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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Murphy the Trickster God Help Us All

Monday Morning Open Thread: Murphy the Trickster God Help Us All

by Anne Laurie|  May 18, 20205:59 am| 281 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19, Open Threads, Trumpery, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

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AZAR: The coronavirus results for the US could've been vastly worse

TAPPER: It's worse here than anywhere else

A: When you look at mortality rates, that's simply not correct

T: I'm looking at number of dead bodies

A: The US population has significant unhealthy comorbidities pic.twitter.com/z1NYoHj7Sp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17, 2020

I think it is time to name all current and future scandals after Trump instead of Nixon, given the hitherto uncharted depths of depravity this administration has plumbed. So "-a-lago" should be the new suffix instead of "gate." https://t.co/ioUQX5VfcV

— Aviel Roshwald (@RoshwaldAviel) May 15, 2020

Coronavirus-a-lago? Covid-19-a-lago?…

Rounding up to the nearest hundred, Trump rallies averaged 4400 people in 2016.

The death toll from Covid-19 is equal to 20 Trump rallies. https://t.co/oQtEEXVvKd

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) May 17, 2020

Send in the spinmeisters!

Yeah, this makes a lot more sense than ramping up their response to the pandemic. ?? https://t.co/ohx9FwcfPs

— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) May 17, 2020

Hey, if I thought I might have to flee to Moscow by the end of the year, I’d want to make sure they had plenty of working ventilators there first too. https://t.co/8SblqZcnoX

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) May 17, 2020

Speaking of the Official Trump Tax Residence, could we line every possible entry route with ‘Miss Me Yet?’ Obama billboards? (The rest of us sure don’t need the reminder, but it would irk the living daylights out of Lord Smallgloves… )

Barack Obama: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” https://t.co/2YhOHwg2hv

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) May 16, 2020

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Reader Interactions

281Comments

  1. 1.

    Wag

    May 18, 2020 at 6:03 am

    Coron-a-Lago

  2. 2.

    japa21

    May 18, 2020 at 6:04 am

    Good morning.

  3. 3.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 6:05 am

    I feel like a breakfast taco. I’ll need to check the morning schedule for the 8 street corners by me.

    Or maybe I go wild and walk to the end of the street (2 more corners).

    (Sigh.)

  4. 4.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 6:35 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Got all the fixin’s for a breakfast taco, I’ll have one in a few hours.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    May 18, 2020 at 6:39 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  6. 6.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 6:42 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  7. 7.

    p.a.

    May 18, 2020 at 6:42 am

    Sometimes I follow twitter comments back and end up on trumptard comment sections.  I used to give more weight to ‘evil’ on the ‘evil/stupid’ continuum, meaning people consciously malignant towards whatever targets they have, wishing evil on others.  And that is still absolutely true; a few days ago there was a post here abt ‘spite voting’, and that is very accurate.  But the depths of stupidity displayed is horrific.  Just mindless parroting of whatever today’s trumpist line is (cleek’s law), and the circular ‘logic’ about the outrage du jour.

    I guess I’m trying to say the evil I can understand: human nature etc., and I know there’s a bell curve for everything, but the stupidity on display in a 21st century (for now) democratic  post-industrial society…?

  8. 8.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 6:47 am

    @p.a.:

    Why do you think evil is intrinsic to human nature than stupidity?

  9. 9.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 6:48 am

    @rikyrah: ??

  10. 10.

    raven

    May 18, 2020 at 6:51 am

    @Baud: more?

  11. 11.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 6:51 am

    Trump and his people are falsely accusing the Democrats of truly horrific acts.

    Where did all the civility police go?

  12. 12.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 6:52 am

    @raven: Yes, missing a “more.” Thanks.

  13. 13.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 6:55 am

    @p.a.: but the stupidity on display in a 21st century (for now) democratic  post-industrial society

     
    Because it’s a cult.

    I escaped from a cult, though it is so large it escapes that rightful label. I left the Southern Baptists.

    In my Southern small town, it was religion and culture and part of the humid air I breathed. It fit every cultish warning sign. And what they wanted me to do, as I struggled through my teen years with already significant challenges, was not think. Only obey.

    Part of it was the fact that I was a woman. But whole acres of people were under the obedience dictate. Everyone had strict corrals they were herded into, with rules for each one. If someone had power and influence, they could follow them in public… and break them in private. But these were few.

    Thinking for the rest of us was not just frowned upon. It was condemned. The stupidity which follows “mindless obedience” becomes the useful side effect.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 6:59 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    A good day to remember we could have had taco trucks instead of Covid deaths.

  15. 15.

    p.a.

    May 18, 2020 at 7:00 am

    @Baud: Modern society, enlightenment, industrial/scientific revolutions, free public education systems, other 1st world nations compared to the current US.  There’s still a bell curve, but except for here in the US the knowledge base seems to be rising.  Is it all down to right-wing media and fundy religion?

     

    ETA: Wrote this as WereBear was posting.

  16. 16.

    sukabi

    May 18, 2020 at 7:04 am

    Not sure why CNN’s surprised at trump’s attempt at “new messaging”, it’s what ALL ‘BUSINESSMEN’, failed or failing do. Instead of looking to improve product, working conditions or other flaws they go for REBRANDING instead. Changing the messaging is sooo much easier (and cheaper).

    I’ll be so glad when the media bosses figure out that government is not and should not be run like a business, and will quit giving free airtime to imbeciles, idiots and grifters running for office.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 7:05 am

    @p.a.:

    Today’s dumb people are still smarter than yesteryear’s dumb people.  They just have more political power because of billionaire money and the existential threat that we pose to them have enabled them to organize themselves better.

     

    ETA: Internet technology has also allowed them to find each other more easily and to spread their message more widely.  How many liberals learn about what these people are saying through liberal blogs and social media rather than directly from the source?

  18. 18.

    Derelict

    May 18, 2020 at 7:10 am

    As I watch the Trump administration responding to this, the greatest and deadliest national crisis since World War II, the only conclusion I can draw is that Donald Trump wants Americans to die in vast numbers.

     

    Stupidity and incompetence only gets you so far down the road we’re on. And that particular point is now about 30 days behind us. What we’re watching unfold is an active scheme to not simply allow but to MAKE the virus spread and infect more Americans while doing everything possible to hobble the responses of states and localities to deal with it. Add to this Azarr’s other great Sunday Show response that the administration doesn’t care if any vaccine is effective or safe–just that they have a vaccine-like drug to wave around before the election–and I cannot but conclude that Trump wants as many Americans as possible to die from this disease.

  19. 19.

    ThresherK

    May 18, 2020 at 7:11 am

    What have they done with the real Jake Tapper and who is this imposter acting like a journo?

  20. 20.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 7:13 am

    @Baud:

    Where did all the civility police go?

    Dunkin Donuts.

  21. 21.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 7:14 am

    @sukabi: So! It turns out “running government like a business” meant their “criminal enterprises” all along!

    Watching The Sopranos is very instructive that way.

  22. 22.

    p.a.

    May 18, 2020 at 7:17 am

    @Baud: That’s the thing, isn’t it.  I can understand Germany 1933: defeat, depression, hyperinflation: scapegoat.  Russia 1917.  Russia 1990 (more of a slow-roll descent into authoritarianism).  Here it’s more like Rwanda, which, if the sources I’ve seen are correct, had ethnic tensions, but nothing that would obviously lead to the genocide.  The info I’ve seen said the Hutu attackers were media-instigated: hate radio and lies about Tutsi assaults that had little or no basis in fact.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    May 18, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @WereBear: My maternal grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher. He was a remarkably kind man on a personal level — the kind of grandpa who wanted to be Santa Claus every day of the year. Unlike many in his profession, he wasn’t at all grifty or hypocritical (at least no more so than the average person).

    But the toxic belief system he was professionally obligated to spread (and which he sincerely believed himself) was incredibly harmful and deliberately terrifying to children.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 7:22 am

    @p.a.:

    Here it’s more like Rwanda, which, if the sources I’ve seen are correct, had ethnic tensions, but nothing that would obviously lead to the genocide.

    We’ve been more like Rwanda in the past than we are today. See Tulsa race massacre for probably  the most famous example. But it seems clear that white racial tribalism has been the U.S.’s Achilles heel since the beginning.

  25. 25.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:22 am

    @Baud: How many liberals learn about what these people are saying through liberal blogs and social media rather than directly from the source?

    Well, lots of us actually. If you live in a red area, or if you have RWNJ relatives or neighbors, or if you stray into a waiting room where Fox noise is on. The propaganda is spread pretty far.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    May 18, 2020 at 7:22 am

    I like the idea of using Trump rallies as a unit of measurement. It’ll get under his skin if nothing else.

    Last night’s 60 Minutes was unusually good. Powell followed by Bright, the one two punch! Trump’s already freaking out.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 7:25 am

    @satby:

    Yeah, that’ll do it.  But even Fox’s viewership is like 3 million. Over 60 million voted for Trump.  Obviously, the right is able to leverage their small audience into a much wider circle of influence.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 7:25 am

    “The car and camper just over to the south of me are covered. It’s going to get me, too.”
    – Gerald Martin

    May 18, 1980, 8:32 a.m. PT.

