Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

The willow is too close to the house.

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

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / What a Fucking Maroon

What a Fucking Maroon

by | 126 Comments

This post is in: 

Betty will probably chime in on this guy, but how can you be so wrong about something like this:

In case that print is too small to read, the actual number of positive cases of the 500 tested was 2 — not 260. The Flordia curve is ugly enough without DiSantis’ inability to convey information accurately:

By the way, that graph is from the New York Times, where James Bennett’s career died for our sins and will soon rise again and appear on Fox or OAN. The Times’ graphs are the best I can find, and I get them for free, so here you go. Also, yes, in my last post I should have specified that I was comparing the shape of the curve in Texas with New York State’s curve, not the absolute case counts, since nobody has had the number of cases or deaths that we had.

Reader Interactions

126Comments

  2. 2.

    TS (the original)

    Is Gov Cuomo the only governor giving a daily coronavirus report.  That is where I get my information. Today he was explaining about facts – not being red facts or blue facts. He is also congratulating his procedures to flatten the curve & criticising the administration & those states that are “opening up” while their death & hospitalisation figures grow.

    New York also has its lowest daily figures to date (since the upsurge) – with 17 deaths.  He is now criticising the feds for allowing the virus to enter NY from Europe, while doing nothing to help NY in the aftermath.

    Is he running for President 2024?

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    Relatedly, Alexandra Petri has outdone herself, again:

    ‘The Greeks Are Gone from Troy for Sure,’ by Mike Pence

    Thanks to the leadership of King Priam and the courage and compassion of the Trojan people, our walled city is far stronger and even less pregnable than it was nine years ago, and we have won the fight against the Greeks. And if you doubt that, just look at this enormous and beautifully constructed wooden horse they have left for us, which is definitely not hollow and will absolutely not be filled with handpicked soldiers ready to pour out and devastate our city.

    The Laocoöns and Cassandras are full of negativity about this horse. At least, I think that was what Laocoön was saying before he was seized mid-sentence and crushed to death by sea serpents, along with his two sons! Probably a sign that what he was saying was not important. And when has Cassandra ever been right about anything?
    […]

    I know we have asked the Trojan people to make sacrifices, like not leaving this walled city because there were Greeks outside, something that, amazingly, a few people were unwilling to do but most of you have been great about. But the time for sacrifices is over, except in the sense that we need to make a literal sacrifice to thank the gods for their protection.

    Now is the time to bring in the horse and commemorate this achievement. We have defeated this visible enemy, which was also sometimes invisible because the gods are tricky.

    Look, we can test the horse, if you like, but I think testing just makes it more likely you will find out information that makes you unhappy, and that is the last thing we need in our moment of triumph. But sure, have Helen walk around the horse calling out in the voices of the Greeks’ loved ones, just in case! Knock yourself out! I am sure the worst is over.

  9. 9.

    download my app in the app store mistermix

    @TS (the original): Cuomo swears up and down that he has no political ambitions other than being Governor of New York, which as you know from watching his briefings, is the most progressive state in the union.  So, who knows.  And, yes, he makes a persuasive case that these other states are being very stupid.

  11. 11.

    TS (the original)

    @WaterGirl:

    Just checking – I’m a long way away.

    @CliosFanBoy:

    Thanks – I didn’t know that.

    I think they are both being very smart. That Gov Cuomo still listens to the GOP reporter who says the same thing every day about Nursing Home deaths does amaze me. He responds in the same way every day. very consistent  :)

  12. 12.

    New Deal democrat

    The COVID Tracking Project put up infections per by region on their twitter feed (as well as hospitalizations per capita). I used that graph this morning, and also showed the NY vs. Arizona outbreaks to scale. Texas is pretty far down the list, at #17 per capita.

    You can see the graphs here.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    @TS (the original):  It must be tempting to start with “As I said yesterday when you asked the exact same question….”

    Or perhaps have the video of yesterday’s conference cued up, and roll it when the question is repeated.

