, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    ah yes, “the DNC looked through his papers and found nothing” is totally going to make these shitheads go away.

  236. 236.

    Brachiator

    May 2, 2020 at 10:57 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    My husband thinks pandemic and depression will keep it from being quite so effective as butter emails.

    This is a good point. I don’t know how effective this thing will be. It might not amount to much.  But it will be persistent.

    Trump and the Berniebros will hammer this incessantly.  I have already noticed that a number of political blogs have latched onto it and running hard with it. And, like true political weasels. they don’t give a hoot about the truth of any allegations, but bloviate on the political impact and the weird, tired nonsense that dispenses with the story itself, and instead focuses on how Biden reacts to the claims. And of course, any reaction is judged to be insufficient and insincere.

    These pundits only care about politics as a game, and about their own self-appointed roles as referees.

  237. 237.

    Miss Bianca

    May 2, 2020 at 10:58 am

    @Nicole: Was Maria the reporter? Yes, in that case! :

    ETA: Did you bet on the virtual Derby, btw? (I think “bet” in this case means a donation to KY COVID-19 relief efforts.) Was flirting with the idea of putting a tenner on Secretariat, because OF COURSE. I will never, ever forget watching the ’73 Belmont as a horse-mad little one. I’d been a huge Riva Ridge fan, stablemate and winner of the ’72 Derby, and had sort of begrudged all the fuss made over Secretariat, but I lost my heart to him during the Triple Crown.

  238. 238.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 10:59 am

    @hueyplong:

    The overriding theme over the last month of the Nazi regime was to wipe out those who would otherwise live to exult in their downfall.  It’s not difficult to perceive the Trumpers as acting similarly.  If the miracle weapons don’t arrive in time for them, at least they’ll have done as much damage as possible to those haughty libruls and uppity POCs.

    Yeah, I expect that if the Murderer-in-Chief loses — especially if he loses bigly — the carnage that he and Moscow Mitch will wreak/leave from November 10th to January 20th will be monstrous, in both level of evil and size/amount.

  239. 239.

    Baud

    May 2, 2020 at 11:01 am

    @Brachiator:

    I think there’s gain to be had by running against the cool kids (and the old coots who think they’re cool kids).

  240. 240.

    hueyplong

    May 2, 2020 at 11:03 am

    @SFAW: Seventy days of installing Regent U judges, blowing bridges, and killing imprisoned POCs/immigrants that aren’t already being taken out.  Keep in mind that the next flu season will coincide nicely with the interregnum between Nov 10 and Jan 20.

  241. 241.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 11:09 am

    I just scored a canister of Clorox wipes and almost started crying! ?

  242. 242.

    artem1s

    May 2, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @Brachiator:

    So far I know a colleague who lost both parents and a distant uncle, who won’t be diagnosed as COVID because Indiana.  But in reality I ‘know’ them in a similar way that I ‘know’ someone like Prine.  These are distant in many ways and have caused hardship for others more than me.

    I’ve been trying to brace myself for bad news as I have a lot of friends and family in the risk group. I believe the cumulative affect will be the hardest part to bear.  The nation may need to find a visual way to demonstrate the losses – I remember when The AIDs Quilt was started and the effect it had on those who hadn’t been personally touched by that pandemic.  I’m going to try present an idea to my employer that would allow the staff to memorialize their losses.  Maybe efforts like that can be a catalyst for opening the eyes of those who prefer not to see.

  243. 243.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 11:12 am

    @chopper:

    Just like it did with Hillary’s emails.

  244. 244.

    zhena gogolia

    May 2, 2020 at 11:15 am

    @Brachiator: 
    Where are Trump’s tax returns? Where’s his DNA for E. Jean Carroll? Where is the information about how much money he’s made out of being President? These somehow don’t become persistent stories.

  245. 245.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 11:19 am

    @Sab:

    Yep. His family was misguided enough to issue a statement asking people to respect their privacy rather than issuing a statement warning their fellow deludeds of the dangers of COVID-19. Nice job, Wingers! //

  246. 246.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 2, 2020 at 11:22 am

    You know who should know that personnel records wouldn’t be in Biden’s papers? Senators.