  29. 29.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:27 am

    @ThresherK: two things are happening. News people in New York or Washington by now know someone personally who’ve had covid-19. And a lot of them are seeing that it burnishes their credentials to push back on the administration now. Viewers are more receptive.

    Plus no one likes to be on the receiving end of someone lying right to their faces, but they still struggle with how to call that out.

  30. 30.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2020 at 7:28 am

    @WereBear: I suspect it’s closer to say Trump hijacked a bunch of other cults into his own cult, like the Southern Baptists.

  31. 31.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 7:29 am

    @Derelict: I think you’re absolutely right.

  32. 32.

    jimmiraybob

    May 18, 2020 at 7:31 am

    “They [COVID-19 vaccines] may not pan out, they may not prove to be safe and effective but we’ll have it so we can begin administration right away.” – Azar (HHS) on Face the Nation

    Good news!  Great news!  The best news!  Something will be available to inject into our arms by the end of the year!

    If this has already been celebrated here, my apologies.

  33. 33.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 7:32 am

    @ThresherK: When Democrats control all 3 branches of government he’ll revert to Full Metal Hackdom. (“Joe Biden claims he doesn’t drink so what about that Communion wine he drinks at Mass huh”).

  34. 34.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 7:34 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday satby! (Repost from dead thread below)

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 7:35 am

    @Betty Cracker: I was in an unusual position to be plunged into it and escape, because some of my early years were a sort of “show up on holidays” kind of church. It took moving to the South to be exposed to the cult elements, which were much more part of the social fabric, too.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 7:35 am

    @satby:

    @Kathleen:

    I didn’t know.  Happy birthday! ????

  37. 37.

    jimmiraybob

    May 18, 2020 at 7:36 am

    @Derelict: “…the only conclusion I can draw is that Donald Trump wants Americans to die in vast numbers.”

    What’s it called when you do a hostile corporate takeover, sabotage the business, and then sell off the remainders?

  38. 38.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 7:37 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The literally unholy marriage of Republicanism with racist Confederate fundamentalism managed to wind up with a product that celebrates the worst features of both.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    May 18, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @satby:

    Tapper may be wising up, but there are plenty of people to fill in the void he leaves behind. My local Fox station ran a report last night from Sharyl Attkisson (disgruntled ex-CBS reporter) interviewing a couple of doctors who insisted hydroxychloroquine was in fact a wonder drug and that science was on their side

     

    ETA: Yes, happy birthday!

  40. 40.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2020 at 7:39 am

    @p.a.: That’s the thing, isn’t it. I can understand Germany 1933: defeat, depression, hyperinflation: scapegoat. Russia 1917. Russia 1990 (more of a slow-roll descent into authoritarianism).

    P.A. the History channel isn’t a good source, Tsarists Russia was authoritarian, the Germans were claiming the Jews stabbed them in the back in 1915 when Germany was winning WWI and meet the Red Summer of 1919.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer

    When we get lynch mobs hunting down white Catholics as the enemy, then we are at Red Summer level of crazy.

    And have you ever heard of this thing called the American Civil War?

  41. 41.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @Baud:  Sure, a majority of hard core racist Republicans voted their beliefs, and there’s a shitload of those voters. This has become a selfish, sociopathic society.

    But Trump was an unserious choice for a lot of people who were unhappy with the status quo and didn’t like Hillary personally. I think a number of people who voted for Trump never expected this level of evil incompetence from him, they were just having what they thought was a safe temper tantrum, because Hillary had it in the bag. And the media, especially the FTNYT, was happy to fluff over his incompetence and malignant personality in 2016, but now are on his enemies list. They never thought the leopard would…..

  42. 42.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 7:43 am

    @ThresherK: Tapper has been pretty good about Trumpov,I think, because Trumpov has been so anti-CNN. I can’t remember the names off hand but he’s really gone after the Cuban American and the African American female CNN journos.  I also think Trumpov egging on his base to attack the media has woken up the non-FOX media and put some real fear for their physical safety.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 7:44 am

    @satby: I agree. Trump won in large part because a number of people decided it was safe for them to flex their privilege.

  44. 44.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2020 at 7:45 am

    @WereBear: I think booth Trump and the Southern Baptists were there to begin with and my hope is this disaster will mark the time the nation decided to stop tolerating this BS. After all this pain and suffering, something has to change so it doesn’t happen again.  This is similar to the 1850s and the 1950s when the Southern reactionaries tried to stop the future.

  45. 45.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:46 am

    @Kathleen: Thank you! (I saw it there too, appreciate ?)

  46. 46.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: my astral twin.

  47. 47.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:50 am

    @Baud: Thanks! I’m officially Medicare age today ? ?

  48. 48.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 18, 2020 at 7:54 am

    @Baud: In a society that eagerly bends over backwards to accommodate mediocre white men, it’s not surprising that the members of the tribe don’t want to give up their privilege.

  49. 49.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: You know, the one picture from that day that has always haunted me was of the dead boy in the pickup truck bed. Not linking, but it’s always stayed with me. He would have been 49 now.

  50. 50.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:56 am

    @debbie: thanks!

  51. 51.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 7:57 am

    @satby: Happy Medicare B-day.

  52. 52.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @satby: Welcome to the club young whippersnapper!

  53. 53.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    May 18, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @sukabi: I’ll be so glad when the media bosses figure out that government is not and should not be run like a business, and will quit giving free airtime to imbeciles, idiots and grifters running for office.

    I admire your optimism in using “when” in that sentence.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 7:59 am

    @satby

    Happiest of birthdays (welcome to the wide world of senior discounts!), and a morning reminder from a fellow java junkie.

  55. 55.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 7:59 am

    @The Thin Black Duke: truth

  56. 56.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Agreed. Although I wasn’t referring to them. They always vote against us.  I was referring to swing, casual, or ideological (non)voters who made the difference in 2016.

  57. 57.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @The Thin Black Duke: Truth squared into infinity.

  58. 58.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:01 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks!

    @NotMax: Love it, I’m having that made into a T-shirt!

  59. 59.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 8:02 am

    Hmmm, it’s raining here.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 18, 2020 at 8:04 am

    @satby: Happy birthday, Satby! Have a wonderful day!

  61. 61.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 8:05 am

    Someone in England says they might have a vaccine by September.

    https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-for-30-million-by-september-if-trial-succeeds-says-sharma-11990039

  62. 62.

    trnc

    May 18, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @Derelict: Add to this Azarr’s other great Sunday Show response that the administration doesn’t care if any vaccine is effective or safe–just that they have a vaccine-like drug to wave around before the election–and I cannot but conclude that Trump wants as many Americans as possible to die from this disease.

    No doubt they’re rooting for liberal deaths, but not so much actively seeking non-liberal deaths as accepting them as collateral damage. If more liberals die (especially voters) than RWNJ’s he sees it as a win.

    He thinks covering it up will give him the margins he needs in November. Sadly, there appear to be enough cult members to keep the race much tighter than it should be.

  63. 63.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I said yesterday I wished I could send some of our endless rain out west where it was needed. Wish granted maybe? It’s still raining here too.

  64. 64.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @satby: Sure, a majority of hard core racist Republicans voted their beliefs, and there’s a shitload of those voters. This has become a selfish, sociopathic society.

    On a friend’s rec, I’m currently reading Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland, which is a kind of follow-up to What’s the Matter With Kansas?

    In the foreword, the doctor who wrote the book explains they will literally die before they “let my tax money help [racial and sexual slurs].” He’s interviewing people with grave medical conditions, in their family and themselves, which could have been alleviated with Obamacare.

    A name which we find uplifting, but to them is a constant reminder that a black man is offering it. To accept would mean a destruction of their self-concept as inherently superior because of their skin color.

    To paraphrase the famous LBJ metaphor: they will not only let someone pick their pocket for this privilege, they will literally kill themselves to protect it.

  65. 65.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 8:08 am

    @WereBear:  It’s “foreword.” I see “forward” a lot in that context and it bugs the shit out of me.

  66. 66.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:08 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Thank you so much!

  67. 67.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 8:10 am

    This will get a lot of attention because it’s Wall Streeters whining that they can’t go to restaurants, but what struck me about is how they refuse to engage with the problem at all. They have these magic wand phrases they rely upon- “take responsibility”, etc but the only specific solution they put forth is things like online menus and no-touch payment systems- the easy stuff. Protecting all the workers in the places they’re demanding re-open, which is an actual huge problem and tens of thousands are being infected at work? Too hard. They’ll ignore that.

    It’s just such sloppy, lazy thinking. They don’t want to solve this. They want to stamp their feet and bawl and say “make bad virus GO AWAY!”

    They start with a bad premise and they’re too lazy and coddled to get even that right- the fact is states are “reopening” (gradually) and they have BEEN reopening. These people really thought the intent was to never reopen again? How lazy are they? They can’t read anything?

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    May 18, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @satby:

    Happy birthday.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @Gin & Tonic: I just finished fixing it, thanks. Damn autocorrect! It has a sixth grade education, at best.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @Kay:

    “I want it now.”

  71. 71.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @WereBear:

    Damn autocorrect! It has a sixth grade education, at best.

