The Italian government is to lockdown the northern region of Lombardy, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A draft decree would extend the quarantined areas, so-called “red-zones”, ordering people not to enter or leave the region.
The country is grappling to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of Covid-19, which has claimed 233 lives and infected a total of 5,883 people.
Saturday, March 07, 2020
That's Kinda Serious
I have no idea what is right or wrong, but imagine the various dimensions of the US federal government closing the borders to a city or state.
Does This Reassure You
I still can't figure out how a bunch of 70-year-olds (our government) going on teevee and telling a bunch of other 70-year-olds (Fox News viewers) that the virus is no big deal because it only kills old people is a winning message. I, too, am conveniently readjusting my view of what is "old" as I age, but...
It Isn't Political If It Affects MEEEEEEE
No I am not wishing for an epidemic to hit Northern Virginia, but if the country is going to really be hit by one it is best it hits first where it might prod people into action.
Not like "anyone's" going to care if, I dunno, San Antonio is consumed by zombies.
Not like "anyone's" going to care if, I dunno, San Antonio is consumed by zombies.
Bullshit Your Way Through It
I'd like to think Trump can't bullshit his way through an epidemic, but Bush managed to bullshit his way through several years of war. Maybe the "over there" versus "over here" distinction matters, but he managed to bullshit his way through a lot of American body bags.
The tests are perfect! What about all the schools we are painting!*
*I get enraged whenever I remember that the political press ran with "our primary military mission is painting schools" thing for years.
The tests are perfect! What about all the schools we are painting!*
*I get enraged whenever I remember that the political press ran with "our primary military mission is painting schools" thing for years.
Friday, March 06, 2020
Conservatives Are Not Quite Right
Cunning plans.
If this virus turns out to be a major thing, we can be sure that Both Sides, but mostly the side out of power according to many sources feeding us text messages who we won't name, are to blame.
If this virus turns out to be a major thing, we can be sure that Both Sides, but mostly the side out of power according to many sources feeding us text messages who we won't name, are to blame.
Nothing Against The Fine People Of NoVa
The point is that official Washington is going to lose their shit as soon as one of elementary schools their kids are in has to close. As soon as theirs are threatened. Remember the DC sniper? That's when the pressure to take this seriously will be too much even for the Trumpkins.
Heroes
We should never forget the elites who actively worked for the 5th boats I mean the Michael Bloomberg campaign, but the lower level grifters are heroes.
Multiple people described elaborate schemes to undermine the campaign and help their favored candidates. As one staffer explained, “I would actively canvass for Bernie when I was supposed to be canvassing for Mike. I know of at least one team of ‘volunteers’ that was entirely fabricated by the organizers who had to hit their goals. It was easy enough to fudge the data to make it look like real people put in real volunteer work, when in reality Mike was getting nothing out of it.”
Heading To NoVa
Happy talk works until the virus makes it.
Larry Kudlow on coronavirus: ""I will still argue to you this is contained."
— Jeffrey S. Stein (@JStein_WaPo) March 6, 2020
Bullies
Around this time in 2016 I unsubscribed from various DC-related insidery (not important people, but people who work for important people, basically) email lists because of the bullying. My beautiful mind has been free of it all since! It wasn't Bernie Bros doing the bullying, and I wasn't even one myself (I planned to vote for Clinton all along and while I did actually vote for Bernie in my very late primary it was already over then and didn't matter).
You gotta have power to use it, and people in power do.
You gotta have power to use it, and people in power do.
NEARLY 17
There's a place for "almost 50" or "almost 1000" but NEARLY SEVENTEEN???
Missouri specific:
— Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) March 5, 2020
• ZERO confirmed cases
• Nearly 17 people have been tested
• Testing CAN be done in Missouri
• Prisons, nursing homes & mental health facilities are a concern
• Schools are always a concern, but young people to not appear to be as prone #COVID19
Thursday, March 05, 2020
They'll Be Back
Randomly occurs to me that while under Trump the CHRISTIAN Right has become more the christian Right. Just as powerful but a bit more quiet about Jesus for obvious reasons, but like Ralph Reed it'll rise from the ashes.
That Fucking Newspaper
If you want to know why Trump tells lies, this is why …
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 5, 2020
… sometimes if you say something untrue you can get a headline, a dek, and a two-paragraph lede repeating your lie only to have it debunked further down. pic.twitter.com/MZyb4MnuIC
The Ultimate Victory
Too many people in this country secretly yearn for Armageddon because they believe they are best equipped to survive it (gun nuts, preppers, end times christians (they will survive in the afterlife), rich people with their moats and castles) and then, for many of them, live out their dream of being the local feudal lord. The ultimate win in the video game of life.