  17. 17.

    mmolleur

    I listened to DeSantis’ press conference yesterday. He’s a really good salesman. He was all about how FL hasn’t just increased testing but gone into populations like migrant farm communities, jails and other likely clusters areas where they’re finding many younger asymptomatic people who won’t end up in hospitals. Hospitals and ICU’s have good capacity. Businesses, including some bars in south FL, that are closing because of sick employees are doing the right thing. There’s mandatory testing of staff in nursing homes.You would swear this guy is on top of things; he sounds nothing like Abbott and a billion times smarter than Trump (which makes him the one we all fear, I guess). If I weren’t a yellow dog Democrat, I’d wanna bake him cookies.

  19. 19.

    TS (the original)

    @Ken:

    Maybe  since the protests and protesters didn’t follow any guidelines and probably infected so many innocent people

    He actually says that – or something very similar. He also detailed where her comments/questions were coming from – republicans in congress and GOP leaning media.

  26. 26.

    Barbara

    @mrmoshpotato: I have been to the Boundary Waters several times and it is unusual to actually see moose (your are more likely to hear them) and moose calves — wow, that is unusual.  Of course, this counts as pretty early in the season.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    Another one. That’s three: 

    The “Right Side PAC” aims to identify former Trump supporters across the country who have cooled to the president’s approach in office and convince them to vote for Biden, says founder Matt Borges, a former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.

  32. 32.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Basically the same graph is available from WaPo if you don’t want to give the FIFYNYT any more clicks.

  35. 35.

    MisterForkbeard

    Can we get a thread to discuss the newly released Senate plan for police reform? Or talk about it here?

    It’s woefully inadequate, but it does have a couple of good things in it. Sort of like peeing on a house fire – it helps, but the house is still en fuego.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    I know I’ve said this before but Democrats need a group to go after white working class women. I read that Trump’s support is slipping there.

    I am telling you they are gettable. They will diverge from WWC men. Obama got some of them.

  37. 37.

    Sab

    @Kay: So Borges wants to be sure Biden feels beholden to them and thus will become the president from MBNA? I don’t think Biden will, but it os concernimg.

  38. 38.

    The Moar You Know

    God save us from more boomers running for President.

    @cain:  At this point in our shared national history I do not give a fuck.  No generation of Americans have been covering themselves in glory for the last forty years.  Not a one.  Incompetence and petty assholery seems to be the default setting for Americans age 10-100 these days.

    All I want for president is someone competent who is not taking deliberate steps to kill me with this fucking virus.  I will vote for that person.  I don’t even give a shit what party they’re from any more.  Just stop taking active measure to kill our citizens with disease.  That’s all anyone has to do to get my vote.  Low fucking bar.  Which a lot of politicians are failing to clear these days.

  39. 39.

    Currants

    @TS (the original):  I get a daily (comprehensive) update from my state rep.  I have found other states’ information a little trickier to locate…and interpret. For ex, one state listed as “recovered” anyone who had been hospitalized but whose status had not been changed for 30 days. Seems a little suspect to me, but what do I know.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Sab:

    Well, there’s some risk of that with all the GOP groups, right? That they’ll pull the D’s Right.

    Even if we object to them there’s no way to stop them, I don’t think. They have as much right to jump in as anyone.

  44. 44.

    MattF

    IANAL, but this looks like a lawyerly demolition of the WH attempt to stop distribution of Bolton’s book. Note, btw, that the book has already been printed and distributed to reviewers, so, um, wtf?

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @Sab:

    So Borges wants to be sure Biden feels beholden to them and thus will become the president from MBNA? I don’t think Biden will, but it os concernimg.

    Borges is dumb.  You move the Democratic Party to the right by opposing it from the right.  That’s how the Overton Window works.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. A younger skew. This is my personal obsession because I once successfully got them for a school levy ballot measure :)

    I mean, if you’re going to go after Right leaning white suburban college educated women why not non-college? They vote at a lower rate but there are way more of them. I think they don’t like Trump because he’s mean. A nasty person.