    I wish autocorrect were president.

  72. 72.

    Chris T.

    May 18, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @jimmiraybob: Good news! Great news! The best news! Something will be available to inject into our arms by the end of the year!

    And if that doesn’t work, they’ll try Lysol.

  73. 73.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @jimmiraybob:

    What’s it called when you do a hostile corporate takeover, sabotage the business, and then sell off the remainders?

    Bain Capital.

  74. 74.

    trnc

    May 18, 2020 at 8:13 am

    @jimmiraybob:

    “They [COVID-19 vaccines] may not pan out, they may not prove to be safe and effective but we’ll have it so we can begin administration right away.” – Azar (HHS) on Face the Nation

    Good news!  Great news!  The best news!  Something will be available to inject into our arms by the end of the year!

    If this has already been celebrated here, my apologies.

    The key will be to see how many discarded Lysol labels are piled up in a corner at HHS.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 8:14 am

    If you’re relying on restaurants putting in and policing safety measures, you probably have to grapple with the fact that there are, right now, huge outbreaks in the places where they process food. We can’t even control it in a manufacuring environment, a VERY controlled and predictable set of factors,  let alone in tens of thousands of individual restaurants.

    But that’s hard and they’d rather recite slogans about personal responsibility and liberty, because they are lazy and don’t really think about anything other than themselves.

  76. 76.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @Amir Khalid: Thanks Amir!  Eid al-Fitr is this weekend, right? I hope it’s a good one, I know it’s going to be very different than usual.

  77. 77.

    Kristine

    May 18, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday ???!

  78. 78.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 18, 2020 at 8:15 am

    @WereBear: theyare going to be doing a lot more dying now too; REAL America is were the Opioid Crises is and Opioid addiction weakens the immune system, as shown in Iran which as the same Opioid problem.

  79. 79.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @japa21:

    Good luck to you and Mrs. japa today.

  80. 80.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 18, 2020 at 8:18 am

    @Baud: I understand where you’re coming from but unfortunately, I think those folks you mentioned are exercising their privilege as well. A sense of urgency and common sense certainly wasn’t a factor in the choices they made. They could afford to throw their votes away.

  81. 81.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:18 am

    @trnc: read that quote again: “They [COVID-19 vaccines] may not pan out, they may not prove to be safe and effective but we’ll have it so we can begin administration right away.”

    Sociopaths. Who else would admit, brag even, about being ready to administer “right away” a vaccine which might not even be safe and effective? Borders on insane.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 8:18 am

    @Baud:

    They would be shocked to find out that schools are meeting all over the country to plan for reopening.

    They did this without orders to reopen from the 1%! They assumed we were waiting for a set of directions from them, I suppose. They’re a month behind what is actually going on, and they did none of the work and contributed nothing to the planning.  Now they’re here and they’d like to immediately assume their rightful places as thought leaders.

  83. 83.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 8:19 am

    @satby:

    Happy birthday! You are just a youngling.

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @Kay:

    They want to stamp their feet and bawl and say “make bad virus GO AWAY!”

    Gotta have those free refills on the iced tea.

  85. 85.

    Taken4Granite

    May 18, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @debbie: 

    You will probably not be surprised to hear that Ms. Atkisson is a notorious antivaccine loon.

  86. 86.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @japa21: yes, good luck to you and Mrs. japa today. Keeping her in my thoughts.

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 8:21 am

    @Baud

    Autocorrect? How about autocreate? A new entry begat upon each page refresh!

    ;)

  88. 88.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:24 am

    @Kristine: @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Thanks much!

  89. 89.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 8:24 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Sadly so: state-mapping the frequency of co-morbid COVID-19 conditions is almost a total overlap with people who devotedly vote Republican.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    “Why can’t we have a middle ground between health and the economy?” they whine.

    Well, we have been having that discussion for weeks and states have adjusted – have they all been in their safe rooms or something? This is their contribution? To announce the same conclusion everyone knew all along (we have to open back up sometime). I mean, duh. Everyone knew that. They really think this is original to them?

  91. 91.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday to a May baby!

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    May 18, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @Baud: Gary Johnson pulled in 3.6% in 2016. A lot were core Libertarian Party voters, but I think a lot were people who thought Clinton had the election in the bag and made a protest vote.                                             Exit polling showed Johnson voters skewed young.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    May 18, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @NotMax: A cromulent idea.

  94. 94.

    danielx

    May 18, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @Derelict:

    …and I cannot but conclude that Trump wants as many Americans as possible to die from this disease.

    As long as they are the right people.

  95. 95.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @Geminid: yes, he and Stein got disgruntled Berniacs, one of whom was my son. Who has since learned much better, and is now in a location where he can vote against Moscow Mitch too.

  96. 96.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @WereBear: Thanks! I may celebrate by getting out of my pjs today.

  97. 97.

    JPL

    May 18, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @debbie: I’m listening now.   CBS Bright   Interview  

     

    fake new, I tell you..

  98. 98.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 8:35 am

    @Geminid: A lot of young voters buy into both-siderism.

  99. 99.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 8:35 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday Satby! Hope you have a wonderful day .

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    May 18, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @satby:

    Happy birthday, youngster!

  101. 101.

    arrieve

    May 18, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @satby: Happy birthday, Satby! I just stumbled across the pictures from the meetup in NY a couple of years ago (lifetimes ago now.) Have a safe and happy year.

  102. 102.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 8:37 am

    I have a preventive dentist appointment today. They sent me the same instructions someone else mentioned a couple of days ago: wear a mask, call from outside, etc. That’s a sign of some reopening in Illinois.

  103. 103.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @Taken4Granite: During the Snowald caper she claimed the NSA was typing stuff on her computer. Needless to say she hated fact that That Black Guy was President.

  104. 104.

    SFAW

    May 18, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @NotMax:

    Autocorrect? How about autocreate? A new entry begat upon each page refresh!

    Just what I need, another addictive-and-useless site to get hooked on.

    Damn you! Damn you to Hell!!!!!

  105. 105.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:42 am

    @Mai naem mobile: @SFAW:  Thanks!

    @arrieve: It does seem so long ago, it was a great night. Thanks!

  106. 106.

    SFAW

    May 18, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    In a society that eagerly bends over backwards to accommodate mediocre white men,

    Why, whatEVER do you mean?

     

    it’s not surprising that the members of the tribe don’t want to give up their privilege.

    Groups in power rarely if ever (willingly) cede any of that power to other groups, even if there’s no racism involved. Add racism to that, and it’s today’s Party of Traitors. And they’ll use whatever illegal or immoral means available to retain that power.

  107. 107.

    Nelle

    May 18, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @Baud: Racism I’m America is more than its Achilles heel.  More like alternate beat of the American heart.  The racism of the founders, through their institutional structures (Electiral College), gave us W and Trump.  Their bitter harvest continues.

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    May 18, 2020 at 8:46 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  And a lot of voters of all ages take pride in disdaining both parties. Cynicism is bliss, I guess.

  109. 109.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 8:47 am

    For people still looking for cloth masks, there are a few ladies at the market making and selling them for $5 each. Both the pleated surgical types and the more fitted ones with a filter slot. If anyone wants one or more, I can get them for you and have them in the mail tomorrow.  No choices on patterns, but both kinds are nice (I have both).

  110. 110.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    There’s a lot of reopening. They’re doing elective surgeries in NY. I read the “reopen!” twitter and they’ve decided to just pretend that governors never intended to reopen and needed 5000 Trump supporters to insist on it or it never would have happened.

    Just the unhelpfulness of these people- how they contribute nothing real except their emotional outbursts and opinions. Our school is asking for input from parents using email. The response rate is 20%. What they really want is for someone to fix this for them, immediately. They plan on contributing nothing to that at all. Then they’ll bitch and moan that they weren’t in on the planning and insist it’s a plot to take their freedoms. You’re not in on the planning because you contribute nothing practical or useful. “Liberty!” is not a plan.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 8:47 am

    An anthem for our times.

  112. 112.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 18, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @satby: Welcome, young’un!

    Just FTR, your millstone milestone & the Current Diseasiness give new meaning (lyrics suitabley altered) to Tom Lehrer’s “Pollution:”

     Venture out for a breath of air
    Now that you’re ready for Medicare.
    The downtown streets are really quite a thrill:
    If Thuh Varss doan gitcha then the gun nuts will.

    Pandemic! Pandemic! Wear a full mask and a shield,
    And hope you can breathe with your lungs all concealed!

  113. 113.

    Soprano2

    May 18, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @Kay: There are so many things to consider when you “reopen” a restaurant or bar, especially if you serve alcohol. What actions do you need to take to prevent the spread as much as possible? How much is that going to cost you? Then, once you reopen, if customers don’t come you’re screwed, because now you’re incurring costs but not taking in much money. Is it moral to ask bartenders and servers to come back to work and give up unemployment when you don’t even know if you’ll have enough customers for them to make money? How much time will your staff have to spend with drunk people who don’t want to stay apart because they are friends (or not, even)? I wonder if any of them have even thought about what it would be like to deal with drunks during a pandemic. Can you do the things you did to bring in business, like have live music or karaoke or trivia contests or games? If people can play pool, now your employees are going to have to spend time sanitizing pool cues between players. What happens when someone gets a coughing fit in your establishment? Do you politely ask them to leave? Do all the other customers leave? What happens if one of your employees gets COVID – how many other employees will have to quarantine? We have a small crew because we’re a relatively small place, so scheduling will be a PITA, because we won’t be able to cross-schedule employees with each other, or else one person getting sick would shut us down. And on and on. It’s easy for these Wall Street types and MAGA-hat people to say “open up for my convenience”, but they aren’t thinking at all about what that means for the restaurant or bar owner and employees. They’re selfish to the core, no wonder they love Trump.

