Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant “Interim Health Officer” of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Saturday, May 09, 2020
Oh, Elon
Having another normal weekend.
Some Experts Agree
Amazing! NYT found someone to clean up Trump’s “tests aren’t great because they tell you that you’re sick” argument. pic.twitter.com/1xvPpqsL9w
— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) May 9, 2020
President stable genius is super smart, because he understands that tests can't tell you that you're sick if you aren't yet sick.
What a garbage paper. Make sure you get a quote from someone to show that the president is not a dumbass!
Monkeysphere
The only reason "we" are taking this as seriously as we have been (which, depending on the "we," means barely at all, but still) is because some relatively high on the social scale people got it early. Longtime readers remember how, years ago, I used to joke that we wouldn't take it seriously until it breached the NoVa virus defense wall. And then it did.
Friday, May 08, 2020
Phoenix
Trump is Trump, but I really don't get all the brain geniuses around him who couldn't manage to convince him that while his grand REOPENING OF AMERICA wasn't going to happen as fast as he wanted (remember Easter?), it could, potentially, happen if he just had a bit of patience and did 1/20 of the necessary things, or at least let other people do 1/20 of the necessary things. He could do his victory lap in September as well as now. Happy to be wrong but all the states prematurely opening too many things are likely going to require another stricter lockdown in places. And over. And over.
Or, maybe not! Maybe it will just go away... My big wet boy is a smart guy, he knows things, and people are always amazed at how much he understands.
Or, maybe not! Maybe it will just go away... My big wet boy is a smart guy, he knows things, and people are always amazed at how much he understands.
At Least Donald Trump Kept Us Safe
"Katie" from the VPs office got a positive test. Presumably THE Katie.
This Much I Know I Is True
If stonks crash in the next 2 hours emergency legislation involving free money for billionaires will pass about 2 hours later.
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
Recovery summer, bitches.
(Reuters) - The White House will not consider any further stimulus legislation this month as it eyes the economic impact from reopening U.S. states, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Friday, adding that formal talks with Congress have paused
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) May 8, 2020
We'll Know Better Next Time
I don't have the entirety of The Discourse jacked into my head, but I see very little acknowledgement from the people in power, or even people with big microphones, that this is an unfolding disaster that can't be remedied with the equivalent of a few band aids. Things are fucked - short term, long term, structurally - and they can't easily be unfucked. Fixing the Great Recession was easy and "they" failed at that. Fixing this one is hard and even with unimaginable unemployment numbers coming in there doesn't seem to be much urgency.
It's been 8 weeks since Mitch McConnell took his 3 day weekend and Democrats pretended to be mad about that. Pelosi won't let the House do anything except vote for bills she hands them 5 minutes before, and we have evidence from minute one that Pelosi and her people are bad and incompetent about what needs to be done.
Just a reminder:
That's Pelosi's Deputy Chief of Staff. Anyone knew that one way or another trillions were about to go out the door to save THE MARKET (through the Fed, Treasury, etc.) and they were worried about whether Don Jr's $1200 check might be too generous for him.
It's been 8 weeks since Mitch McConnell took his 3 day weekend and Democrats pretended to be mad about that. Pelosi won't let the House do anything except vote for bills she hands them 5 minutes before, and we have evidence from minute one that Pelosi and her people are bad and incompetent about what needs to be done.
Just a reminder:
As Congress considers the next steps, the Speaker believes we should look at refundable tax credits, expanded UI & direct payments—but MUST be targeted.
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) March 17, 2020
That's Pelosi's Deputy Chief of Staff. Anyone knew that one way or another trillions were about to go out the door to save THE MARKET (through the Fed, Treasury, etc.) and they were worried about whether Don Jr's $1200 check might be too generous for him.
14.7% Unemployment
Think that's a big number.
Peaked at 10% during the Great Recession.
8.6 million net jobs lost during the Great Recession. 20.5 million jobs were lost in April.
Peaked at 10% during the Great Recession.
8.6 million net jobs lost during the Great Recession. 20.5 million jobs were lost in April.
Thursday, May 07, 2020
Green Shoots
We're gonna hit the "everything is wonderful except those negative nellies who keep complaining about all the bodies who, if you think about, are responsible for the deaths" phase soon.
We're a can do nation, citizen, and don't you forget it.
We're a can do nation, citizen, and don't you forget it.
