Saturday, March 14, 2020
Apocalypse Fiction
Expert On Everything
It's amazing. There are online and broadcast commentators who one moment are go-to experts on cabinet reshuffles, HS2 and antisemitism and the next on pandemics and the symptoms of coronavirus. We are so lucky to have them. I hope they get well paid.
— Michael Rosen (@MichaelRosenYes) March 14, 2020
The couple times I have been asked to contribute myself to a possibly (possibly) lucrative career as a TV or radio pundit I have declined. I suppose it's hard to resolve the "no I am not an expert on everything" stance with what I do on this dumb blog, but I do my best here not to offer myself up as an expert on things I am not an expert about. When someone points the camera in your face you can't make that caveat clear.
I have opinions on everything like the rest of you, but this is just a dumb blog.
Apocalypse Now
Friday, March 13, 2020
I Have Opinions
Message: I Am Competenet
Virus: You're fired!
Big Sweaty Mess
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Supposed To Be
“The lack of testing in the United States is a debacle,” said Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s Chan School and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. “We’re supposed to be the best biomedical powerhouse in the world and we’ve been unable to do something that every other country has been able to do.”
Lessons Taught But Never Learned
Everybody's Got Something To Hide But Me And My Monkey
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Gotta Hide The Grift
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.Plus racism, of course.
The One Thing I Truly Believe Even Though I Have No Evidence
Build That Wall
*TRUDEAU: U.S. A MAJOR SOURCE OF POTENTIAL VIRUS TRANSMISSION
— Sarah Rappaport (@SarahRapp) March 11, 2020
A not very improbable development is that the US, given our incompetence, becomes the world's pariah and effectively quarantined.
OK Boomers
So you think you COVID-19. Now what?
— NPR (@NPR) March 11, 2020
Don’t panic — it’s still cold and flu season. Call your doctor if your symptoms get worse. Stay home and self-isolate. But most importantly: stay informed about what’s happening. https://t.co/88RJuyfrc7
A quarter of the population is living on Earth-2.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
We're In Our Base Killing Our Base
Fox anchor Ed Henry on coronavirus deaths in Florida: "There have been 18 cases of COVID-19, two people, sadly, have died, but both of those residents were elderly and had traveled internationally. So when you hear the context, it's not quite as scary" pic.twitter.com/5aRW09WP1S
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 10, 2020
The Power of Positive Thinking
Trump to reporters on Hill after meeting with GOP senators: “Stay calm. It will go away”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 10, 2020
Hope
Fixing the Economy
Haha it's gonna happen.
Don't Talk About The War
Biden on MSNBC last night said of his vote for the Iraq War, "I didn't believe he had those nuclear weapons. I didn't believe he had those weapons of mass destruction."
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) March 10, 2020
He said his vote was for inspectors to prove they didn't have WMDs.
This isn't backed by our reporting. pic.twitter.com/O3Tq0Ihzxt
Lots of savvy people are going to spend the next several months telling us to ignore Biden when he lies (he lies a lot) or that he didn't mean what he plainly said and welp...
Hype Man
Monday, March 09, 2020
Patient Zero
New: The CPAC attendee w/ coronavirus didn't just have general admission, but a higher-level ticket which gave him special access. CPAC staff are in direct contact w/ the patient & are relying on his memories, as well as their own, to reconstruct his experience at the conference.
— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) March 9, 2020
...oops, report says "him" so "his" not his/her.
Getting Closer
"Move Through The Population"
On #COVID2019, @BorisJohnson said:
— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) March 8, 2020
“One of the theories is perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go & allow #coronvirus to move through the population without really taking as many draconian measures.”
This is a CRAZY theory! #COVID19pic.twitter.com/usABMckLqf
Shitpost Your Way Through It
During the Bush era, @mikeallen told me every administration spin was either Nothing To See Here! or Look At The Shiny Ball! Feels like Nothing To See Here! has run its course, shiny balls are about to start appearing everywhere.
— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) March 9, 2020
Stonks
Run Away
I think a recess is a good idea because politics is threating to break out and it must be contained before it does https://t.co/sOxM4buAQ1
— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) March 9, 2020
Sunday, March 08, 2020
Farce
What’s most worrying here is that many US energy companies are levered up to their necks in debt that’s been securitized.
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) March 8, 2020
The possibility that a COVID19-induced recession would cause those companies to default was a major danger. Now the Saudis are pushing them to the brink. https://t.co/X7Cm4wQ1Vp
Reality Bites
How hard is it to just tell the CDC to "do whatever." They probably have some idea. And the problem isn't Trump, though he certainly isn't bringing even the conservative A game. They are unable to not fuck things up. It's just Republican governance.
We're In Our Base Killing Our Base
NEW YORK (AP) — The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan this week as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but they have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.
Great Moments In Real Genius
Virality of C19 is overstated due to conflating diagnosis date with contraction date & over-extrapolating exponential growth, which is never what happens in reality. Keep extrapolating & virus will exceed mass of known universe!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 8, 2020
Gotta Keep The Numbers Down
A federal strike team of nurses and doctors arrived Saturday to support the staff at the long-term nursing home, Life Care Center of Kirkland, Wash., where officials have announced the deaths of 13 residents and a visitor who were infected with the virus. Tim Killian, a spokesman for the care center, praised the workers who continued to show up even as 70 of the nursing home’s 180 employees have developed symptoms.
“The amount of work and stress that these staff and employees and caregivers are under is tremendous,” Mr. Killian said. “They truly are heroes.”
Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Killian said that the center was still unable to get all of its staff members tested for coronavirus. The home had received 45 virus testing kits, Mr. Killian said, which was not enough for the 63 remaining residents and dozens of staff members.