Warren's Out
The only campaign I gave money to. I'll spare you the Hot Takes About The Campaign and just say she'd be a good president.
The Good News
I know some people believe that ANYBODY BUT TRUMP is an improvement and I will submit that quite possibly Trump is literally the worst human being this country has ever produced. But letting one party - hopefully the good one - be taken over in the space of 3 weeks by a not very good billionaire (Bloomberg really is the competent, educated Trump) with a huge history of personal sexism and racist policies would have quite possibly been a worse development than electing Trump in the first place. If the choice really was "let Bloomberg do this or Trump 2 is inevitable" that would be one thing, but I don't think that is/was in any way the case. We didn't "need" Bloomberg to beat Trump, and the degree to which he was received favorably by people in the general Dem party (not universally, fortunately) was more than a little disturbing.
But I seriously believe that drumming Michael Bloomberg out of politics saved democracy. Don’t let it be said that progressive messaging doesn’t work. It took on $500 million and won. And despite what anyone feels today, that was important. It will discourage other billionaires from looking in the mirror and seeing a president. It shows that voters have a limit, a breaking point, a line they refuse to cross. Regardless of what happens in the nominating race, we didn’t get the worst option in the choose-your-own-adventure book. And we have progressives to thank for the near-miss.
Tit For Tat
Dems in the House have to be ready to immediately hit Don Jr., Ivanka and Jared with subpoenas if Senate revives the Hunter Biden B.S. if we’re going to have kids day on the Hill, let’s level the playing field
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) March 4, 2020
DC brain, man. We're gonna make the point that going after the Bidens is politically motivated by doing the same things ourselves!!!
Of course the whole Trump crime family deserves to be thrown in the pokey, but this isn't to "level the playing field" or to be used as some sort of threat.
And none of these people are "kids." Stop it.
The press needs their "both sides" and we're going to give it to them and loudly announce it!!!
Get these people away from politics.
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Brand Democrat
Democrats built up a brand over the past few years which involved increased minority inclusion/hostility to racism and racist policies, having a harder line against misogyny especially in the metoo era, being somewhat uncomfortable with big money in politics, and being at least slightly less inclined to crown a billionaire king than the other party. We can acknowledge "they" (there is no they, precisely) are a bit full of shit about all of this like everything, but being open to Bloomberg coming in and buying the whole thing just because he could would have shattered whatever brand they have. And for what? To line a bunch of people's pockets. Dems don't need that fortune to beat Trump and Bloomberg's hardly the obvious candidate America has been crying out for.
Did You Know That Trump Is Gross And Bad?
Happy to be wrong but pretty sure that's the campaign Democrats want to run and, well, yes, people know that (if there's any chance they will agree).
Brought To You By The People Who Brought You 2016
And they did such a good job. Huzzah.
8 months of Joe talking about his "good friends, the Republicans" as they're trying to put his son in jail and The Resistance wondering why their favorite newspaper, The New York Times, is running with bullshit on the front page every single day because nobody remembers that "but her emails" is a criticism of that newspaper.
Joe's gonna malaprop and gaffe every 5 minutes - mostly harmless, of course - and people are going to be very confused when this is more important than the 3 years of president brain worms barely speaking English.
Yes the media is going to be bullshit to any Democratic candidate, but some people understand this and some people think their best friend was somehow to blame.
No it isn't over.
8 months of Joe talking about his "good friends, the Republicans" as they're trying to put his son in jail and The Resistance wondering why their favorite newspaper, The New York Times, is running with bullshit on the front page every single day because nobody remembers that "but her emails" is a criticism of that newspaper.
Joe's gonna malaprop and gaffe every 5 minutes - mostly harmless, of course - and people are going to be very confused when this is more important than the 3 years of president brain worms barely speaking English.
Yes the media is going to be bullshit to any Democratic candidate, but some people understand this and some people think their best friend was somehow to blame.
No it isn't over.
Tuesday, March 03, 2020
Believing Their Own Bullshit
Obama believed he was charming (haha sorry mr. Kenyan Muslim you can't charm everyone) and popular (you basically disbanded your movement, dumbass, nobody cares what David Brooks thinks of you) and compromising (true!) enough that he could get Republicans to join him in a glorious bipartisan American empire. Biden thinks that because his good Republican friends never shivved him in the Senate locker room (and because he'll give them almost everything they want) that he'll succeed where his best friend, Barack Obama, failed, for reasons he never quite explains (clang).