  47. 47.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: Wow. That’s crazy.

    Meanwhile, I still have white progressive friends whinging about how disappointed they are that the ‘least qualified candidate’ won the nomination. (like, seriously – WTF – even if you don’t like the guy, to call the man with almost fifty years of public service, including 8 years as VP, the ‘least qualified candidate’ is tone-deaf to the point of being insulting.)

    And I’m agreeing with Jen Rubin these days. Or she’s agreeing with me.

    WTF…am I going to be making the leap from “NEOLIBERAL!!11!!” to NeoCon in one spectacular bound?//

  48. 48.

    Sab

    @Kay: Yes. And I do believe that two parties are necessary. I’d rather have deWine and Husted types running the Republican Party than Trump or Pence types.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @Sab:

    I’m wary not because I think the Never Trumpers are ideological, but because I think some of them will be grifters. Specializing in “turnout” is any easy grift. No one knows you failed until after they’ve paid you. At least with the Lincoln Project you see the ads. There’s no way to measure “turnout efforts” while they’re (supposedly) going on.

  53. 53.

    different-church-lady

    @Miss Bianca:  She’s agreeing with you. It might be temporary, or her revulsion at what Trumpism has wrought might make her a permanent convert a la Cole.

  55. 55.

    catclub

    @MattF: ummm, haven’t there been lawlerly demolitions of all the arguments Trump and the DOJ have used to stop compliance with a subpeona by his accountant (not him) and his bank( also not him) and so far, nobody has turned over tax documents?

     

    Trump is winning with delay on these.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Miss Bianca:

    am I going to be making the leap from “NEOLIBERAL!!11!!” to NeoCon in one spectacular bound?

    I wasn’t here when Cole converted, but I’ll be here when he converts back.

  58. 58.

    catclub

    @Kay: There’s no way to measure “turnout efforts” while they’re (supposedly) going on.

     

    unless you got a handle on new registrations data. match it up with zip codes where they are claiming to be concentrating.

     

    New registrations might be tougher for the GOP.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

    I was going for a “Where the white women at?” joke, but I kind of like this answer to the line.

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: The genuine spectre of death has a refreshingly clarifying effect on which voices are given attention. I’m sure the dead-enders are still out there, but the signal has become so much greater  (and mor important) than any noise they can generate.

  61. 61.

    BBA

    Cuomo’s decision to order nursing homes to accept COVID patients released from hospitals probably isn’t the sole cause of New York’s high figures, but it certainly can’t have helped.

    I think back to December, when my grandfather lost his balance and fell twice in one week, and both times he was rushed from his assisted living facility to a hospital. He had late-stage dementia and the second time it happened, I was dispatched to prevent him from wandering off. After a few hours of miserably waiting around in the ER with an empty shell of a man who kept trying to climb off his stretcher, only to scream and curse in pain whenever he did, I was wondering what the point of all this was. The rest of my family agreed with my assessment and we had him enter hospice care a few days later. He passed away in April, a month into the lockdown, possibly of COVID but he was already dying.

    I’m sure these unnecessary hospital trips happen every day, or did before the lockdowns started. It’s a massive waste and it spread infectious diseases long before COVID emerged from Wuhan Lombardy. But Medicare pays for it, and any suggestion that maybe sometimes it shouldn’t is met by screams of DEATH PANELS!!!1!, so we’re stuck with this.

    Now add COVID and even without Cuomo’s order it’s a recipe for disaster. And with the order, even assuming that each nursing home was capable of taking proper precautions and that each patient released from a hospital had recovered to the point where they were no longer contagious, you’re still creating a lot of unnecessary physical contact and interaction within nursing homes, which necessarily means the virus will spread.

    Cuomo isn’t a hero, he just looks that way because compared to Trump and de Blasio anyone looks good.

  62. 62.

    MattF

    @catclub: Maybe. Trump thinks he’s winning, but his three-second attention span means he’s entirely unfamiliar with the concept of a ‘cumulative effect’. The fact that the books are all printed and, right now, are in the hands of reviewers, makes it all appear more untethered to reality than usual

    ETA: Ms Petri on the three-second attention span.