  247. 247.

    Amir Khalid

    May 2, 2020 at 11:23 am

    @SFAW:

    Arbeit macht frei isn’t quite grammatical, like “work makes free” isn’t, and that can throw someone off if they’re not too sure of their German. Just like that other slogan Gott mit uns, which word-for-word is “God with us”. Proper deutsche Grammatik demands Arbeit macht einen frei and Gott sei mit uns; but then the slogans wouldn’t be punchy.

  248. 248.

    Brachiator

    May 2, 2020 at 11:24 am

    @artem1s:

    So far I know a colleague who lost both parents and a distant uncle, who won’t be diagnosed as COVID because Indiana. But in reality I ‘know’ them in a similar way that I ‘know’ someone like Prine. These are distant in many ways and have caused hardship for others more than me.

    My sister has two distant cousins by marriage who have been diagnosed with the virus, but who are doing well so far.

    There’s not much more that anyone can do, but pray that no one they know or care about becomes infected.

    The nation may need to find a visual way to demonstrate the losses – I remember when The AIDs Quilt was started and the effect it had on those who hadn’t been personally touched by that pandemic.

    Yes, we made need something. The Los Angeles county daily briefings note the number of fatalities, but omit personal details in order to be respectful to the families involved. But we may need to memorialize those who have died, to find some middle ground.

  249. 249.

    Amir Khalid

    May 2, 2020 at 11:25 am

    @debbie:

    It’s a miracle! Shukur Alhamdulillah!

  250. 250.

    JPL

    May 2, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @Nicole:  My niece lives near Prospect Park.

  251. 251.

    Elizabelle

    May 2, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @debbie:   That’s not true. John McDaniel’s widow actually wrote, in a letter after the fact (which I’ll try to find next), that he would support protecting others from COVID.

    In the obit, they described John as “an ornery son of a gun.”  It cost him his life.  And if he died “peacefully”, it was because he was in a medically induced coma.   From the obit at Legacy.com:

    On behalf of his family, they would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to the nurses at Marion General Hospital and to all the staff at Riverside Methodist Hospital for everything they did to try and save Johnny’s life from Covid-19. They would also like to remind everyone to continue practicing social distancing to keep each other safe.

  252. 252.

    Elizabelle

    May 2, 2020 at 11:46 am

    From the widow McDaniel’s letter, announcing family had to cancel the livestream of his funeral service because they had received so much derision from people who heard about John McDaniel’s Facebook post (a month to the day before his death):

    McDaniel’s widow, in the letter announcing his service would not be livestreamed:

    “Many, like John, made statements early on not fully aware of the severity of COVID-19,” she wrote. “Many have retracted their statements knowing now the effects of this pandemic. We know if John was still here with us he would acknowledge the national crisis we are in, abide by the stay-at-home order, and encourage family and friends to do the same.”

    She noted that Mr. McDaniel ordered his employees to work from home on March 16. He also “immediately self-isolated as soon as he learned he had been in contact with someone who had tested positive.”

    Mrs. McDaniel wrote, “the early actions taken by our National and State government were indeed the right action to take. Quarantine and social distancing have been effective in flattening the curve.”
    “We know if John was still here with us he would acknowledge the national crisis we are in, abide by the stay-at-home order, and encourage family and friends to do the same,” Mrs. McDaniel wrote.

  253. 253.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @hueyplong: Worth noting that Hitler took a lot of Nazis down with him at the end as test of loyalty.

    Same time the Nazis were never as nihilist as Trump and his base is. Nazis had stupid, evil ideas, but they were based on real problems (Germany can’t feed itself, the UK can starve Germany at will with a blocked, the solution; kill all the Jews and weak until Germany can feed itself, that kind of thing) Trump and the Base are just deliberately doing the most stupid thing possible from the get go.