  114. 114.

    p.a.

    May 18, 2020 at 8:51 am

    FSM willing (and some MSM apparently developing a notochord if not an actual spine),  OBAMAGATE ™ is flopping except among the select, and since donnie-one-note is never wrong, the puke funnel may have to expend a lot of resources on nuttin’ just to keep him satisfied.

  115. 115.

    JPL

    May 18, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @satby: Oh happy day.   Enjoy your birthday.

  116. 116.

    danielx

    May 18, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @satby:

    Many happy returns!

  117. 117.

    Japa21

    May 18, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thank you. I’m in the waiting room trying to keep my mind occupied.

  118. 118.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    May 18, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @Kay: They don’t seem to care where the PPE for restaurant and retail workers is supposed to come from and I am sure many or the (customers) will refuse to wear masks or observe social distancing or group size rules.  My friends own a music/record store and were just getting to the point of being really profitable before this happened.  They have been closed for almost 2 months, a couple days ago one of them went in to clean up the store (big closed sign on the door/locked door) and see what could be done to try to reopen on a  limited basis, some dude starts pounding on the door and asking to be let in so he can “look around”  no mask, no gloves, nada.  Got real nasty when my friend would not open the store.  What is wrong with people???

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @Soprano2

    Government surplus Get Smartian cones of silence for each table.

    :)

  120. 120.

    Ladyraxterinok

    May 18, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @WereBear:

    Was also a SoBapt, but didn’t feel constraints too much. Parents were just nominal.

     

    In jr high or HS (1st half of 50s) I asked a question about something said —in sermon? Several 9lder women came up to me later and asked invery concerned tones ‘Dear, are you sure you are saved?’

  121. 121.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 8:57 am

    @Nelle: I just selected the non existent up vote and am adding +1000

  122. 122.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 8:58 am

    This gave me a morning smile. My kindergarten teacher DIL has these stiff little cut-out cartoons of her that she’s been sending to her students. The little kids stick them on their bikes and stuff and post the pics. They all call them “Flat Mrs. Winsor.” One of Mr DAW’s cousins is an EMT. He saw the pics and asked her to send him some of the cut-outs for him to give to other EMTs or police officers in his NJ town as a sort of funny morale booster. Then he sent pics to my DIL. She posted them on twitter. You need to embiggen the pics to spot Flat Mrs. Winsor.

     

    Flat Mrs. Winsor snuck into some mail recently & is in NJ! She joined Officer Case on patrol. She helped with a report, talked on the radio, stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, & she even tried to drive the police car, but couldn't reach the pedals! Thank you, Officer Case! #D47StepsUP pic.twitter.com/dKXoZdqfYL— ???. ??????'? ℂ???? (@WondrousWinsors) May 18, 2020

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    May 18, 2020 at 8:59 am

    I am really, really curious to see what the components of this amazing PR campaign will consist of…I’m sure it’ll be dazzling!

    • more photo ops with ‘Space Force’ flags and regalia?
    • more humping of the American flag on stage, or less?
    • a 1-hour special with trumpov and Maria Baritomo walking us through how Joe Scarborough murdered his staffer?
    • throwing cash out the presidential limo’s window while driving past PA “open up!” protestors?

    Regardless, I’m sure Maggie Haberman will be there to spin it, as always.

  124. 124.

    Japa21

    May 18, 2020 at 8:59 am

    @satby: Thanks and Happy Birthday you young person.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    May 18, 2020 at 9:00 am

    @Baud:Trump and his people are falsely accusing the Democrats of truly horrific acts.

     

    I’m honestly kind of bracing myself for the next Pizzagate incident, sadly.

  126. 126.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 9:00 am

    It really does track the Right’s approach to health care. They contributed absolutely nothing to the really hard problem. When someone else did some work on it, they freaked and again did absolutely nothing other than having elaborate, costumed protests and lawsuits. “My feelings!” Liberty!” It’s now 12 years later and they still contributed absolutely nothing in terms of health care, other than millions of them signing up for Medicaid expansion. Trump goes out there and lazily remembers to mouth some words about “best replacement ever” but work on it? Nope. None of them are. Not in Congress and not in the Trump Administration.

    They’re now doing that again, except with a pandemic. No real work, just costumed protest events. It’s like every day is Halloween with these people.

  127. 127.

    Ladyraxterinok

    May 18, 2020 at 9:01 am

    @Baud:

    2021 will be 100th anniversary

  128. 128.

    Nelle

    May 18, 2020 at 9:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I heard nothing in Seattle and went off to the Mennonite church near Sea-Tac airport.  My husband of a month was home.  I called him and met him at Boing Field, where he had rented a plane from his flying club.  We flew northeast , about 5000 feet, well out of the way of rescue attempts, which we monitored on the radio.  By then there was aow and a high cloud layer.  In between, where we were, was the roiling spewing ash.  It looked frozen in place, like a gigantic grey brain, yet I knew it was moving incredibly fast.  Cognitive dissonance.

  129. 129.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:05 am

    TAPPER: It’s worse here than anywhere else

    A: When you look at mortality rates, that’s simply not correct

    “More than China?” Is also a really good follow up question to that stupidity.

  130. 130.

    Jeffro

    May 18, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Kay:

    Protecting all the workers in the places they’re demanding re-open, which is an actual huge problem and tens of thousands are being infected at work? Too hard. They’ll ignore that.  It’s just such sloppy, lazy thinking. They don’t want to solve this. They want to stamp their feet and bawl and say “make bad virus GO AWAY!”

     

    Keep labor costs to an absolute minimum – their idea of ‘minimum’, not ours – is one of their prime directives (if not THE prime directive).

  131. 131.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @Jeffro: I was going to say just follow HandMag’s TL. She kicked off the PR campaign script yesterday.

  132. 132.

    O. Felix Culpa

    May 18, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @satby: Natal felicitations, satby! Happy Medicare Day! Drink coffee and eat cake.

  133. 133.

    cmorenc

    May 18, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I feel like a breakfast taco. ..

    What does that feel like?

  134. 134.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 9:10 am

    Today also marks 76 years since Stalin forcibly deported 200,000 Crimean Tatars from their ancestral homeland.

  135. 135.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @satby: happy anniversary of your emergence!

  136. 136.

    Kay

    May 18, 2020 at 9:11 am

    @Jeffro:

    It isn’t just food processing where they’re seeing outbreaks. It’s any job with a big group of people in close quarters, where they spend hours together day after day. My middle son will be tested this week thru work because they’ve had a positive who is symptomatic. These are real problems. They can’t be waved away with by saying “liberty” over and over. They don’t require more op eds from conservatives. It’s not an opinion thing. It’s a work thing. They pretend they’re doing some kind of “risk/reward” analysis but they’re just pulling it out of their ass.

    Oh, well. Once again they won’t contribute anything other than their opinions and feelings and someone else will do all the work. Our coddled, precious Right wing will be given a pass on helping.

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 9:11 am

    Random observation.

    Ridiculous number of hookah clubs in the vicinity of where Mom lives in NY. Cannot see them reopening to booming business anytime soon.

  138. 138.

    Richard Guhl

    May 18, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @WereBear: There’s a link to a great Twitter thread by Ethan Grey on the psychological underpinnings of white supremacy over at Daily Kos’ Abbreviated Pundit Roundup. The thread is 100 tweets long, explaining why Trump’s base will never abandon him, and shows the parallel between white supremacy and narcissism.

  139. 139.

    Betty Cracker

    May 18, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @Kathleen: IIRC, Attkisson took a video of text being erased from an open Word doc and presented it with great fanfare as dramatic evidence that the Obama administration hacked her computer and was wiping out her files, but it turned out to be…a stuck delete key. Her suspicions were also aroused by startling events like her computer making funny noises and her digital TV screen freezing up sometimes. God, what an idiot.

  140. 140.

    Bex

    May 18, 2020 at 9:14 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday.  Stay comfortable!

  141. 141.

    MomSense

    May 18, 2020 at 9:15 am

    @satby:

    Happy birthday!

     

    I have a palace intrigue question. Has anyone seen Mike Pence since Mrs. Santa Monica Fascist tested positive?  Seriously, he seems to have vanished.

  142. 142.

    Amir Khalid

    May 18, 2020 at 9:16 am

    @satby:

    My siblings are making plans on WhatsApp for Eid visiting. This is precisely what the Health Ministry’s guidance is discouraging. I think I’ll have to say, count me out.

  143. 143.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:18 am

    @WereBear: In the Civil War documentary by Ken Burns, I recall an episode where the question whether the South should arm their loyal slaves to fight the North and turn the tide was raised. One letter was so crystal clear on why they could not — basically that making a slave a soldier was an admission that they were men capable of being more than chattel.

