This is an excellent ad. From what I’ve read this morning, it looks like even a few Republicans (useless Marco Rubio being one of them) are now thinking that maybe softly hinting around about masks is a good idea, now that the hospitals are almost full and they’re a couple weeks from people dying in the streets.
Open thread.
Baud
What are those filters people put in cloth masks? Are they useful?
SiubhanDuinne
Excellent ad on more than one level. I’m glad to have seen it.
Raoul
I am so fucking angry.
Gov Abbott can just eat shit. The largest hospital in Houston is nearly maxed for ICU beds and projects that surge capacity can only be sustained for 12 days.
God awful cowboy bullshit (the Republican politicians, not the hospitals).
Chief Oshkosh
Great ad! BTW, the first woman is a pilot (among other things!):
https://youtu.be/fK0LvmurKbU
germy
Did Jim Jordan wear a mask at all during yesterday’s hearings?
I only watched some of it before I was called away.
Betty Cracker
I did a grocery run yesterday, and maybe 10%-15% of the customers were wearing masks, the lowest I’ve seen since this shit-show started. The danger has passed here in FL — hallelujah!
NotMax
Picturing Rubio hurriedly jamming a bottle of water to his lips while forgetting he has a mask on.
JPL
@Baud: I use a cone shape coffee filter when shopping where social distance isn’t possible. Because of the summer heat, I am trying to avoid having to use a filter.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Son, DIL and little imp are driving to the pan handle area today until Monday. They have been super careful so far, but I’m not sure how they plan on staying safe.
Baud
@JPL: What do the filters add to the cloth?
JPL
@Baud: Mine has a slot to insert the filter in and it adds an additional protection layer. Not quite the N95 level but close
Baud
@JPL: Thanks.
germy
My local supermarket has a “masks required” sign on the door. Sometimes they position a young cashier to check compliance, sometimes not.
Last time I was there I saw an elderly man with his mask off, arguing with cashiers. I guess he wore it to gain entry and then slipped it off once inside.
Second time I’ve seen him do this actually. I actually hope they ban him.
JPL
scotus rulings today
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: I looked at the responses to one of the tweets highlighted in the daily CV updates, and, basically, people have convinced themselves of one and/or two things:
Increased availability of testing clearly is unearthing a higher number of infections, but the stability of the death rate convinces adherents of number 1 that they are correct. The lag time of hospitalizations and deaths is just something they don’t account for. And, I guess, they just don’t care if at risk people end up getting infected too.
NotMax
@Barbara
“Being hospitalized. It’s just like a vacation!”
//
germy
patrick II
@Barbara:
A key issue, especially if it interferes with their freedoms.
JPL
Only one ruling today and it has to do with immigrants rights for due process. The Supreme Court overruled the ninth 7-2
Betty Cracker
@Barbara: I talked to my mother-in-law yesterday to make sure she’s still playing it safe, and she is, thank dog. She lives in a 55+ development near The Villages of the Darned (major GOP stronghold in FL).
It sounds like the folks in her community get that there’s still a huge amount of danger, probably because they’re in the highest risk group so they have personal reasons to ignore the Fox propaganda. I really do think this explains why Trump is losing senior support.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
Praise Jibbers! And here I thought Florida was run by science-denying morons!
MagdaInBlack
Granted I dont go out much; groceries, walgreens, pu a pizza; but here in Chicago nw suburbs, everyone Ive seen inside is wearing a mask.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
O’DoyleSCOTUS rules!mrmoshpotato
@JPL: Ruled for or against due process for immigrants?
Ladyraxterinok
Is that 1st woman a Thalimide Baby?
OT WV governor fires person supplying virus case info. Just saw this
schrodingers_cat
@germy: Not the pandemic it was the election of 2016 that turned me into a person who swears a lot.
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: There is no doubt in my mind that Republicans displaying such a cavalier attitude towards people who are at risk because of age has had an impact on how the elderly weigh the two parties. Suddenly finding yourself not worth protecting must be rather disorienting for the class of voters whose interests have long been prioritized. Even Republican proposals to gut social programs are usually ultra careful to leave current beneficiaries alone.
