The next several weeks may be some of the hardest we’ve faced as a country.
From those on the front lines to those saving lives by staying at home, let’s remember to be kind to each other, be patient, and remember the power of our collective humanity, even when we’re apart.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 30, 2020
BREAKING: Trump has worn out Ron Fournier’s trademark bothsiderism!
As a former White House reporter, I don’t say this lightly: Media should ignore the Trump follies, abandon the WH briefing room, and interview governors, doctors, nurses, victims and anybody else approaching the truth.
Stop being props.
Just stop.
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) April 7, 2020
Meanwhile, the Democratic Shadow Cabinet is looking better & better…
Schumer says he's tapping Bharat Ramamurti, a former aide to Elizabeth Warren, as his pick to the five-member congressional oversight commission of the $2 trillion coronavirus package
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) April 6, 2020
Read this important thread from former @CFPB Director @RichCordray. He’s right: the consumer agency has an important role to play during this economic crisis to protect working families, but @CFPBDirector Kraninger must stop letting the banking industry drive the agency's agenda. https://t.co/3FFVm1CLEt
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 6, 2020
The Oval Office occupation, not so much:
The nomination of Brian Miller, the special IG for pandemic recovery, has officially been submitted to the Senate.
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) April 6, 2020
Story from Sat with @CarolLeonnig on Trump's pick, Brian Miller: https://t.co/UZHYXjgA5o
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) April 6, 2020
Also very important:
Election season is underway and this pandemic is already posing unprecedented challenges to in-person voting. Congress must provide states with the resources to conduct vote-by-mail, as well as safe in-person voting.
I'm working on a bill to ensure just that.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) April 6, 2020
Thank you, Senator Harris!
To focus your effort, please 'meet' online with Senators Wyden @RonWyden and Klobuchar @amyklobuchar to review @voteathome's roadmap for securing the 2020 election, with links to resources available to assist with the process.https://t.co/oDusVcBvWz
— Michael Epling ?? (@MAEpling) April 6, 2020
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
rikyrah
Voter Suppression, today’s edition???
WaterGirl
I did not see that coming.
Jeffro
The Mustache of Understanding has his fantasy picks in for Biden’s future cabinet in today’s NYT.
Other than Elizabeth Warren as ‘secretary of oversight’ (yes really) it’s as bad as you would imagine. DeWine and Romney for OMB and Secretary of State. Numerous CEOs too. Ye gods, can’t we do better here, Gray Lady?
Jeffro
@WaterGirl: Stopped clocks and all that.
The damage to trumpov’s narcissistic ego in talking to an almost empty WH briefing room would be simply amazing. So it’s worth it just for that.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
debbie
I am so cranky this morning. This goddamn news about Wisconsin.
@rikyrah:
They are monsters. Period. If people don’t punish the Rethuglicans in November, I don’t know what can be done to stop them.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Building cred to kneecap a Biden presidency?
WaterGirl
@debbie: I am quickly running through the alphabet, soon I will be out of letters.
appalled
baffled
concerned
despairing
enraged
debbie
@WaterGirl:
It’s the rollercoastering that’s getting to me. Last night I was despairing. Today I want to punch out the goddamn world.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Never has a blech meant so much.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
Don’t those all begin with “F”?
WaterGirl
@debbie: I knew the Republicans were evil, but the response to COVID-19 is beyond the pale.
They truly don’t even draw the line at causing people to have to choose between democracy and possible death.
I guess it doesn’t matter if I’m running out of letters, because I have no words.
WaterGirl
@SFAW:
As in:
fucking appalled
fucking baffled
fucking concerned
fucking despairing
fucking enraged
Why yes, yes they do.
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
“We KNOW that all our voters are real Americans, but those Demon-rat voters need to prove it! If they’re not willing to die while trying to vote, how can they be called ‘real Americans’? “
SFAW
@WaterGirl:
Nailed it in one try.
danielx
When you’ve lost Ron Fournier, you’ve lost…not much, actually.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
@OzarkHillbilly: ?