  63. 63.

    zzyzx

    @Kay: you’re lucky. I’m in the Phish fan world and there’s a ton of Biden bashing still. It’s not as bad as 2016, but there’s tons of worst case reading of his statements going on.

  65. 65.

    OhMy

    Oh My, from another planet entirely…

    Word choice. Not being a DeSantis devotee, I’m not clear, Is he of Maroon descent?

    Or was Maroon another way of saying Moron?

    In the age of Terrorists protesting, led by ANTIFA provocateurs, clarity helps me understand.

    “From the introduction of African slaves until the nineteenth century, from the rain forests of South… to the wetlands of Florida, fugitive slaves and their descendants formed their own independent communities. These people were called maroons by the English”

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TS (the original): Cuomo’s reaction to the anti-police-brutality protests lost him a lot of the liberal goodwill he’d been accumulating in recent months. Before that, there was concern-troll buzz about Cuomo being a possible dark-horse primary threat to Biden.

  67. 67.

    Patricia Kayden

    Yes, we are coming for your antebellum symbolism…your statues, your flags, your syrup, all of it…and there is nothing you can do about it. Nothing.There's a reason it's called the Lost Cause…bc it was the product of losers. Losers then. Losers now. Losers always.— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) June 17, 2020

  69. 69.

    cain

    What did John Cole do!? Black women twitter is pissed off at a j.cole! More seriously, a black musician apparently had some lyrics that black women had objections to and it’s been interesting watching black men getting smacked around around. Role reversal is somewhat jarring given the outpouring of empathy for black lives – and black men.

    I made the comment that the introspection by black folks doesn’t seem to be happening at all in the indian community – and one of my friends nailed it – Indians benefit from white supremacy or from the system because we are the ‘good’ race – we tend to identify more strongly with white people than say other brown people. I must say from personal experience that seems to be true.

  71. 71.

    EmanG

    This might be a bit off topic but I’ve just seen a new term being used by the tRump campaign in their fundraising emails. I just received one with the following sentences: “First, they support tens of thousands of ANTIFA THUGS DESTROYING our communities. And now, they try to COVID-SHAME us for holding rallies at only a fraction of the people?”

    Yup, COVID-SHAMING is now a thing. Gods help us all…

  72. 72.

    bemused

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    I’ve never been to BWCA even though it is only about 50 miles away but we live in the great north woods which may not be as untouched but still a lovely place to be.
    Moose aren’t afraid of much so getting too close to them is not advisable particularly when they have babies to protect or worse, the autumn mating season. A kid and spouse camped on Madeline Island one September and they and two other couples were scared out of their minds when a rutting moose destroyed a tree in the middle of the night where they were camping.

  75. 75.

    mdblanche

    the New York Times, where James Bennett’s career died for our sins

    James Bennett’s career died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    I think they don’t like Trump because he’s mean. A nasty person.

    A lot of obnoxious people on the right described Hillary as being like their harridan ex-wife, but it seems like there’s a lot of mileage in portraying Trump as the ex-husband who left you for a newer model.  It should work well, since he is currently on wife #3.  And his general behavior is like the asshole ex who’s always going to court to try to reduce his childcare payments.

  78. 78.

    Anonymous At Work

    Two things:

    1. DeSantis’s office controls the numbers.  He’s doing a better job cooking the books than Kemp et alia, but I don’t trust him to produce accurate numbers
    2. Florida has a WAY overbuilt hospital system, so that we have too many hospital beds normally.
  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @sheila in nc:

    My complaint was about the COVID tracking web sites.  Some states provide good data, but there’s a tendency for the aggregator websites to go with a lowest common denominator and leave out information they can’t get easily from every state.

  80. 80.

    Barbara

    @MattF: It was aparently approved by the NSC in April. Not sure what the process is, but Bolton and S&S seem to have followed it. Fig leaf to try to deflect bad stuff by accusing Bolton of undermining national security?