    Facing their own existential finale, they chose slavery and race supremecy.

  144. 144.

    Jeffro

    May 18, 2020 at 9:19 am

    Beyond ominous for November: Republicans Step Up Efforts to Intimidate, er, “Monitor” Voters in Battleground States

    I don’t care about their stupid lawyers so much as I care about their gun-waving foot soldiers…

     

    Besides the national party and Mr. Trump’s campaign strategists, conservative advocacy groups are joining lawsuits, recruiting poll monitors and mounting media campaigns of their own. Leading them is a new and well-funded organization, the Honest Elections Project, formed by Leonard Leo, a prolific fund-raiser, advocate of a conservative judiciary and confidant of President Trump.  Republicans will have an Election Day operations program “that probably no other presidential campaign has had before,” Josh Helton, a Republican consultant, said at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee in March. “It’s going to be all hands on deck.”

  145. 145.

    Sab

    May 18, 2020 at 9:20 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: What a wonderful idea. My cousin is a second grade teacher livimg in suburban Cleveland Oh but teaching in rural OH. I will forward this on to him.

    I hope they won’t be back in school next fall because our curve is flat but it sure isn’t going down any amd people were nutso on the reopenimg over the weekend.

  146. 146.

    Barbara

    May 18, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Azar’s response — emblematic of the entire federal response — is nothing short of nihilism.  Why bother doing anything to mitigate the chance of an infectious disease?  They’re sick anyway.  I  mean, why the actual fuck do we spend close to 20% of GDP on medical goods and services to alleviate distress and avoid death?  Why bother giving people expensive cancer treatments when we know the person is going to die anyway?

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 9:21 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Beware the Eids of May.

    ;)

  148. 148.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:25 am

    @satby: I hate to burst the bubble on this one, and I am no fan of Azar —

    BUT what he was talking about was starting mass production of potential vaccines now so that — if one actually proves useful — it will be ready to go early next year. He is NOT saying they will distribute unsafe or useless vaccines. He is saying the government will gear up production for a number of possible solutions whether they pan out or not. This is actually a very smart move. A LOT of sunk costs. But could save up to six months if in fact one of these promising treatments works out.

    First thing the admin. has done right.

  149. 149.

    FelonyGovt

    May 18, 2020 at 9:26 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday and welcome to the club! ?

  150. 150.

    Emma from FL

    May 18, 2020 at 9:26 am

    @satby: Late to the party, but happy birthday! I’m a year behind you but barreling down that road.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @Baud: I agree with what you said, Baud, but it still doesn’t explain why people like the members of my extended family who voted for him don’t seem to regret it, and plan to do it again.

    I think that’s why my struggle with my family has reemerged with such a vengeance.  Because there’s no excuse now – anyone with their eyes open can see the devastation Trump has wrought – and they appear to have no regrets.

    It’s tearing me apart.

  152. 152.

    MomSense

    May 18, 2020 at 9:31 am

    @Immanentize:

    Didn’t Bright say it would take several years for syringe production?

    I don’t have any confidence this administration will manage the vaccine process competently or without corruption.

  153. 153.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 9:32 am

    @Sab:

    My son says my DIL is working more hours than ever while teaching from home. Her students are lucky to have her.

  154. 154.

    Barbara

    May 18, 2020 at 9:33 am

    @Immanentize: Right.  This is the strategy that Bill Gates first suggested — parallel efforts to develop vaccines and go with the most effective.  It’s how Korea geared up its testing response as well.  I don’t have a problem with that, but with trying to minimize the impact of COVID-19 by suggesting that since the person had diabetes or high blood pressure that somehow makes it okay or not as important.

  155. 155.

    Aleta

    May 18, 2020 at 9:34 am

    Ordering food and having it served hot already on the plate set before you is a way to experience status and luxury.  Walking away from a dirty table is a freedom.   The rw was quick to magnify this gut loss of privilege.  Ivanka advises us to be masters not serfs.  (Red pill) “Taken!”

  156. 156.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    May 18, 2020 at 9:36 am

    @MomSense: I’ve noticed that all reporting on the prevalence of Covid in the WH has stopped. Total news embargo. So I suspect it’s bad.

  157. 157.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:37 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That is such an excellent idea!!!  I’m stealing it for my summer class.  I also am recommending that they all get their highschool graduation picture and make that the avatar for their zoom identity.

  158. 158.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 9:38 am

    @Betty Cracker: I forgot those details LOL. I thought there was some more crap she pulled but can’t research right now. She’s a tool

  159. 159.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @MomSense: I think the syringe problem can be solved way easier then vaccine production.  China, Vietnam, and India could turn up syringe production to 11 almost over (fort)night.  But as I understand it, vaccine (and even theraputics) production will require a lot of breeding tank equipment which really doesn’t yet exist.  It could exist in a few months….

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I feel like a breakfast taco.

    It’s terribly disappointing that not a single jackal replied with “Gee, you don’t look like a breakfast taco.”

    Did none of you go to high school?

  161. 161.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @Immanentize: LOL. Love the idea of their HS pics as their avatars.

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @MomSense: To add, there is no way that this effort won’t be a picture of cronyism and corruption, but something might just get done even with such grift because some of the companies will do it right.

  163. 163.

    Uncle Cosmo

    May 18, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: I wonder if she’s still using the cupholder on her desktop or has managed to break it off with too heavy a mug…

  164. 164.

    Aleta

    May 18, 2020 at 9:45 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s so cool.  Thanks.

  165. 165.

    Chief Oshkosh

    May 18, 2020 at 9:45 am

    @jimmiraybob:

     

    What’s it called when you do a hostile corporate takeover, sabotage the business, and then sell off the remainders?

    Tuesday in Corporate America?

  166. 166.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 9:45 am

     

    @Immanentize: @Dorothy A. Winsor: Some reprobates like me never got one. I wonder what they will use.

  167. 167.

    JAFD

    May 18, 2020 at 9:46 am

    @satby: Happy Birthday, and many many more !

    Could use a couple of masks, if you email me thru one of the frontpagers, have them send my e-ddress or send me yours, get you my physical address.  Can either send you check, or paypal the dough…

  168. 168.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 9:47 am

    @Immanentize:because some of the companies will do it right.

    Yeah but the trumpsters won’t pick them.

  169. 169.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:47 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Damn, Ireland could have certainly used those

    Crimean Tatars

  170. 170.

    CliosFanBoy

    May 18, 2020 at 9:49 am

    Happy Birthday Satby!!!

  171. 171.

    MagdaInBlack

    May 18, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @satby:

    Happy Birthday ! Mine was Friday and I did NOT get out of jammies. ☺

  172. 172.

    germy

    May 18, 2020 at 9:51 am

    The Trump admin has begun the formal process of planning for a potential transition of power if Joe Biden wins. https://t.co/EAARXMll5Z

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 17, 2020

    Russell Vought, who obstructed on impeachment, counsel Pat Cipollone, who treated Trump as private client, and John McEntee, Trump’s loyalty oath administrator. But nothing to worry about. https://t.co/Uw1CNpjgcE

    — emptywheel (@emptywheel) May 18, 2020

    It’ll be their job to make sure there’s no incriminating evidence left in the White House.

    — The Lone Apple ? (@The_Lone_Apple) May 18, 2020

  173. 173.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @Barbara: The co-morbidity shit drive me coo-coo.

  174. 174.

    tokyokie

    May 18, 2020 at 9:53 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s “foreword.” I see “forward” a lot in that context and it bugs the shit out of me.

    I was working for the Nikkei in Japan when, through some link-up with The Wall Street Journal, we began using the WSJ stylebook. Some arrogant assholes from NYC came in and treated us like we were uneducated goobers and handed us copies of the WSJ stylebook. And what was in headline type on the very first page? “Foreward.”

     

    I didn’t bother reading any further.

  175. 175.

    Barbara

    May 18, 2020 at 9:54 am

    @Immanentize: Vaccine production is one of the hardest pharmaceutical manufacturing tasks — it requires the cultivation of “live” organisms (at some level) and it has to be mass produced.  One of the hiccups with the H1N1 vaccine was a novel effort to bypass one of the more challenging steps in the process (which uses eggs) to see if it could be accomplished with something less fragile.  They didn’t figure it out and had to switch but it did delay things. That delay became a source of criticism of Obama, but it was really trying to make the process more streamlined.

  176. 176.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve thought of that — certainly there is Some picture of them in HS they can use.  This is the most photographed generation ever.  My students will generally have graduated from HS in 2014 or 15.

  177. 177.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @Immanentize: I frequently put Tatar sauce on fish.

  178. 178.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @Kay:

    They’re now doing that again, except with a pandemic. No real work, just costumed protest events. It’s like every day is Halloween with these people.

    Why I am glad Kay is back.  Happy Monday, jackals.

  179. 179.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @MagdaInBlack: and congratulations to you as well.  Why does having a birthday have anything to do with not getting put of pajamas?  Believe me, it can be done on any day!

  180. 180.