  254. 254.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 11:57 am

    @Miss Bianca: Oh my god, I LOVE Riva Ridge (as did Penny Chenery; he was her favorite between him and his more famous stablemate, because he’s the one who really saved the farm).

    I didn’t place a wager; as someone who actively enjoys betting on horses, I am always looking for an overlooked live long shot, and it’s hard to bet against the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle (okay, arguably, but Spectacular Bid didn’t win the Triple Crown and so isn’t virtually running today).   During Cuomo’s briefer today he commented that the food banks could use donations of money, so I think I may take my wagering money and send it to a local food bank.

    But it’ll be fun to watch.  There’s a meme going around Facebook today of Kentucky Derby face masks, instead of hats, that made me laugh.  I wondered if the marabou one would keep my glasses from fogging. ;)

  255. 255.

    Calouste

    May 2, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Nitpick, but I think “Arbeit” more exactly translates as “labor” rather than “work”.

  256. 256.

    Calouste

    May 2, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Seems like Xi needs to make another call to Donnie to remind him that he has his balls in a jar on his desk. Just like Donnie stopped calling it “the Chinese virus” after the last time Xi called him.

  257. 257.

    Nicole

    May 2, 2020 at 12:05 pm

    @JPL:

    My niece lives near Prospect Park.

    I have friends who do, too, and they run regularly there.  One of them said she finds it oddly comforting that it’s just as creepy running there in the near dark during the pandemic as it was prior. I laughed.

    I was told that Olmstead felt Prospect  Park came closer to his ideal version of a public park than Central Park did.

  258. 258.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @rikyrah: You remember the ‘protestor’ who said out loud that he wanted to back to a restaurant to get free refills.

    I was watching a video were someone was interviewing the “protestors” and the in comments people were pointing out known You Tube trolls that believe none of it. Not sure if this is internet trolls scamming for those Sweet Wingnut Welfare dollars or Poe’s Law comes to real life with a Parody Protest.  But the guy ranting about the refills, that’s  a Poe.

    I also suspect the attempt to storm that  State house was because the real crazy protestors  escalating the stupid as way to show their authenticity next to the numerous trolls who jumped on bored

  259. 259.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 2, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    @Betty Cracker: There are as I understand it 1,500 BOXES of paper. Who’s supposed to pay the people to go through those looking for proof of a negative. I’m at a point where I’m ready to give up on political news, but I know I won’t. I guess we’ll know in a month how much traction this has outside of virtual Village green rooms.

  260. 260.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    Speaking of Hitler – The Downfall Bunker scene mems. With the cool kids and hippity hop all the videos they do have the common them that Hitler is this delusional old loon who thinks he is the coolist thing ever, can be triggered by something as petty as his breakfast cereal and Fegline (Eva Braun’s brother) is the nihilist hipster who trolls Hitler constantly because Hitler rants amuse him.  So something to think about with these protesters, a lot of them are Feglining it.

  261. 261.

    hedgehog mobile

    May 2, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Damn.  I am so sorry.

  262. 262.

    Elizabelle

    May 2, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:  Something else to think about.

    Hitler ordered Fegelein shot.  For desertion.  And it was carried out.  Even though he was Eva Braun’s sister’s husband.  2 days before Hitler and Eva themselves died.

    ETA:  you’re right about his being a nihilist and opportunist.  Wiki on Hermann Fegelein:

    Fegelein was an opportunist who ingratiated himself with Himmler, who granted him the best assignments and rapid promotions. Journalist William L. Shirer and historian Sir Ian Kershaw characterise him as cynical and disreputable. Albert Speer called him “one of the most disgusting people in Hitler’s circle”.

    And think of the competition he had for “most disgusting.”

  263. 263.

    Elizabelle

    May 2, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    @Miss Bianca:   Very sorry to hear this.

  264. 264.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    May 2, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    @satby: oh dear! Please be careful!

  265. 265.

    PJ

    May 2, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Unless something new comes up, the Reade thing will be over in two weeks, and the press will have moved on to whatever the scandal du jour about Biden is.

  266. 266.