  81. 81.

    Searcher

    It is way, way too early to judge the overall performance of various states in response to COVID-19.

    Well, aside from saying when some states are currently doing something stupid.

    This situation is analogous to driving down an icy road.  Some states spun out quickly, and some — like New York — did a pretty good job of steering into the skid and getting things back under control.  That’s impressive, in its own way, but it will be less impressive if they immediately hit the gas, spin out again, and hit a tree a couple of miles down the road.

    Meanwhile other drivers immediately slowed down and pulled over, congratulated themselves for not spinning out like New York, and are now spitting up gravel in their haste to get back on the road.

    There’s a long, icy road ahead of us, and until we’re past it, I’m not going to give anyone too much credit for not yet sliding off a cliff.

  82. 82.

    mad citizen

    I love the word “maroon”.  Wonder if there is video of Bugs Bunny interspersing the F-word in “What a maroon!” ?

    I have never got the idea of “convincing X demographic who voted Trump last time to vote for the D this time”.  If you have even half a brain and cannot recognize the disastrous outcomes Dear Leader has directed on almost every single issue and aspect of life in these United States, then dog be with you, but I wonder how you even feed yourself.

  83. 83.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @TS (the original): Connecticut’s governor gives a daily briefing. I believe by the start of this week 354,445 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Connecticut, and we have had a total 4204 deaths.  We just started Phase 2 of reopening today which includes:

    Amusement park, Hotels, Indoor dining, Indoor museums, zoos and aquariums, Indoor recreation including bowling, movie theaters, Libraries, Outdoor events, personal services including nail salons, tattoo parlors, Sports and fitness facilities including gyms, fitness centers, pools.  No bars.

    The rules include detailed information about physical distancing, facility capacity, hygiene, sanitizing, signage, personal protective equipment, scheduling, and training.

  84. 84.

    Barbara

    @Kay: I bet more than a few have personally worked for a man who reminds them of Trump — a blowhard know it all who is the boss only because his dad built the business and who is always insulting female employees when not actually trying to stiff them. My mother worked for someone exactly like this.

  87. 87.

    Fleeting Expletive

    I’m listening to Tulsa officials in a live press conference about the Saturday hatefest.  A city councilwoman said she had gone down the line of the people already camped out (!).  At the front of the line, a couple from Ohio, then folks from Illinois, NY, more Ohio people and then “one of our homeless population” and then people from actual OKlahoma. Those at the front are true groupies attending their 10th, 12th and 21st Trumpy rallies.  The Oklahoma folks were on their second.

    What the fuck, man.

  88. 88.

    Roger Moore

    @mad citizen:

    I think a big problem with getting people who voted for Trump last time is that they’re unwilling to admit they made a mistake.  Even if they are willing to acknowledge on some level that the country is going to hell, they’ll do anything to avoid admitting Trump is at fault.  This is a big goal of all Trump’s spin and blame-shifting; it gives people who don’t want to admit they made a mistake by voting for him a reason to stay in denial.  So part of getting people to change their mind is giving them a way to admit their mistake without it destroying their self-image.

  90. 90.

    Martin

    NYTimes has excellent data. To their credit, they used their resources to get that information when the federal government chose to do nothing.

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    @cain:

    Late boomers are in their mid-50s. Fuck off.

    And, yes, clearly the only thing wrong with Cuomo is that he’s a boomer. ? Everybody seems to forget that, while he has been good in the coronavirus crisis, for much of his career he was an authoritarian dick.

  95. 95.

    PAM Dirac

    @Roger Moore:

    Trump has a lot of experience with legal stall tactics.

    Maybe, but the reporting I’ve read says that there is no request for an injunction or restraining order. Also, the publisher isn’t a party, so there isn’t anything that will stop them from shipping the books to stores. Even if they add the publisher, I suspect most of the books will be out the door and an injunction won’t stop what has already happened. Can’t see where the delay in getting the books out  can come from.