@debbie: I basically just stick on pure rage
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Fournier has forgotten the real reason reporters are there.
No one wants to miss it if the President keels over in mid-sentence.
?BillinGlendaleCA
My cocker’s back started acting up again yesterday morning, I gave her meds which helped and now she’s being a bad patient. I’m trying to get her to rest and not strain her back so it will heal, but she’s doing stupid stuff like running up the stairs to get in the house and tonight she jumped up on the couch.
Baud
I was pretty sure I was informed in 2016 that the Supreme Court wasn’t that important.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Dogs are the worst patients.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Put her in a crate. If you don’t have a crate, order one so you will have one next time her back acts up.
Decades ago, my cocker had to have emergency back surgery after waking up with her back legs paralyzed.
The Thin Black Duke
I love it when you talk dirty to me.
OzarkHillbilly
In the poorest county, in America’s poorest state, a virus hits home: ‘Hunger is rampant’
Doing the good work. Meanwhile,
………………………..
satby
And since I mentioned rage, I’ve found the best way to channel it is to volunteer somehow. So besides texting WS voters today as per Adam’s post I’m also bringing about 20 lbs of 1/2 bars of soap to the homeless shelters today.
Which still leaves me with about 100 lbs ?, but it will get sold eventually. And I hope the Dems surprise in Wisconsin.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: I don’t have room for a crate, I live in a small apartment.
OzarkHillbilly
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Just imagine if trump threw a press briefing and no one showed up.
trnc
On Miller as IG:
I was heartened to see commenters on the WP site explicitly call out that nonsense. Sad that the senate majority won’t do the same.
Jeffro
Meanwhile, the Post just put up an article about how New Zealand is not just flattening the curve but squashing it. “A triumph of science and leadership“.
So. Jealous.
NobodySpecial
Fuck Ron Fournier, now and forever. If the universe were just, he’d be forever muted.
satby
@Jeffro: huh, with that inexperienced young leader? Unpossible, I was told so right here on this blog.
But I’m not too bitter. Not like we needed a wonk of any kind in charge during a pandemic.
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: It’s like why people go to NASCAR races.
debbie
@satby:
Shows what a woman can do, doesn’t it? (I’m not bitter either. Much.)
OzarkHillbilly
Hmmmm…. Just the other day he was saying,
I give that FlipFlop a 6.4 at best.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Funny. I’ve never found the words “naive” and “stupid” to be at all confusing. //
TS (the original)
@Jeffro:
Always want the republicans. have they EVER suggested a GOP administration should include some democrats?
Biden should select the most partisan cabinet available. Give the trumpers and the never trumpers nothing.
bemused
Republicans are vile monsters. They have no souls. In Wisconsin, they are showing us they don’t even care if their own voters get sick, die going out to vote. Insanely evil.
The WH/Dunning-Kruger Clubhouse is not only totally incompetent but massively corrupt. I imagine corruption is a by product of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Good news at our home. Our older dog suffering from the runs and vomiting is now healthy. The vet treated her with fluids under the skin, anti-nausea, anti-acid, antibiotic and sent her home with meds and prescription dog food. We thought the worst but brought her home and she’s back to normal.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Well the alternative to ‘naive or stupid’ in the acting SecNav’s speech was: “betrayed his country.” Soooo….. Both can be true, I guess.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: OT. Got your msg. Will respond today!
Baud
@Jeffro:
I like it. Exudes confidence in a Biden victory.
OzarkHillbilly
Am I the only one to think these burials should be permanent so that as people stroll thru the park they can commune with the dead and be reminded of the costs of electing a narcissistic sociopath to the White House?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
NYC doesn’t really need to be reminded about Trump.
satby
@bemused: Good news!
Baud
@bemused: Excellent.
satby
@Baud: yeah, if it had been up to NY, we would have had our second President Clinton.
OzarkHillbilly
Good news indeed.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: They don’t need to be reminded of 9/11 either.