Your Family First, Big Guy
Fox News' Pete Hegseth calls for people to go out and get infected by coronavirus: "Now that we are learning more, herd immunity is our friend. Healthy people getting out there -- they are going to have to have some courage." pic.twitter.com/PCSHm9yUAW
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 7, 2020
I Got Nothin'
I suppose I really don't. It's a horrible situation and even the supposed "good guys" at the federal level, who don't run things entirely but who aren't entirely powerless, have shown no signs of having any sense of the catastrophe that is unfolding. "No one" panics unless stonks are tanking, and the Fed is making sure that doesn't happen.
As long as "the market" is happy, rich people are happy, "everybody" is happy.
As long as "the market" is happy, rich people are happy, "everybody" is happy.
Wednesday, May 06, 2020
Excess Deaths
The daily numbers probably give a relatively accurate picture of the trends (taking differences is a useful trick for this stuff), but the overall true numbers are certainly higher and quite like much much higher.
New data released by the State of New Jersey suggests the true toll of COVID-19 may be much greater than previously thought.45% more than the official COVID-19 deaths.
Vital statistics released by the state show the total number of deaths by any cause between March and April rose from 12,567 last year to 23,070 this year. The 10,503 additional deaths recorded this year represent an 83% increase over 2019.
You Can't Handle The Truth
Interesting quote in the Economist: Britain's public broadcaster, the BBC, has decided to sacrifice some usual "journalistic values" in the interests of 'the nation' pic.twitter.com/8UpWfZTHvV
— Tom Hancock (@hancocktom) May 6, 2020
If the image isn't quite displaying:
"[T]he bosses are keen that we come out of this with the sense that we looked after the interest of the nation, not just our journalistic values."Always glad when some random media executives take it upon themselves to decide what the "interest of the nation" is. A concept that can be extended rather broadly.
Spreading
I imagine the basic story of the disease spread in the US will be that it spread at first through relatively elite populations - international travellers and the people who know them - before moving into the population of expendable essential workers who were unable to take the precautions (work from home, or not work at all!) that richer people subsequently could.
It isn't population density, it's crowded enclosed spaces and the people who can't or won't avoid them.
It isn't population density, it's crowded enclosed spaces and the people who can't or won't avoid them.
As the world’s attention was fixated on the horrors in Italy and New York City, the per capita death rates in counties in the impoverished southwest corner of Georgia climbed to among the worst in the country. The devastation here is a cautionary tale of what happens when the virus seeps into communities that have for generations remained on the losing end of the nation’s most intractable inequalities: these counties are rural, mostly African American and poor.
Two Sources Close To Jared And Ivanka
It did diminish, somewhat, but I wonder if any of the journalists who served as their de facto PR agents for a couple of years feel bad.
Haha I keed.
Haha I keed.
It's Wednesday
I'm writing that cause I honestly didn't know for sure. Had to look at the computer for verification.
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
They're Just People, Michael, What Could They Cost?
Lol (what else can we do but laugh).
During a private call on Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott admitted that “every scientific and medical report shows” state reopenings “ipso facto” lead to an increase in novel coronavirus cases, even as he publicly announced plans that same week to end an executive stay-at-home order in the state.
“How do we know reopening businesses won’t result in faster spread of more cases of COVID-19?” Abbott asked during a Friday afternoon phone call with members of the state legislature and Congress. “Listen, the fact of the matter is pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening—whether you want to call it a reopening of businesses or of just a reopening of society—in the aftermath of something like this, it actually will lead to an increase and spread. It’s almost ipso facto.”
“The more that you have people out there, the greater the possibility is for transmission,” Abbott said on the call, which a spokesperson confirmed was authentic on Tuesday. “The goal never has been to get transmission down to zero.”
On Our Own
Trump staying out of the way and just blaming everybody else for fucking things up is probably better than Trump fucking things up and then blaming everybody for the fact that he fucked everything up.
Boys Will Be Boys
All the worst people.
The New York attorney general’s office late last year launched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation and gender discrimination at NBC News, Variety has learned. NBC News chief Andrew Lack and former “Hardball” host Chris Matthews were among multiple high-ranking executives and newsroom talents whose behavior was the subject of questioning, according to multiple sources.
...
Another woman, an NBC employee who worked for Matthews, says she was interviewed by the attorney general’s office, though she spoke to Variety on the condition of anonymity, fearing further retaliation from the network.
“I was interviewed over the phone for sexual harassment and retaliation,” the woman told Variety, explaining that she was sexually harassed by Matthews when she worked for him and was then retaliated against by higher-ups at NBC, after she reported her situation to human resources.
“Everyone in that company knew about it and they knew about it for years and it was a horrible,” this woman says.
At least two women with complaints of sexual harassment against Matthews spoke to the attorney general’s office, three individuals with knowledge of the investigation say.
Warriors
Trump before boarding Air Force One: "The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. Our country has to open."