  96. 96.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Fleeting Expletive: Take a trip to Typhoid Trump’s Tulsa Throng Tweetup!

    Saturday Saturday Saturday!!!!

    It’s unsettling how obsessive Trump’s following is.  I know a lot of people ranging from those who were once only marginally politically engaged to partisans who always stayed on top of the news who have reached an unhealthy obsession nowadays.

    People I used to enjoy hanging watching TV with who now watch almost exclusively Fox News.  The constant drone of the sketchiest figures on Youtube coming heard through the wall or out of earphones.

  99. 99.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Roger Moore: I think a big problem with getting people who voted for Trump last time is that they’re unwilling to admit they made a mistake.  Even if they are willing to acknowledge on some level that the country is going to hell, they’ll do anything to avoid admitting Trump is at fault.  This is a big goal of all Trump’s spin and blame-shifting; it gives people who don’t want to admit they made a mistake by voting for him a reason to stay in denial.

    A lot of them were weirdly defensive in this way even before their votes were cast.  I recall one time with a friend of mine I always considered a fairly liberal guy complaining at how harsh Hillary Clinton’s attack ads were.  The ad in question was only Trump speaking interspersed with people making disapproving faces.

    If that crossed the line for some people, I don’t even want to think of where the line exists.

  100. 100.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Anonymous At Work: Depends on where you are in Florida on hospital beds being overbuilt. Here on the fringe of The Villages we are under built and one of the hospitals just did a large expansion. In September last year my mom was admitted to the hospital twice with a few days between admissions and spent 10 and 23 hours respectively waiting on a bed to open, and this was at the beginning of snowbird early arrival.

  102. 102.

    janesays

    James Bennet (one “t”) is a turd, but it’s doubtful he’ll ever be employed by Fox or OAN – his older brother is the Democratic senior U.S. Senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet. Can’t imagine either of them hiring anyone so closely related to an elected official who occasionally says mean things about their lord and savior Donald Trump.

  103. 103.

    Martin

    @Anonymous At Work: Way overbuilt needs to be pretty seriously qualified.

    The US averages 2.4 beds per 1000 people. Florida is at 2.6. Yes, that’s above the national average, and yes, being better than the national average is an exceptional feat for Florida, having enough beds to accommodate 0.24% of your population during a pandemic – particularly one that affects senior disproportionately – hardly qualifies as overbuilt.

    By comparison, much of western Europe is around 8 beds per 1000. Japan with an aging population like Florida is 13 beds.

    Florida has thus far (mostly by luck, from what anyone can tell) managed to keep from blowing up as badly as the greater NYC area, Detroit, etc. but considering that occupancy of hospital beds in the US tends to run around 60%, and you can improve that by banning elective surgeries, Florida has about 0.08% headroom on hospital beds by population.

    I can’t stress enough how much of a knife edge the US healthcare system traditionally operates on (efficiency!) and how quickly they will go from ‘getting by’ to ‘we’re fucked’ in any region, as NYC discovered. NY, btw, has more beds per capita than Florida.

    As a general rule, in the US, rural areas have more beds per capita than urban areas mainly because of travel times. You need hospitals to be geographically close to people and if you’re going to build a hospital for a small community, you’re going to build it to have the range of services needed and almost invariably provide more beds than necessary simply because a hospital half it’s size just doesn’t work properly. In urban areas, hospitals are abundant and close by (I have 6 large hospitals within 5 miles of my house and I don’t even live in a particularly urban area) but hospitals also have an upper bound on size before they struggle to work efficiently – mostly just managing the volume of people. So in order to keep a good bed ratio, you need to build more hospitals, and a 10 story urban hospital is fucking expensive to build. Our newest hospital was $700M.

  104. 104.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Sab:

     

    I do believe that two parties are necessary

    Theoretically, I agree. But I want 2020 to be the last year the GOP has a voice in American politics.

    Fucking baby snatchers. God damn them all.

  105. 105.

    janesays

    @TS (the original): Is he running for President 2024?