O. Felix Culpa
@MagdaInBlack: Here in Santa Fe County (NM), we had great mask compliance UNTIL the f*ckn tourists from Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas started arriving. Being the strongly Murkin manly men (women and children) that they are — no masks. The locals are in uproar and rightly so. I sequester at home, only to dash into Trader Joe’s every 7-10 days.
JPL
@mrmoshpotato: Against asylum seekers. Ginsberg was part of the majority which is disappointing.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: LOL. It was my divorce that started my descent into swearing and Trump’s election clinched it. I am now an official potty mouth and fuck if I care.
Geminid
@O. Felix Culpa: Curious: it sounds like you are not in her district, but are you following Xochitl Torres-Small’s reelection contest? How is she looking? I read that she was rated 2nd most vulnerable freshman Democrat.
Ladyraxterinok
OT Justice Sotomeyer was born on this date—1 month after May 17, 1954 SCOTUS verdict on Brown v Board!!
Omnes Omnibus
@JPL: It was a fairly technical decision about the reach of Habeas Corpus Act remedies for some asylum seekers.
O. Felix Culpa
@Geminid: I’m not in Xochitl’s district, but she is very vulnerable. She won by a squeaker in 2018 and the Republicans are pouring tons of money into that election. Her seat was previously held by Steve Pearce, an odious man who is now Chair of the NM Republican Party. Please donate to her campaign if you can. Also, most campaigning will be virtual, so volunteering to phone bank or provide other virtual support can be done from anywhere. Democrats throughout New Mexico are going to do their best to support her reelection.
Central Planning
@Baud: My wife made cloth masks with an opening on the bottom if you wanted to stick in a filter. Filters (well, the vacuum bag ones I tried) make these homemade masks almost impossible to breathe through.
Calouste
@germy: Tell the supermarket that you’ll be shopping somewhere else if they are not willing to force people to wear masks in their store.
Ladyraxterinok
Also OT On June25 1950 No Korea invaded So Korea
UN Security Council voted to aid So Korea militarily. They were able to do this because Soviet Union had walked out some time earlier. They were one o.f 5 permanent members of the Council
It was said they vowed never to walk out again. And they didn’t!
Central Planning
@Calouste: I went to the post office the other day to ensure my absentee ballot got post marked. The USPS employees were not wearing masks :/
Sure Lurkalot
@Baud: I make 2 layer cotton masks that are decent for walks and outdoor excursions. Recently I’ve been making the second layer a pocket (basically open on the sides) and slide in a layer of polypropylene fabric (the stuff used for non-disposable grocery bags) which I sew into easy form to line in between. I wear these masks when I go to the grocery, pretty much the only place I’m indoors for more than 5 minutes.
Is this effective? Who knows. N95 masks are polypropylene based, but certainly far different. Still, it is breathable and wearable for the time frame of relatively short trips for supplies.
Kay
The restaurant shouldn’t make exceptions for Trump’s coddled, vain snowflakes. It isn’t fair to the other patrons.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ladyraxterinok:
She looks too young, to my eyes anyway. The great majority of Thalidomide babies would be in their late 50s/early 60s now. But I suppose it’s possible.
Kay
This constant lowering of the bar for GOP elected officials is bad. They’re contributing to the public accepting really low quality cowards in public office.
DeWine is a Republican. He somehow managed to gather the courage to take action on public health and he has a 72% approval rating. They didn’t require “cover”. They’re just really bad at their jobs.
Mike in NC
A few items from the local rag today:
(1) We live in a beach community that depends heavily on temporary summer hiring. It’s been this way for decades, and typically thousands of young people from abroad come here to make a few bucks and try out their English skills. Well, since Fat Bastard and Stephen Miller don’t want any icky foreigners polluting Our Great Country, no visas are being issued and local businesses are hurting because they can’t hire enough employees.
(2) The IRS sent out stimulus payments to thousands of prison inmates across Our Great Country, but now has decided the states need to claw back that money, even though there is no mechanism in place to do so and there is also apparently no legal basis to take away that money. Just stupidity and cruelty for its own sake.
