A few random observations on covid-19
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Last week's relief bill provides help to those who have lost their jobs. But what of those who keep on working in suddenly-dangerous occupations which can't be done from home -- grocery-store workers, bus drivers, warehouse employees, and the like? Those people are putting themselves at risk of infection to maintain the systems we all depend on. I think the government should, at the least, be augmenting their meager paychecks with substantial hazard pay. If we can afford a $500 billion corporate slush fund, we can afford a few billion for that.
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The experience of Michigan and New York has shown that, to the blue states, the Trump administration is not a government -- it's more like a foreign occupation.
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We need to be understanding of the doctors within the Trump regime, like Birx and Fauci, when they bizarrely praise Trump's handling of the crisis or fail to correct his obvious bullshit. Their continued work as part of the national response could be the difference between life and death for thousands, perhaps millions. And they know that standing up to Trump too openly could get them fired, leaving matters entirely in the hands of the hacks and toadies. They're saying what they must, much as it must pain them, to stay where they can do some good.
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Covid-19 originated in a market where live animals were being sold for the disgusting practice of meat-eating. So it's fitting that "coronavirus" and "carnivorous", are practically the same word, with just a few letters re-arranged.
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As for those who exploit the crisis to extort money from the desperate (for example, buying up supplies and then re-selling them at a higher price), that's essentially the same as looting. People caught looting during a disaster are subject to being shot without trial. Just saying.
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Just think how much better we'd be managing all this shit if Hillary were president. Elections have consequences. Remember that, when November comes. No one in 2016 foresaw covid-19, and we today don't know what the next four years will bring.
posted by Infidel753 at 3:54 PM
13 Comments:
Well put.
I just wondered if you had any ideas or explanations as to why we treat some species of animals well and other species not so well, and why does it vary wildly from culture to culture which animals are treated well and which ones are not.
We need leadership that does not serve its own interests first.
The ineptitude of this Kakistocracy is astounding. And it’s proven to be lethal.
I also thought that the doctors are stroking Cheeto’s ego so they can stay and be useful. They know that the Orange Shitgibbon has the thinnest of skins and they don’t want to be thrown out and leave the country even more in need of science.
Oh, if the emails lady were President, this would be so much different. So. Much. Different. There has never been the slightest chance of comparison. Ever.
XoXo
Along with hazard pay, everyone who has to work with the public should have masks, for their protection and for the protection of the public. There's an Asian market near here, and the people who work there always wear masks. It was disconcerting at first, but now it seems like it was prescient.
Well said! This is a time when you get to see who the true leaders are.
Nan: Thanks.
Norbert: It's a complex and potentially interesting question, but not really on-topic here.
Lady M: Unfortunately the soonest we can get that is January 21st.
Sixpence: It's been the most stunning demonstration ever of how much the quality of leadership matters.
Nonnie: I'm all for that.
Martha: Thanks -- I just wish the lesson didn't come at such a high price.
The "disgusting practice of meat eating"?
Funny. I was taught in anthropology that eating meat is what helped homo sapiens move to the head of the pack.
@Infidel: "Just think how much better we'd be managing all this shit if Hillary were president. Elections have consequences."
Oh man, if I could shout this from the mountaintops, I would.
And never forget that Trump ended the program that the Obama Administration had set up to deal with a potential pandemic, and that they even briefed the incoming Trump team about what would happen if a pandemic hit the US.
And yet, we still see on social media and online cries of "both parties are the same!" and insults being hurled at Biden and idiocy about how "Well, Hillary would have nuked Iran by now!" Are you fucking kidding me?!
We need to remember that there is only one candidate who has had the experience of not only dealing with a financial disaster but who also directed efforts to make sure that a potential Ebola outbreak did not happen on US shores. That's Joe Biden, and that's who I'm voting for. The purists can miss me with their "But, but Bernie!" crap.
Stay healthy, and stay safe...and, of course, stay home.
Being a "wonk," Hillary would have rolled-up her sleeves - like fellow wonks, her hubby and BH Obama - and enjoyed a distraction from her impeachment proceedings (c'mon, you KNOW the RepubliKKKLANS would be impeachinb her every day after Inauguration Day!).
Thanks for the thoughts, Infidel!
Jsrtheta: A very dubious claim, and even if it were true, it would change the fact that it's a disgusting practice. Stone-age people did all kinds of barbaric things that we no longer do, nor need to do.
Marc: Trump hates Obama so much that he'll trash absolutely anything Obama did, no matter how good an idea it was. Even though it means in the long run he'll be remembered as a terrible president while Obama will still be remembered as a good one. It's very strange.
I'm actually not seeing very much of the "both parties are the same" stuff any more. It would require such stupefying levels of reality-denial by now, it's hardly possible any more.
I think most Sanders supporters will eventually realize the important thing is to beat Trump. Some of them may need some time to come around to voting for Biden, but that's OK, so long as they do get there.
Victor: Whatever else one can say about Hillary, she's competent. We're getting a dreadful lesson now in just how important that is. And she would have built on what Obama accomplished instead of tearing it down.
"Just think how much better we'd be managing all this shit if Hillary were president. Elections have consequences. Remember that, when November comes. No one in 2016 foresaw covid-19, and we today don't know what the next four years will bring."
I think of this every day! And yet, when I visit far right blogs, it's still the same old demonizing of Clinton and their willfully not seeing what their reckless votes brought on us.
Shaw: Well, they're still stuck in their own alternate reality. The damage from this pandemic is going to get a lot worse -- and harder to ignore -- before November.
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