    Amir Khalid

    May 18, 2020 at 9:59 am

    @NotMax:

    Exactly. ☹️

  181. 181.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @Immanentize: He’s not wrong.

  182. 182.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @MagdainBlack

    Belated felicitations.

    I did not get out of jammies

    It’s your Once a Year Day

  183. 183.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 18, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @Immanentize: My mother had the graduation photos of each of the kids (6-1 of course) on the wall. Never said a word to me about getting one before or about why I didn’t get one afterwards. I think she understood me more than I knew back then.

  184. 184.

    MagdaInBlack

    May 18, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @Immanentize

    ( Its normal here now, to be honest ?)

  185. 185.

    MagdaInBlack

    May 18, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @NotMax:

    Thank you!

    Bonnies dad?

  186. 186.

    Cameron

    May 18, 2020 at 10:04 am

    @Kay: I’m sure if you ask them “how many deaths would you find acceptable,” the answer would be “all of them except mine.”

  187. 187.

    NotMax

    May 18, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @MagdaInBlack

    Yes indeedy.

  188. 188.

    Frank Wilhoit

    May 18, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @p.a.: It’s not stupidity, it’s infantility.

  189. 189.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @MagdaInBlack: Yes.

  190. 190.

    Frank Wilhoit

    May 18, 2020 at 10:11 am

    @Baud: Universal experience.

  191. 191.

    Jinchi

    May 18, 2020 at 10:12 am

    @Immanentize: He is NOT saying they will distribute unsafe or useless vaccines.

    We’ve been listening for weeks to a president peddling snake oil cures. Rick Bright was sidelined for refusing to green light unproven and potentially dangerous drugs without proper review. Fauci has to report through Mike Pence to speak at all.

    So Azar might not be saying it, but  Trump will happily distribute unsafe or useless vaccines if it helps his campaign. He will fire anyone who tries to stop him, and Azar, Birx and the Republican Senate will happily back him up on it. These are people who look at the prospect of 140,000 dead and congratulate themselves on a job well done.

    Bottom line: even if manufacturing doses so they’re ready to go quickly is a smart plan, Trump’s team has lost all credibility. There is no reason to trust them if they say they’ve discovered a vaccine and then tell you to take it.

    “What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose?” Trump said from the White House podium. “Take it.”

  192. 192.

    Cameron

    May 18, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @MomSense: It’ll be cool.  They’ll make Jared responsible for production and distribution, and it will all be WINNING!

  193. 193.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @JPL: @danielx: Thanks much!

    @O. Felix Culpa: Exactly my plan, thanks!

  194. 194.

    MagdaInBlack

    May 18, 2020 at 10:16 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    ?

  195. 195.

    Betty Cracker

    May 18, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @WaterGirl: I’m in a similar situation with several family members, and for my own peace of mind, I’ve just had to come to terms with the fact that they’re not who I thought they were, which is the source of the pain. They are poor judges of character, and they have bad character traits* themselves.

    For me, at least, this doesn’t mean we can’t love each other, and it doesn’t mean they are utterly devoid of good character traits. But I have to integrate this information about their character and judgment into my understanding of who they are and live with that, or I have to cut them out of my life. I’ve made both choices, depending on the toxicity ratio in each individual.

    IMO, there’s no way to rationalize the behavior of unrepentant Trumpers. They see this catastrophe — the open racism, misogyny, xenophobia, incompetence, meanness, cheating, whining, etc. — and they want more. That’s not mere political disagreement; it says something terrible about them as human beings. It’s like finding out people you thought were honest and decent found a legal way to steal from a children’s charity and plan to continue doing that.

    Anyhoo, I hope you’re able to find peace on the subject. It’s not easy, and it’s on ongoing heartache. My sympathies.

    *They’ve come to a similar conclusion about me, i.e., that I am judgmental and intolerant of “political” differences. To which I respond, “You’re goddamn right I am.”

  196. 196.

    laura

    May 18, 2020 at 10:27 am

    Happy Birthday Satby.                               Best wishes to Japa21 and Mrs. Japa21.

    A round Breakfast tacos for all!

  197. 197.

    TomatoQueen

    May 18, 2020 at 10:29 am

    In Good News (Absolute), Zenyatta delivered her new daughter yesterday morning and all went well. Queen and Princess were photographed shortly thereafter in the paddock (bonus of our Queen dancing!). Who looks this good at such an hour? Why, it’s Zenyatta, Queen of Racing! Plenty pics at http://www.zenyatta.com/news/zenyatta-delivers-a-candy-ride-filly

  198. 198.

    Jinchi

    May 18, 2020 at 10:30 am

    @Mai naem mobile: I also think Trumpov egging on his base to attack the media has woken up the non-FOX media and put some real fear for their physical safety.

    The media could shut that down fast if they just decided to black out all mention of Trump for a week.

  199. 199.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 10:34 am

    @Baud: T’was my point. :) (sigh)

  200. 200.

    chopper

    May 18, 2020 at 10:36 am

    @satby:

    happy medicare birthday!

  201. 201.

    Jinchi

    May 18, 2020 at 10:37 am

    @Immanentize: The co-morbidity shit drive me coo-coo.

    According to cleek’s law, that makes it a Republican success.

  202. 202.

    Immanentize

    May 18, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @Gin & Tonic: But the US is hardly unique.  Remember when the virus proved so deadly in China only because they smoked too much?  I do.

  203. 203.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @Baud:

    Trump won in large part because a number of people decided it was safe for them to flex their privilege.

    “Fuck Hillary.  She’s gonna win anyway.  I’m not gonna vote!”

    Fucking selfish, shithead children.

  204. 204.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 10:45 am

    @Richard Guhl: Thanks, I have tracked it down and been intellectually thrilled by it.

    https://twitter.com/_EthanGrey/status/1261817921145364487

  205. 205.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @satby: ??

  206. 206.

    WereBear

    May 18, 2020 at 10:47 am

    @Immanentize:

    Facing their own existential finale, they chose slavery and race supremecy.

     
    And defeat.

  207. 207.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 18, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @TomatoQueen:

    Those pictures are sweet beyond words. Watching that bonding makes me tear up (with sheer joy). When will the little foal get a name?

  208. 208.

    boatboy_srq

    May 18, 2020 at 10:51 am

    It gets more and more difficult to identify Emmanuel Goldstein these days.

  209. 209.

    bemused

    May 18, 2020 at 10:55 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Rightwingers calling it “political” differences is a copout. They don’t want to examine or even acknowledge the morality of their decisions.

  210. 210.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 18, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Immanentize: I’m not saying the US is unique, but if you’ve traveled extensively the obesity in the US is really striking. Yes, that and the very-frequently-associated diabetes result in large part from decades of government policy favoring ag lobbies and such, but Azar is not wrong about the co-morbidities. This would be an ideal time to re-examine things like sugar subsidies, but that won’t happen, of course.

  211. 211.

    dopey-o

    May 18, 2020 at 10:57 am

    @Derelict: “….Donald Trump wants Americans to die in great numbers. ”

    Trump and his followers hate America. I will not bother you with reasons and rationales and narratives. Just look at what they do. Apply Occam’s Razor.

    “Make America Great Again” means “Death to America.” In 21st century America, black people will have jobs and houses. Brown people will have schools and respect. Gay people will have families. Women will have credibility. Poor people will have healthcare. A black man will occupy the White House.

    Trump and his sheeple hate what America is becoming.

  212. 212.

    Barbara

    May 18, 2020 at 11:00 am

    @Gin & Tonic: They don’t care about co-morbidities.  OMG.  Our entire medical system — trillions of dollars of revenue for pharmaceuticals every year — is targeted at “managing” co-morbidities.  It would be like justifying maternal mortality because it was a long and difficult labor. This is what the modern health care infrastructure is supposed to lessen and mitigate.  Using it as a justification to minimize associated deaths just turns our entire attitude toward health care intervention on its head.  It’s shameful.

    ETA: And the US is not unique, though it is definitely ahead of the game in terms of obesity.  Obesity is on the rise throughout most nations.

  213. 213.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 11:02 am

    @cmorenc: LOL

  214. 214.

    TomatoQueen

    May 18, 2020 at 11:03 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: I think the baby hoss (thoroughbred) naming goes something like pick a unique name and the Proper Authority agrees, but until then the baby is referred to by year of birth and some identifying code. Technically this little girl is 20Z until the name is approved, which can take some time, but her connections will have a call name for her. Zenyatta’s children all have a Z somewhere in their names.

  215. 215.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 11:04 am

    @TomatoQueen:   Thank you!  Got to see Zenyatta at Hollywood Park in LA area.  Happy to hear she is a good mother (of several beautiful foals, at this point).

    Zenyatta is living large in Versailles, KY at present.

  216. 216.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @WaterGirl: Mondays…

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    May 18, 2020 at 11:15 am

    -lago is too obscure.

    Dr. Mudd treated Lincoln’s killer’s broken leg.  “Your name is Mudd” is/was an epithet of particular power.

    “Man, he really Trumped that up, didn’t he?” == He made it so bad that it’s almost impossible to even imagine how bad it was, but it really was that bad.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Of course, Mudd actually did some good things, so in that respect it doesn’t fit..”)