(3) The European Union has in place guidelines for allowing foreign citizens to enter its member countries, but it seems that Americans will not qualify for the foreseeable future thanks to Fat Bastard’s decision to pretend the CV-19 virus is a hoax and will just go away when it gets hot enough in Our Great Country.
(4) Even a far right lunatic like columnist Cal Thomas is losing his patience with Fat Bastard’s deranged antics, describing his recent Oklahoma hate rally, “Toxic In Tulsa”.
So much winning our heads can’t take it all in. Welcome to TrumpWorld!
rikyrah
@Kay:
That is who they are.
SiubhanDuinne
Of the two grocery stores where I shop (a Kroger and a Publix), everyone — customers and staff — are really good about wearing masks. But customers are terrible about following the one-way arrows, and just blatantly ignore the “Wrong Way – Do Not Enter” signs at the ends of aisles. I know we’re not used to looking down in a supermarket, but it’s not difficult to train yourself to check.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I am bad about that, and sometimes find myself going the wrong way because I am not looking down. In my defense, I only go to the grocery store every 3-4 weeks, and training yourself to do something in a situation you are almost never in isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Once I notice one of the arrows, then I am reminded, but I always screw it up at least once each time I shop.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: The Publix that I shop at is not busy early in the morning, but that will change when school opens.
Geminid
@O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for the report. I’ll do what I can for Torres-Small. That district needs a good Representative. It’s beautiful country, but there is a lot of poverty. Torres-Small co-sponsored legislation fully funding work on National Parks and Monuments, which will mean money for her district.
O. Felix Culpa
@Geminid: Thank you!
otmar
Regarding wearing a mask, this is how you do real leadership:
The Austrian President riding in the tram wearing a mask.
terry chay
@Baud: The are PM2.5 filters for pollution.They help. But any barrier that can trap or redirect water vapor helps, even a little cloth helps a lot.
If available for your mask, I would use it. Remember it is mostly about limiting the spread from you. You wearing masks are for them and them wearing masks are for you.
TomatoQueen
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Ladyraxterinok:
The tragic history of Thalidomide is usually described as confined to Europe, as it was not prescribed in the US. However, this not paywalled FNYT link shows it was tested in clinical trials here. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/health/thalidomide-fda-documents.html. An FDA scientist named Frances Oldham Kelsey is credited with stopping its approval in the US. No matter what, it’s an ugly story. There is a German bass-baritone (whose name escapes me as usual) profiled years ago on 60 Minutes who has an astonishing, glorious voice and is a Thalidomide patient.
Cheryl from Maryland
@TomatoQueen: When my husband started working at the FDA in 1998, Dr. Kelsey was still there and a legend. She was allowed to be a part of the FDA for as long as she wanted, which was until she was 90. Alas, she passed in 2015.
BruceFromOhio
Doesn’t work. The smart ones already get it and won’t need prodding. The covidiots gotta get kicked out out of the supermarket or the restaurant or gym so they can protest some more, and then die or have someone they love die. That’s the path out of this.
Even if Preznit Shitwhistle put on a mask TODAY and started hammering the ‘mask or die’ message TODAY, the cultists would still resist. Gaia is culling the herd, and she’s using Darwin’s theories to do it. The rest of us just have to stay the fuck outta the way until this thing burns through and out.
BruceFromOhio
@schrodingers_cat: Cokie Roberts covering the 2000 election did it for me.
leeleeFL
@schrodingers_cat: As a native New Yorker, swearing has been my preferred language for decades. Since 2016 it has gotten more frequent, and I care less if it offends, so there’s that
Jay
@Baud:
masks with a pocket for filters. The filters “depend”. I use a 3M furnace filter in mine, cut to fit. It filters out everything larger than 2 microns.
the SARS-Covid 19 virus is much smaller than 2 microns, at 50-200 nanometres, but it will filter out almost all droplets.
Mohagan
@Raoul: I just learned that Houston has the world’s largest medical center. Wow.
CapnMubbers
@TomatoQueen: Thomas Quasthoff. Glorious voice indeed.