Baud
If there’s a silver lining to what the Republicans are doing in Wisconsin, it’s that we won’t have to wait several more weeks for Bernie’s next defeat. At this point, that campaign is just a loose thread in the fabric of the party, but it would be nice to cut it off and be done with it.
JPL
It’s long past time MSM admit that the president is bat shit insane and they will no longer be part of his daily charade on tv. Nothing short of that will be okay, because this is not normal.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
Phuck Outta Here ??
rikyrah
Pussy Galore has passed away.
RIP Honor ??
OzarkHillbilly
US designates Russian white supremacists as foreign terrorist group
Gee, I wonder when they will designate our own white supremacists to be terrorists? s//
SFAW
@Baud:
You forgot the /s.
Or have you forgotten that Bloody Bill Kristol had as much or more confidence in a Trump loss in 2016. [Yes, I realize Kristol has not been right about anything since he reached what passes for adulthood (I know, I know — feature, not bug, for the Party of Traitors). But do we really want to pin our hopes on Friedman being smarter (or at least better at predicting/judging) than Kristol?]
OzarkHillbilly
Coronavirus couture: the rise of the $60 designer face mask
It was only a matter of time.
SFAW
@Baud:
Optimistic, aren’t we?
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly:
white supremacistsdidn’t you mean trump supporters.SFAW
@Jeffro:
I’m a-thinking “Mustache of Moronitude” might be more appropriate.
bemused
@satby:
@Baud:
@OzarkHillbilly:
Oh yes, especially now with the virus stress, we need our furry babies.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@bemused:
Glad your dog is back to normal. Now is not the time to lose a dog. Well, never is the time, but you know what I mean.
bemused
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Exactly!
oldgold
The SupremeCourt is not just substantively ruling in a manner favorable to the GOP. It is also using time in their favor.
On matters important to the GOP the Supremes move at the speed of light. On matters where the Democrats should score easy wins the cases move through the system at a snail’s pace.
Dorothy A. Winsor
It’s going to be 74 here today! I’m very excited. We can open windows.
SFAW
Apparently Navarro wrote a memo to the maladministration, in January, warning about the effects of the pandemic. So not only does the WH ignore the scientists/experts, they also ignore their own lapdogs.
kindness
Republicans are litterally a death cult now. They hope the fear of death keeps Democratic voters from showing up.
I’m more concerned about how one has an in person election when you have no poll workers for the election. It’s all part of the death cult’s plan.
Betty Cracker
Friedman is in denial about the current state of the Republican Party. I guess it’s understandable given that he moves in more refined circles and is thus not surrounded by rank-and-file Republicans in their feral state like many of us are. But it’s still inexcusable since Friedman is paid handsomely to opine on politics. He should get out more!
germy
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
The FTFTFNYT keeps him on as a way to make “readers” appreciate David Brooks even more?
Gin & Tonic
Frozen ersatz meat product makes more sense than US President.
I did not see that coming.
SFAW
@germy:
The only surprising thing is that Pinche Sulzberger didn’t have that story killed before the FTFTFNYT published it.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Same thing, isn’t it?
germy
(Invested in a company that produces protective medical equipment. Shrewd!)
WaterGirl
@bemused: So very happy to hear that!
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: I think everyone is getting worn out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Time is blurring. I decided to make a record of the notices we’ve gotten from our building management.
March 5. All guests must sign in and record where they’ve traveled.
March 11. No visitors.
March 15. Restaurants converted to carryout or delivery. No weekly housekeeping. Group activities discouraged.
March 20. Residents’ temperature taken weekly. Workers’ when they enter building.
March 30. Residents to remain in unit when in building, not in common areas. Mail will be subjected to ultraviolet light and delivered to unit. Anyone (re)entering building has temperature taken. Meal delivery only (no carryout). Gym closed.
April 2. Staff wears masks. Homemade masks for sale at $10 each..
No suspected or confirmed cases in building.
So March 30 is the big one. It feels longer ago. The thing that hurt the most was the loss of housekeeping on March 15.
WaterGirl
@Baud: How so, on Bernie?
Jeffro
Agreed.