I don't think the audience for bipartisan fetishism is what it was, but I will grant it did have an audience once upon a time. But if politicians spouting it didn't believe their own bullshit, it might be reasonable campaign rhetoric. Too many of them do believe it, and when the rhetoric fails (hi Claire!) to get them elected they believe, "oh, well, Republicans would vote for me but AOC and some mean people online turned them off." That excuse is hilarious, but even if it's *true* that it's hard to run a bipartisan fetish campaign when the entire rest of the country isn't precisely on message with you, then perhaps it just isn't a viable strategy. You can't shush the meanies on the internet. Just the way things are.
I don't think the audience for bipartisan fetishism is what it was, but I will grant it did have an audience once upon a time. But if politicians spouting it didn't believe their own bullshit, it might be reasonable campaign rhetoric. Too many of them do believe it, and when the rhetoric fails (hi Claire!) to get them elected they believe, "oh, well, Republicans would vote for me but AOC and some mean people online turned them off." That excuse is hilarious, but even if it's *true* that it's hard to run a bipartisan fetish campaign when the entire rest of the country isn't precisely on message with you, then perhaps it just isn't a viable strategy. You can't shush the meanies on the internet. Just the way things are.
Tweety
I don't really understand why "this" was the last straw for Chris Matthews, as he has been Chris Matthews forever.
Joe Biden, Reporting For Duty
The "establishment" has finally made their choice.
At least until they panic and make a different one next week. They are rich, fickle, and, dumb. Mostly.
At least until they panic and make a different one next week. They are rich, fickle, and, dumb. Mostly.
Monday, March 02, 2020
This Fucking Newspaper
Three years after liberals pinned their hopes on her as a bridge within the Trump White House, Ivanka Trump has registered as a Republican, defends her father over impeachment and goes on Hannity’s show. https://t.co/g8ikc8tGo0
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 2, 2020
THAT WAS YOU, MAGGIE!!!
Jesus fucking Christ.
In It To Win It
When there are many pieces on the board everyone gets a bit of a pass (except bloomberg's people), but now everyone with platform and power needs to own their choices. If you're getting behind someone who doesn't beat Trump, well... you built that!
Nothing to Worry About
The NoVa virus shield will keep all the important people, and their children, safe
BREAKING: The CDC has stopped disclosing the number of Americans tested for coronavirus.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 2, 2020
On the left is how the website looked last night. On the right is what it looks like now, with the testing info removed.
The lack of testing is a scandal.
This is the coverup. pic.twitter.com/za5w9dkEKq
There's No Magical Virus Shield around NoVa
Also wealthy people are the ones who tend to travel.
(CNN)As new cases of coronavirus arise daily in the United States -- including several announced over the weekend and one death -- the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has failed to release crucial information physicians say could help save the lives of Americans diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.Too often I find myself thinking "LOL NOTHING'S GOING TO MATTER UNTIL AFFECTS RICH PEOPLE IN MEDIA OR THEIR FRIENDS" but LOL NOTHING's...
Several US patients have recovered from coronavirus, but so far, the CDC has shared detailed clinical information about only one of those patients. That information includes what treatments the patients received and how they fared.
American Oligarchs
Making Mike Bloomberg the Dem candidate would be... bad. Very bad. I honestly don't know how the country could recover from that, and yes I say that given Trump is president.
Morning Thread
Reading that there are now confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Florida and New York City. Genie is definitely out of the bottle.
Sunday, March 01, 2020
What Was That All About
Perhaps Pete's next move will answer the question, but pivoting from "doing amazingly well without people hating you" to "doing amazingly well with people hating you" was a strange primary strategy for a long shot campaign. Don't think going from fake liberal to vocal anti-liberal ("While better things aren't possible, the possible things are better" or some shit in petespeak) won him any votes but certainly made some people (me!) actively dislike him. The point of a long shot campaign is to lose well in preparation for the next round.
Bye, Mayo
New! BREAKING @PeteButtigieg to announce he is out of the presidential race, his staff now hearing the news in campaign call, sources tell us.
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) March 1, 2020
The Hottest Takes Of All
Blogging is extra sucky during primary season because (almost) every time I have a Primary-Related Hot Take I go bash my head into the wall for awhile until I forget to post it.
Shouldn't Take This
That someone can send you court enforceable random bills with completely made up numbers that they never have to justify should already be criminal fraud but...
America criminal health care system will be in full evidence when a lot of low level medical staffers get infected and put in ICU at their nearby hospitals and are then hit with massive bills for treating from their hospitals for an illness they got from the hospital.
— Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) March 1, 2020
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