    Amir Khalid

    May 2, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    @Calouste:

    I’ve seen Arbeit used (by actual Germans, rather than poseurs like me) to mean either “work” or “labour”, subject to context.

  267. 267.

    The Pale Scot

    May 2, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    Huh, what’s John up to at the moment?

     
    #worldnakedgardeningday

  268. 268.

    Ksmiami

    May 2, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: With the state of rural hospitals- the only thing that gives me joy is the idea that ignorant MAGATs will suffer worse…

  269. 269.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I think it’s cute that one of our resident trolls has adopted that name as his nom/nym.

    For values of “cute” == “fucking sick”

  270. 270.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    May 2, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    @Nicole: I have really been enjoying his show but I need to make time to get caught up with him and maybe Sam B and John Oliver

  271. 271.

    SFAW

    May 2, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Arbeit macht frei isn’t quite grammatical

    Ja, das weiss ich. But don’t tell me, tell Diefenbach.

  272. 272.

    debbie

    May 2, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Maybe what I heard reported was prior to her letter. Maybe it was a different part of the family. I don’t know, but I am glad to see what you have posted.

  273. 273.

    Geoduck

    May 2, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    If the Shaitgibbon loses, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if he just buggers off to Mar-A-Lago or somewhere and sulks for three months. Moscow Mitch will definitely burn down what he can.

  274. 274.

    Tenar Arha

    May 2, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I often feel like we’re all deservedly now Gollum screaming into the dark around the NYT. (& the bothsidesareequallybad cable news media, like DuckChodd).

  275. 275.

    EthylEster

    May 2, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    @davecb: machine learning can be trained to recognize odors presented to it digitally

    You sound like a recent convert to  machine learning*. First, you need  “smells” from many people (millions?). Second, you need an EXCELLENT reference method (PCR_RT? dog?) that tells you who has the virus and who does. Then after the training portion, you need to validate your “test” by collecting “smells” from a large body of people some of  whom have the virus and some of  whom don’t, plus you have reference data on them so you know which are which. Then analyze those data. So  it will take a while.

    * Machine learning is the quintessential black box. We don’t know what it learns. It sometimes learns the wrong thing. This makes a lot of  people nervous. And you need TONS of (good) data.

  276. 276.

    cain

    May 2, 2020 at 1:57 pm

    @JMG:

    The midwest is fairly concentrated with major cities within 2 hours of each other. Meaning, you can drive two hours in any direction and be able to hit a fairly large city.

    Here in Portland, it’s about 3 hours. Salem is about an hour, but it’s a fairly small city. Seattle is 3 hours, Vancouver, BC is 6, (or longer because Seattle traffic) and 9 hours to San Francisco. Boise, ID is as small as Salem is :) So not going to count that. Salt Lake City is a like 12-14 hours I believe.

    So, we’re pretty spread out here in the west. The South, Northwest and Midwest have high concentrations of humans.

  277. 277.

    NotMax

    May 2, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    @Calouste

    “As lily white all-American Jeebus is my witness, I thought the sign supported reopening Arby’s.”
    – RWNJ

    //

  278. 278.

    JaneE

    May 2, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    I live in a small town where tourism is the lifeblood of small restaurants and motels. The local authorities and organizers killed our big Memorial day celebration this year and postponed the start of fishing season.  Those two things alone probably took a quarter to a third out of our local GDP.  Recently the “open up” fervor has started here, but more people are saying they will still stay home than plan to do business again.  If the smaller restaurants remove many tables, they won’t have enough sit-down business to keep the place open.  Many of them were hardly rolling in dough before.  I just hope the place doesn’t dry up and blow away before I get too old to live this far from medical care.

  279. 279.

    EthylEster

    May 2, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    @Josie: Tumulty

    works for WaPo.

  280. 280.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/counting-cost-data-transparency-helps-143512354.html

    The tiny kingdom of Belgium has reported more coronavirus deaths than China and, with almost 66 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, it has the highest per-capita death rate in the world.