And while we’re at it, I think Biden and Senate Dems – assuming they win a majority – absolutely must expand the federal judiciary to whatever extent necessary to dilute the impact of all the unqualified GOP hacks that have been confirmed by the Turtle and his minions AND add at last two judges to SCOTUS.
So, Uncle Joe, if you’re keeping score, that’s:
Gonna be a busy few years! ;)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Because this is ‘Murka under the Trump regime….
Your Treasury Department and the SBA ensure that bigger businesses gobble up all the PPP funding.
I despise this government. Right now, hedge funds and multiple affiliates are snatching up every dollar that isn’t nailed down while restauranteurs, bar owners, livery services, caterers. dry cleaners and small tradesmen are collapsing.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
hahahahaha
germy
Jeffro
@rikyrah: I know, right?
Where are all the cabinet jobs for Biden’s family members? It was ok for Jared and Ivanka…
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@JPL: My local NBS affiliate (Part of Hearst Brodcasting) has rare put something critical of Drumf on the air and always seemed to edit clips so he sounded normal, has finally stopped broadcasting his daily shit-show live in its entirety on their main channel, but they are still broadcasting it on their secondary channel where it just prempts old reruns on Me.tv. So I guess that’s progress??
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s actually really interesting. Very happy that your building management is so on the ball.
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly: The dead-tree edition of Sunday’s Washington Post had a pattern for how to sew your own homemade face mask in it.
It was quite startling to see it, even now.
ThresherK
I remember The Hunting of Bill Clinton. I remember Sam (We are measuring Clinton’s Presidency in Days, if Not Hours*) Donaldson.
Who’s gonna be the first media figure to call on Trump to just fucking resign?
No playing the game of “that’ll leave Pence as Prez, is that a political win for the opposition” shit. Just recognize a Chief Executive resigning is an incredible blow.
(*approximate quote)
JPL
@ThresherK: shit.. The cowards won’t even call for Jared to step down.
danielx
@Gin & Tonic:
The average potted plant makes more sense than the president.
JPL
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): The Atlanta NBC station cuts away when he starts to take questions.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
They’re pretty good. It’s tricky for them, because they can’t really tell us to do anything. It’s not a prison. But they’re terrified of the virus getting in the building, which they should be.
OzarkHillbilly
Donald Trump offers US medical help to ‘incredible guy’ Boris Johnson while telling US states “SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!” – video
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I can’t recall the details… it’s a retirement building, right?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: Yes. It’s one of those complexes that has independent living in villas or condos, and also memory care, assisted living, and skilled nursing for when you need it. I never want to have to sell a house and move again. And I don’t want my son to have to make choices and decisions for us during a crisis. We already chose.
Uncle Cosmo
When you’ve lost Ron Fumier…
OzarkHillbilly
Seven-year-old Greek piano prodigy pens an ‘isolation waltz’ .
Aleta
Photos of ICU nurses in flimsy trash bags remind me that their working conditions and health have been a lower priority for management for years.
Just One More Canuck
@OzarkHillbilly:
The states where Trump has golf courses and hotels should expropriate them and convert them to cemeteries, mausoleums and hospitals
jonas
This x1000. The post-Trump period will be viewed like the aftermath of 9/11 when the next president will “need to bring the country together” and a Democrat stocking his administration with, you know, Democrats will be decried as “divisive” by the usual suspects in the MSM. If Biden does tap a couple of prominent “Never Trumper” conservatives for some post or another, that’s fine, but having publically repudiated Trump and the Trumpist GOP must be a prerequisite. if you served in any public office between 2016 and 2020 and kept an R after your name, you are spineless scum and should expect to be banished to the goddamn wilderness for all eternity.
OzarkHillbilly
@Just One More Canuck: I could get behind that project.
prostratedragon
@Just One More Canuck: Permanent ones, like Arlington.
Dorothy A. Winsor
In the Daily Pundit Roundup, Kos has a number of articles about Trump having no plans for after the current crisis, neither for how to prepare for recurrences nor for how to generate economic recovery. I suspect the economy Trump bragged about was set up by Obama and Trump was coasting on it while claiming credit for it. He did what he could to dismantle it, of course, but he has no idea how to make it happen again.