    I doubt it, but I could see him trying to remain NY governor for the rest of his working life, since there are no term limits (he’s been in that office for nearly ten years now).

  106. 106.

    Martin

    @PAM Dirac: The release is in what, 6 days? The books are already distributed. The publisher doesn’t hold them any longer, they’re either in transit or in the retailer distribution/warehouse. Surely Costco has it in their distribution system now, and probably some already in stores still on pallets way up above the prunes.

    Guaranteed every reviewer has it. They need enough time to read the book and then write their review to have it ready for embargo, which is usually just ahead of publication date if the publisher believes the reviews will help boost sales (or after if they believe it will hurt).

  108. 108.

    Martin

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: It’s unsettling how obsessive Trump’s following is

    They aren’t as bad as they seem. 19,000 people out of 300 million will exhibit pretty much any behavioral trait there is. Willing to bet there’s more than 19,000 people would go cannibal without any motivation. And the press is really fucking good at dialing in on the fringe on the right and mainstreaming them, making them seem more common than they actually are.

  109. 109.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Martin: That may be true as far as rally attendees, but I’ve been shocked how much this behavior has penetrated into my social circle and family life.

  110. 110.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    I know I’ve said this before but Democrats need a group to go after white working class women. I read that Trump’s support is slipping there.

    Agree completely but I would expand the category to white women, no college, to include those who are not working class.

  111. 111.

    hitchhiker

    @Martin:

    pallets way up above the prunes.

    Just admiring that turn of phrase. Carry on. I see from the twitterverse that Bolton’s book says trump asked President Xi to help him win reelection. I’m afraid I’m going to have to read the thing, but I can use an audible credit to do so for less than $13, so there’s that.

  113. 113.

    cain

    @Steeplejack: And, yes, clearly the only thing wrong with Cuomo is that he’s a boomer. ? Everybody seems to forget that, while he has been good in the coronavirus crisis, for much of his career he was an authoritarian dick.

    Andrew is 62, that puts him in boomer territory. The point was not to castigate boomers, but to actually have some diversity – if you’re going to lead a country of what will be millennials and gen zs – the majority of the work force, then it probably is good to have a representative that went through the shit millennials went through.

    Gen Xers don’t seem to care too much as a gen to do political stuff.

  116. 116.

    Steeplejack

    @cain:

    The point was not to castigate boomers, but to actually have some diversity [. . .].

    Sorry for missing the point of your subtle argument.

    God save us from more boomers running for President.

    I need to work on my “reading between the lines” skills. Oh, wait, it was one line.

  117. 117.

    James E Powell

    @catclub:

    Trump is winning with delay on these.

    My expectation is that the courts will continue to protect Trump until election day. They would never do that for a Democrat.

  119. 119.

    James E Powell

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    I recall one time with a friend of mine I always considered a fairly liberal guy complaining at how harsh Hillary Clinton’s attack ads were.

    Around the middle of summer of that horrible year, I ran out of patience for people who were working overtime to manufacture reasons not to vote for a woman for president.

    I have yet to meet a single Trump voter who will admit that he was wrong to vote for Trump. I have never met anyone who will admit they were wrong about Hillary. Same with the people who voted for Nader in 2000.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    @OhMy:

     

    Or was Maroon another way of saying Moron?

    Maroon is a quote from the great political philosopher Bugs Bunny, from when he said, after witnessing a feat of great stupidity: “What a maroon!”

    Where is your quote about the history of southern Africans being called Maroons by the “English” from?

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    @Steeplejack:

    Late boomers are in their mid-50s. Fuck off.

    I don’t think so. I’m a boomer, and I’ll be 70 my next birthday.

    Fuck me, I’m old and in acute pain with my back spasm, so send me happy thoughts!!

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @J R in WV: Demographically, the Baby Boom goes through 1964.  I was born in 1964.  I am currently 55.  I think that is pretty fucking mid-50s, don’t you?

    If you want to do arguments about when the baby boom ended culturally, I am all ears.  Until then and unless one specifies, the demographic definition is what one uses.

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