  218. 218.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t know if you want to do this but I had a dental appt before everything really started to go to shit and I asked for a script for peridex.  It’s just a strong antibacterial oral rinse not an antibiotic or anything. I just figured it would be good to use it for a few days after a dental appt and having somebody’s(gloved but still) hands in my mouth. He was happy to do it and actually thought it wasn’t a bad idea. I. paid around $20 at the pharmacy.

  219. 219.

    Frank Wilhoit

    May 18, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @WereBear: No.  By 1877, they had won.  The war is still in progress and the South is still winning overwhelmingly.

  220. 220.

    frosty

    May 18, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @jimmiraybob:  @Chief Oshkosh:

    I can’t believe no one answered this. When you take over a company or an establishment, loot the value or equity, load it up with debt, and leave, it’s called a Bustout.

    See Tony Soprano or Bain Capital. It’s why we no longer have K&B Toys or Toys’R’Us and why Sears will be gone soon

  221. 221.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 11:18 am

    @Another Scott: I went to college with a girl named Kelly Mudd. Dr. Mudd was her great-grandfather. Her grandfather remembered going to see him in prison when he was a kid.

  222. 222.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 18, 2020 at 11:18 am

     

    @Cameron:

    It’ll be cool.  They’ll make Jared responsible for production and distribution, and it will all be WINNING!

    So much winning, you’ll get sick from it. ?

  223. 223.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 11:19 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: any news on your sister?

  224. 224.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 11:21 am

    @Mai naem mobile: I’ll see what they offer. Their instructions were quite detailed. There will be some sort of pad on which I can place my credit card and pen to be disinfected. I’m limited in what I’m allowed to take into the building. And they will give me an antibacterial mouth rinse, but I think that last one if for before we start the cleaning.

  225. 225.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 18, 2020 at 11:23 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Got to see Zenyatta at Hollywood Park in LA area.

    I saw The Police at Hollywood Park.  Of course, Hollywood Park is no more, it’s the home of the new Rams stadium.

  226. 226.

    MattF

    May 18, 2020 at 11:26 am

    I was pleased to see Jennifer Rubin specifically call out the racism in Trump’s Obamagate claims. She gets Trump, and she’s not kidding around.

  227. 227.

    Scuffletuffle

    May 18, 2020 at 11:28 am

    @danielx: You mean anyone outside his own very immediate family?

  228. 228.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Late to the Satby birthday party, but

    Happy Birthday Satby!  Yes, it’s the Medicare bday, but — also — think of all the travel discounts you can now get.  Because travel will open up again, and there is a world out there.

    Hope it’s a good one.  Cheers.

  229. 229.

    raven

    May 18, 2020 at 11:34 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: My mom and sibs lived on Chrenshaw just above Hollypark and I spent a couple of summers, including the Watts Riots, there.

  230. 230.

    James E Powell

    May 18, 2020 at 11:35 am

    Late to the thread – Left Coast – buy very happy birthday, Satby!

  231. 231.

    Miss Bianca

    May 18, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Kay: Have I mentioned how awesome it is to have you back? I can always tell a Kay comment by a combination of tone and substance.

  232. 232.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 11:35 am

    It’s Cuomo O’Clock.

    http://www.ny.gov

  233. 233.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 18, 2020 at 11:41 am

    @Mai naem mobile: Thank you for asking. Your timing is good — just finished talking to my brother. They brought the fever down and released her to home care last night. As of an hour ago the COVID-19 test results weren’t back — they expect to get them sometime today — but the hospital wouldn’t have sent her home if they thought she had it, right? I haven’t talked to Joyce myself, and won’t until I hear more, but I’m feeling more optimistic than I did yesterday. Guarded optimism, anyhow.

  234. 234.

    Miss Bianca

    May 18, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @Betty Cracker: Oh my gosh – you are describing my world exactly.

  235. 235.

    Miss Bianca

    May 18, 2020 at 11:45 am

    @TomatoQueen: Oh, Zenyatta, Queen of the Turf!!

  236. 236.

    PenAndKey

    May 18, 2020 at 11:45 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    “I’m in a similar situation with several family members, and for my own peace of mind, I’ve just had to come to terms with the fact that they’re not who I thought they were, which is the source of the pain. They are poor judges of character, and they have bad character traits* themselves.

    For me, at least, this doesn’t mean we can’t love each other, and it doesn’t mean they are utterly devoid of good character traits. But I have to integrate this information about their character and judgment into my understanding of who they are and live with that, or I have to cut them out of my life. I’ve made both choices, depending on the toxicity ratio in each individual.”

    In the last ten years I have cut four family members out of my life and no longer consider them family. One aunt, her husband, their second oldest son, and her father (my step-grandpa). It started out with us disagreeing on social media and at the annual Christmas gatherings, but when they told me some version of “it’s not my problem if the ACA is repealed, I don’t have any preexisting conditions” I had enough. My son was a preemie and his birth cost our insurance just shy of $1M. My mother has MS. My father has hypertension and a history of cardio scares. They, effectively, told me that my closest loved ones don’t matter and that they saw no issue with harming them. That’s a line family doesn’t cross, so they’re not family any more.

    I have another Aunt who’s less extreme but still a diehard GOP card carrier, theocrat, and anti-science proponent. I was extremely close to her and her daughter my entire life but outside of family gatherings we don’t really speak anymore. My grandma on that side is also a lifelong republican and still thinks that the GOP of today is no different than the GOP of 40 years ago. We don’t talk politics and I know she resents my strident tone, but I’m beyond caring. I still love the three of them, but that doesn’t mean I want to associate with them more than I have to.

    As far as “finding peace” is concerned when it comes to families fractured by ideology my only advice as someone who’s been there is that you choose your family. If people are causing drama do what’s best for you, even if it involves cutting them out completely. Everyone will be happier for it in the long run.

  237. 237.

    mad citizen

    May 18, 2020 at 11:47 am

    @Another Scott: Over the weekend I came on the idea of having the word “trump” replace the F word.  “trump it!”  “Get the trump out of here”  Only problem is I hate the space he occupies in all our heads and words, and probably better if he just goes away; and I hate saying the word no matter what.

    Would be better if “trump” becomes synominous with failure and such, in the way “ponzi scheme” refers to a pyramid scheme.  I like the word “trumplican”.

  238. 238.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Baud:

    Far more than 3 million people see faux news. It’s in waiting rooms, airports, etc. It’s ubiquitous. And it’s that way for a reason. If for nothing else, to be the background noise. They provide something that looks better than your average person, they sensationalize the out of the ordinary, they sell a brand across the country, that your local station now works to some extent to sell, because it makes faux money. Every business has to make a profit long term to stay in business. The key of course is the amount of profit and how it’s made.

    So while only 3 million may admit to this being their news source, a lot more people watch it. Even if they hate it and don’t watch it at home.

    The biggest issue is that the republican party has lined up with evangelical churches, with faux news, it’s not the separate lines of bullshit, it’s the connected lines of bullshit. It comes at people from more than one direction and it makes subjects into victims of something/something/something till they want/need to band together and actually be willing to die for the cause. It doesn’t matter that the cause is killing the participants, because those at the top of this food chain are making money and that is all they care about. Those at the top give not one shit about the rubes. Not one.

  239. 239.

    James E Powell

    May 18, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @MattF:

    I was pleased to see Jennifer Rubin specifically call out the racism in Trump’s Obamagate claims. She gets Trump, and she’s not kidding around.

    Has Rubin ever acknowledged that racism has been at the center of every Republican campaign for decades? Have any of the Never-Ts ever acknowledged that he is not an aberration but the ultimate expression of Republicanism?

  240. 240.

    raven

    May 18, 2020 at 11:50 am

    @raven: Century

  241. 241.

    zhena gogolia

    May 18, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @TomatoQueen:

    Wow, beautiful!

  242. 242.

    zhena gogolia

    May 18, 2020 at 11:53 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’m glad the news is hopeful.

  243. 243.

    Another Scott

    May 18, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Neat story.

    The news man Roger Mudd was related to him as well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  244. 244.

    Another Scott

    May 18, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @mad citizen: Agreed, I hate saying his name too.  But just as having it plastered all over those gaudy buildings decreases their value, using it as an epithet will help decrease its value in general.  I hope anyway!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  245. 245.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 11:57 am

    @Jinchi: I go back and forth on that.  I wonder if FOX, Russian bots and the RW media ecosphere would fill any vacuum left behind by non RW.media if they ignore Donny. I don’t have solutions but we really really need to teach proper media consumption in high school.

  246. 246.

    bluefoot

    May 18, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @WereBear:  I just started reading this.  It really lays bare the ideology of white supremacy above all.  I had always thought there’d be some point where self-interest would pierce the bubble of racism/white supremacy but people would literally rather suffer and die horribly than allow a non-white person have any sort of equality.

    I’m not that far into the book, but I hope it discusses people less embedded in white supremacy.  That is, are there people who can change their minds, at least to vote differently?  If so, how do we reach them?

  247. 247.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    @satby:

    Welcome to geezerdum! May you have many decades of sunrises to enjoy.

  248. 248.