    Belgium goes further and includes suspected coronavirus deaths in its figures, while many countries will only count a fatality if there has been a positive test.

    46 percent of the total number of victims died in hospital, 53 percent in a nursing home, 0.3 percent at home and 0.4 percent in another place, he said.

    So as always, the nursing homes is were the virus becomes the real killer.

  281. 281.

    EthylEster

    May 2, 2020 at 2:34 pm

    @Nicole: Has someone already asked for your response to him? Inquiring minds, doncha know.

     

    Never mind. I read on!

  282. 282.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 2, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    @JMG: Hardist hit county in the US is one in Georgia with 28,000 people and 66 deaths.

  283. 283.

    Elizabelle

    May 2, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    @SFAW:   Yeah.  I noticed that too.  Too similar.

  284. 284.

    JaySinWA

    May 2, 2020 at 2:49 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Phrasing!

  285. 285.

    Another Scott

    May 2, 2020 at 3:16 pm

    Nearly dead thread, but this goes better here than upstairs.

    Anne Kim at WaMo:

    […]

    Even in the best of situations, persuading Americans to get their shots isn’t easy. Fewer than half of Americans get their flu shots every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the H1N1 pandemic of 2009-2010, only 27 percent of Americans were ever vaccinated, despite relatively high-profile public health campaigns and the availability of free vaccinations to anyone who wanted one. As a result, H1N1 continues to sicken and kill Americans every year—albeit at rates far, far below that of COVID-19.

    Scholarly analyses of the public’s response to the H1N1 vaccine find a correlation—even if it’s a relatively small one—between general levels of public trust in government and vaccination rates. Much more significant in influencing vaccination ratesis the quality and consistency of official communications from government officials. More than anything, that’s what enables citizens to accept official advice and trust in a treatment’s safety. “Individuals and institutions are trusted when the public perceives that they are knowledgeable and expert, they are open and honest, and concerned and caring,” as one study found. All of these are standards that the president and his administration have repeatedly failed to clear.

    Trump himself has been a font of misinformation and conflicting advice. He boosted the anti-malaria drug chloroquine (now shown to be both ineffective and deadly) and made utterly unsupported claims that the virus will “go away” with the summer heat. Then, he suggested that injecting oneself with disinfectants could be a treatment for COVID-19, a proposal met with horror from public health experts—and a stern warning from the makers of Lysol.

    The president has also failed to be “open and honest.” He has undermined the credibility of public health officials and governors in whom Americans put more faith. More than once, his false statements have forced his top public health officials to issue “clarifications” that contradict his own baseless claims. At the same time, Trump has encouraged resistance against the restrictions imposed by his own administration, such as through his pointed refusal to wear a face mask in defiance of CDC guidance.

    […]

    tl;dr – Even with an effective vaccine available, if/when it becomes available, this is pandemic is likely to be with us far longer than it should. Because of Donnie’s criminal incompetence and his deliberate breaking of the US government.

    Read the whole thing.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  286. 286.

    dopey-o

    May 2, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    @Dog Mom: my wife has been running the sewing machine night and day, making masks for friends in chemo and friends’ healthcare-worker children. The only thing that shuts up her rants about the Orange menace is when the machine jams and she curses at it.

    she is of course a broken-glass Democrat from a family of Irish Catholic FDR democrats. I tricked her into marrying me. Otherwise her judgement had been impeccable.

  287. 287.

    satby

    May 2, 2020 at 4:06 pm

    @Jack Canuck: oh, I hate to tell you this, but Lake county IN is one of the higher rate of infection counties, presumably because a number of people there commute to Chicago to work. As strongly as you can, impress on your parents the need to stay home. Indiana cases are nowhere, nowhere near a peak.

  288. 288.

    dopey-o

    May 2, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Gallup new Mexico was under a 72 hour lockdown friday. 30%+/- of the state’s cases occurred there.

    Poverty, drugs, alcohol and now the pandemic. So Dine people can’t get a frickin break. But as some say, they’re not real murcans. Probably.