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 5, 2020
In a few more days he'll nuke NYC if someone convinces him that it will make this all go away and let him get back to doing fun racism at rallies.
Trust Us
"Oh, Nancy Pelosi is just being very smart. By not bringing Congress back she ensures that she gets to decide what happens without any input from other members of Congress" is a sort of true thing someone said to me but they said it was a good thing.
There are justifications for emergency legislation being written without much debate when we are at the moment of an emergency. And, you know, we are in a big emergency. Also, too, it's such an emergency that it's been over 7 weeks since the emergency was apparent, and, well...
There are justifications for emergency legislation being written without much debate when we are at the moment of an emergency. And, you know, we are in a big emergency. Also, too, it's such an emergency that it's been over 7 weeks since the emergency was apparent, and, well...
The Thing About Delco Is
It doesn't even have a health department.
Also, too, fuck the olds.
The Pennsylvania counties you see in yellow are due to enter a new phase of reopening on Friday. Officials in Delaware County are trying to find ways to make that happen sooner in Southeastern PA.https://t.co/j1SlGuK2ua pic.twitter.com/ufMlaxdmM4
— Matt O'Donnell (@matt_odonnell) May 5, 2020
Also, too, fuck the olds.
Councilman Madden suggested nursing homes, which make up the bulk of their cases, be counted separately from the rest of the population.Basically every impulse of "bad governance" has ruled Delco for decades.
"When you have 70% of the deaths we've had occur in nursing homes, if anything we want to shine a light on is that and to make sure the situation there is not getting conflated with the rest of the community."
But Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, did not agree, saying that nursing homes are part of the community with staff going back and forth.
Monday, May 04, 2020
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hoyer gives House Democrats no set timetable for return to Washington for votes, in caucus-wide call.
— Billy House (@HouseInSession) May 4, 2020
Catastrophe
I'd guess they've decided they've played out the "if we predict a tiny number of deaths that will magically come true" strategy and are now going with the "if we totally overestimate the number then we will look like heroes!!!" strategy.
More importantly, they're pushing states to re-open even as they're predicting a rising death toll because of it. They want to kill you.
As President Trump presses for states to reopen their economies, his administration is privately projecting a steady rise in the number of cases and deaths from the coronavirus over the next several weeks, reaching about 3,000 daily deaths on June 1, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times, nearly double from the current level of about 1,750.But that doesn't mean their overestimate is, in fact, an overestimate
More importantly, they're pushing states to re-open even as they're predicting a rising death toll because of it. They want to kill you.
Bored Now
The thing is, if Trump thought he could end this and "go back to normal" by snapping his fingers and killing 10 million people over night, he would. No there is no going back to normal with that, of course, but for some reason a lot of nutters think there is. Just let the virus burn. Burn, baby, burn.
Or Maybe A Million
My President is wisely readjusting his very beautiful predictions of the death toll, in that every time they exceed his previous prediction he predicts a higher number.
You can't do that, libs.
You can't do that, libs.
Flatten The Curve
To the extent that anyone thinks they're being sensible instead of LOL GONNA KILL OUR POPULATION TO OWN THE LIBS, it seems to be the belief that "flattening the curve" (or close enough, sort of) was the goal. Whether that's actually the goal (as long as it's flat lots of people die but at least they have hospital beds first!) or just stupid people not understanding things, the curve won't remain flat if you re-open the Fuddruckers...
Sunday, May 03, 2020
I Think That's A Lot
Most countries have not been exactly perfect, but I think it's reasonable to state that most of our supposed peer countries are going to come out the other end of this with a better result due to at least somewhat better policy choices.
.@ScottGottliebMD on FTN this am: “But I think when you look out to the end of June, it's probably the case that we're going to get above 100,000 deaths nationally.” Says mitigation didn’t work as well as hoped and that up to 30k new cases + 1k deaths daily may become new normal.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 3, 2020
Whoopsadaisy
Suspect this is going to be true everywhere that starts "relaxing."
The governor of Mississippi took a step back with continuing to slowly reopen the state after health officials said there was the largest increase of coronavirus diagnosis and deaths.
Gov. Tate Reeves was to proceed with his plan to get people back to work, but announced the change of plans on Friday as 397 new coronavirus cases were confirmed and 20 more people died.
On The Other Side
Perhaps things are more resilient than I imagine, but the continuing failure - whoever you want to blame - to do 10% of what is necessary to fix this and prepare for what's next...
I told you. Gloomy.
I told you. Gloomy.
Miserable Failure
How gloomy is appropriate for this Sunday Morning?
Things are looking kinda gloomy.
Things are looking kinda gloomy.
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