    MattF

    May 18, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @James E Powell: It’s fair to note that Rubin has a politically checkered past, which leads to plausible doubts about where she’ll be in the future. Currently, she self-identifies as a right-of-center Democrat — she says she would have voted for Sanders over Trump, which is pretty remarkable even for an ex-Republican.

  249. 249.

    zhena gogolia

    May 18, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Scary ad from Lincoln Project.

    Another great ad by @ProjectLincoln. let’s make sure every American see it. #TrumpPandemic #RepublicansForBiden pic.twitter.com/fqVM5VjFft— Republicans for Joe Biden (@RepsForBiden) May 18, 2020

  250. 250.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @James E Powell:   She’s getting there.  Jen still seems to think Trump took over the party, rather than that he saw the rot and ugliness that already existed and homed in like a pigeon from hell.  He was in it to grift, not because of his patriotism.

  251. 251.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: guarded yay for your sister! I am glad for you and your family. Fingers crossed etc.

  252. 252.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    @MattF:   So.  Another Clinton Derangement Syndrome person.

    Sad.  Although:  I give Jen Rubin a lot of credit for the progress she has made, in public, so far.  I am rooting for her.

  253. 253.

    germy

    May 18, 2020 at 12:05 pm

    Amelia Earhart writing to the NYT publisher in 1932 requesting that the paper stop referring to her as her wife’s husband and start calling her by her name. (She won.) Unearthed by @nytimesarts pic.twitter.com/055owRMINh

    — Sam Dolnick (@samdolnick) May 17, 2020

  254. 254.

    Wolf

    May 18, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    At 1.5 Vietnam unit deaths and 20 Trump rally deaths.  Pick your unit.  People can grasp small numbers not large ones.  Keep it simple.

  255. 255.

    Amir Khalid

    May 18, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    @germy:

    Just a thought: the incoming Biden Administration might find enough records missing or improperly kept to make a strong case for prosecutable record-keeping offences, eight?

  256. 256.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I’m 25-30 miles east of you and it’s not raining here. Yet.

  257. 257.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 18, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    I’m reading Louise Erdrich’s THE NIGHT WATCHMAN. I just read a passage in which a character is thinking about how people don’t understand the way her mother thinks.  “Zhaanat’s thinking was built on treating everything around her with great care.”

    We need that kind of thinking.

  258. 258.

    germy

    May 18, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    I would be surprised if records weren’t missing or improperly kept

    Prosecutable?  I hope.

    Biden said recently he wouldn’t stand in the way of any investigations of #45’s administration.

  259. 259.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    @MattF:  She consistently calls out Republicans and supports Democrats more than any journo I’m aware of. I share her columns all the time on Twitter.

  260. 260.

    Shalimar

    May 18, 2020 at 12:22 pm

    @satby: Happy birthday!?

  261. 261.

    Elizabelle

    May 18, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Betty Cracker has put up a new thread.  On the Lincoln Project video.

  262. 262.

    Kathleen

    May 18, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    @James E Powell: I believe she has. She takes no prisoners in her criticism of Republicans.

  263. 263.

    Mai naem mobile

    May 18, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @Ruckus: I think Dems and the left in general underestimate the power of evangelical churches. I’ve known lots of evangelicals. On a personal level they’re really nice people but their churches weaponize them on the issues of gay rights and abortion. The big box churches have replaced neighborhood groups and social clubs so there are relationships between the members beyond church. I am guessing it’s similar to the African American churches during the civil rights era except its being used to control people instead of giving people rights.

  264. 264.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @Kay:

    They can read. But they can’t think of anyone but themselves. It’s different only in degree from shitforbrains. Narcissism is a hell of a drug. We are all born with a survival instinct but life has changed over the last 100 yrs. We have the tools that allow a lot more people to survive and thrive. But we still have that instinct of survival of the fittest and that “outsiders” can bring disease and death. Which is a bit ironic now because some of those tools are what has allowed this disease to infect the majority of the world. And our numbers and the idiotic idea that some deserve to survive while others don’t has made the situation far worse. Those faux news clowns spewing their “Open Now” crap are hiding from their own advice. I wonder if they are actually trying to get rid of the worst of their followers, hoping that will placate a few of the non believers and allow them to keep their privileged place in the world…..

  265. 265.

    Amir Khalid

    May 18, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @germy:

    Amelia Earhart writing to the NYT publisher in 1932 requesting that the paper stop referring to her as her wife’s husband and start calling her by her name.

    I had trouble understanding this, since I know that in 1932 the US had yet to legalise same-sex marriage — until I realised that Earhart didn’t want to be referred to as her husband’s wife.

  266. 266.

    PenAndKey

    May 18, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Mai naem mobile: My aunt and uncle I spoke of earlier went off the deep end and into PizzaGate territory after they started attending a new evangelical baptist church that opened in their town. I don’t want to blame an entire faith for their behavior, but I’ll definitely blame their particular church. Over just a few years they may as well have had a whole personality transplant for all that they resemble the fun couple I grew up with.

  267. 267.

    germy

    May 18, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Amir Khalid:  Yes, her letter made sense.  The person who tweeted it was apparently in a hurry.

  268. 268.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    @JAFD: I sent email to satby.

  269. 269.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Thank you, Betty.  That lays things out very clearly for me.  I may not like that things are the way they are, but it definitely provides clarity.

    I have copied this whole exchange – starting with satby, then Baud, then me, then you.

    I am thinking of sharing it with my family.  I will let it sit for a week, but if it still seems like the right thing, I will send it.

  270. 270.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Azar is not wrong about the co-morbidities.

    Azar is not wrong in saying the co-morbidities exist.

    He’s dead wrong for saying that those people don’t matter, that he can just shrug and say those deaths don’t count.

  271. 271.

    WaterGirl

    May 18, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:  slacker!

  272. 272.

    The Lodger

    May 18, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    What do you put on Tatar Tots?

  273. 273.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    They don’t see it as devastation. They see it as a rebuilding of a once great country. Liberals and conservatives have moved to become polar opposites. There are of course a range of visions of the devastation/rebuilding degrees, there are liberals who see that the only way is to tear it down and start over, only on their terms, just like the staunch conservatives. But the poles are so far apart now that rebuilding in the middle is highly unlikely. And it’s not just in this country, it is in many parts of the world. But this seems like it’s getting  to the last grasp of a dying structure, that of conservatism, simply because it is so limited and so destructive to so many.

  274. 274.

    JaneE

    May 18, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    I read an article today that said Trump supporters like the fact that he gets things done.  Even as recently as the presidency of George W. Bush, most of those things would have been considered the wrong thing to do.

    The people that support Trump and the Republican party today are the guys who would rather kill their wife and kids than agree to a divorce, and they are just spiteful enough to kill the kids first to hurt the wife even more.

  275. 275.

    Ruckus

    May 18, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    @JaneE:

    I hate that your description is spot on. Because it means that a good portion of our country, and possibly humanity is totally fucked up. But  I think anyone can imagine them standing there with one of their guns and shooting the kids and wife, just to get in the last word. And that is not right, actually being able to imagine that, just because it’s so easy to see.

  276. 276.

    satby

    May 18, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    Sorry I missed saying thanks to so many of you in the last few hours. I found a lost dog (of course, how else to celebrate my B’day?) and was trying to get her back to her owners. But my delighted thanks for all of your kind birthday wishes!

  277. 277.

    sgrAstar

    May 18, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    @satby: satby! Please don’t do anything rash. Abandoning the pjs for actual clothes is a decision which must be taken with the greatest deliberation.

     

    ?

  278. 278.

    Bill Arnold

    May 18, 2020 at 3:58 pm

    @Immanentize:

    He is saying the government will gear up production for a number of possible solutions whether they pan out or not. This is actually a very smart move.

    Bill Gates was pushing this back in early April and putting a promise of money behind it. (It was discussed elsewhere earlier than that.)
    Basically, a Manhattan Project approach; that project funded 3 different ways to enrich Uranium (gaseous diffusion won early, since superceded), plus a separate project for plutonium production. (Plus anything else that had multiple possible solutions, so no backtracking needed.)
    Bill Gates is helping fund new factories for 7 potential coronavirus vaccines, even though it will waste billions of dollars (Isobel Asher Hamilton, Apr 3, 2020)

    The Manhattan Project language I first saw here (but may have appeared earlier)(interesting because it might have caught male DJT admin attention):

    Ah, Gates is going Manhattan Project management on the vaccine problem.
    (During the Manhattan Project, every time they hit a bottleneck with two or more alternate paths, they attacked all paths in parallel. Very expensive but fastest possible way of solving production problems.) https://t.co/PqyZeyptO0

    — Charlie Stross (@cstross) April 4, 2020

  279. 279.

    charon

    May 18, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    @WereBear:

     

    It’s an excellent thread and I believe it – except –

     

    It isn’t just white supremacists, there are also a lot of Christians determined to preserve special preferential treatment for their category.  Hence all the King Cyrus stuff, the “baby Christian” stuff etc.

  280. 280.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    May 18, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    @satby: happy birthday!

  281. 281.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    May 18, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    @charon: the relationship between racism and evangelicals is addressed specifically within the thread.  For everyone who isn’t familiar with white southern Protestantism’s history as the handmaiden of white supremacy, it’s instructive.

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