  289. 289.

    Melusine

    May 2, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    @SFAW: 

    Yes, but only because it’s too good for them.

    As that’s from someone with bad lungs who has experienced the sensation.

    PS – Many thanks to AL for the safe space to vent. My spleen overfloweth, and any “debates” with my trumptards are pointless and enraging. You can’t smack good sense into someone else’s head, not even with a waffle iron.

  290. 290.

    Dog Mom

    May 2, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    @dopey-o: I appreciate your wife’s efforts and am working on some masks myself.  My frustration is with the friends who are not cursing Trump and the republicans while they are sewing.

  291. 291.

    James E Powell

    May 2, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    @JMG:

    The idea that anyone, even Democrats, would see the DNC as a neutral party in examining Biden’s records is hilariously stupid.

    When BernieBros mention the DNC I get that they have no idea what the DNC is or what its purpose is because they don’t know or care, but shouldn’t the NYT know or at least ask somebody?

  292. 292.

    J R in WV

    May 2, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    @satby: 

    Even the guy cutting my lawn yesterday expressed amazement at how many armchair medical experts he suddenly knows.

    THIS!!

    Yesterday I had to go to town for material to repair our damaged roof. I stopped at a place on my way into town for some hot dogs for lunch.

    An older lady asked, while I stood waiting for the younger lady making the hot dogs to finish, “Should I stand further away?” and the young woman assembling my hot dogs answered “The Governor is going to open up the whole state on Monday, so it doesn’t really matter where you stand today!” And everyone in the market agreed, loudly!

    Then I went on to the warehouse where I have bought rubber roofing materials since 1992 or so. Same folks I have done business with those 28 years or so, plus their customers. I brought up the “Open the state up for business on Monday” issue from my curiosity, to see how that segment of the population felt about stopping social distancing, staying home to interfere with transmission of the coronavirus pandemic.

    I was not amazed to learn that everyone at the building materials warehouse also agreed with the young woman at the market — insane to stop the methods that have caused a decline in infections just as those methods appear to have started to work.

    Trump is dumber than hot dog assemblers and building supplies sales staff, and roofers and builders. Much dumber. I was impressed by the quality of ordinary folks in West Virginia!!

    Now we resume our pattern of hiding out in our rural country hollow, with good friends all around us, to avoid dumbasses infected and careless about spreading the infection to everyone.

  293. 293.

    J R in WV

    May 2, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

     

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “He’s different from the normal politician” was the idiot comment from a lawyer I had previously thought of as smart back in 2016.

    But this is true. The normal politician thinks and decides about issues after considering facts. Trump can’t do this at all.

    Not that your lawyer friend previously regarded as smart isn’t also a dumbass. . .

  294. 294.

    J R in WV

    May 2, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 

    All I see is the MAGA hard core taking up Virus Denialism and being constant plague source for years by doing things like refusing any vaccines when it comes out.

    I’m OK with MAGA refusing vaccination once it comes out. BUT, the rule need to be, in order to leave home confinement, you have to show you were vaccinated, no ifs, ands or buts.

    Minor exception for people with immune system issues that are REAL medical issues.

    Not “There’s nanobots in the vaccine!!” bullshit. Nor anything like that! Darwin may help us out over the next few months, you can’t vote if you’re on a vent, in a reefer truck morgue, or resting the long dirt nap!

    I’m happy staying home, necessary trips to town every 2 or 3 weeks at the most. Neighbors are getting together to sit across a campfire from each other and drink the stuff they brought, even their own ice-cubes. Sounds good to me!! And no one needs to get up early to go to work! Actually, most of us are retired now anyway.

  295. 295.

    dopey-o

    May 2, 2020 at 10:48 pm

    @Quinerly: Park Chop Suey Well Known for Fried Rice.

    That was one of 3 great signs in St louis. The others were:

    Brains 25¢ Chouteau near Grand. See William Stage’s classic photo.

    Scotty says “Fast Nickels Beat Slow Dimes.” Scott’s Liquors on Pine St.

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