MoCA Ace
You broke Ron Fournier… fucking monsters.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My dad lived somewhere like that, except that everyone had their own apartment in the complex. It was quite nice and was a very social place with lots of common rooms.
If yours is like that, there must be a lot of empty common rooms at this point!
WaterGirl
@MoCA Ace:
Really? I’m thinking… you broke Ron Fournier… thank you so much!
jonas
Maybe someone I’m not recalling already has, but I’d be surprised if any remotely prominent host on a network other than MSNBC does. Trump tearing down the country and destroying everything in his wake has been the greatest media event of modern times. It’s the OJ Simpson Ford Bronco freeway chase times a million. Millions of people either clicking on links or tuning in to worship him or hate watch him give corporate network owners and producers tinglies in their shorts every single day. They’re not going to let their anchors call for cutting off that gravy train.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
It’s exactly like that. And the common rooms are empty, though I only glimpse them on my way to and back from my daily walk.
jonas
Nor do any of his advisors. Who’s his top economic advisor? Larry Kudlow? *chortles
Dorothy A. Winsor
@jonas:
I’ve been wondering about his daily pressers. Aren’t they losing ad revenue on those?
Barbara
@MoCA Ace: I get the cynical response to Fournier, I even share it to some extent, but I believe that Fournier’s base these days is in Detroit, and like the reporters in New Orleans after Katrina, being clobbered over the head at the consequences of incompetence, at best, and likely malevolence might have finally overcome his usual determination to build a wall of defense for Trump.
Bex
@satby: Send Pete a sample of your beard oil. Maybe he’ll buy up the rest. https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/mayor-pete-buttigieg-grows-beard-buzzes-head-in-isolation.html
MoCA Ace
The average potted plant’s half-bright brother, you know, the “special”one, makes more sense than the president.
mrmoshpotato
Someone email bluegal! We need to know if Driftglass is ok!
MoCA Ace
@WaterGirl:
No not really. Just channeling my inner South Park… although that was “you bastards”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
My gut (soon no longer to be so ample) tells me that it is so broken that a realignment is inevitable, either by force or by voluntary change. Could be that we’re going to get away from this incomprehensible chase for growth (which lends itself to a ton of misrepresentation of value) as opposed to stable revenues (as are measured by consistent dividends). At this point, also, my fears about the retirement fund consequences of rapid imposition of M4A and medical pricing controls are moot – with so much economic damage, it is now both feasible and beneficial to plow forward.
Who could have known that the truly valuable economic players – the ones who’ve always received huge largesse in economic crises -weren’t the hedge fund parasites, CEOs, commodity speculators, bankers or multibillionaires, but instead were your local restauranteurs, bar owners, bicycle shop proprietors, boutique retailers and small tradesmen?
bjacques
If the likes of Fournier, Kristol, Boot, Rubin, Conway, etc. want to change sides, they have to bring a scalp—burn a source, like Christopher Hitchens did to one of the Clinton crowd.
we will of course pension them off at an officer’s rank, according to what they bring over, but not entrust them with any secrets.
Betty
@WaterGirl: You know what the “f”word is. When you get to “s”, my go to is stunned.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
Something Ron, and Rick, and Bill, and… should’ve told themselves decades ago.
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro: LOL and to think Tom could have kept that ridiculousness to himself.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Our shitty country, Collective Exhibit A:
People of Color Express Rational Fear of Being Seen in Homemade Masks by Law Enforcement
‘Murka.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My own tendency to own a Circus of Cats will probably disqualify me from making such a choice, but I can certainly see the attraction.
My own grandmother had to be shoved into signing up for such, but shortly after, every conversation began with, “Guess what? I didn’t do dishes yesterday, and I’m not doing any tomorrow!”
mrmoshpotato
@satby: You don’t mix in pure disbelief sometimes for variety?
WereBear
RAMEN. If I have to call every day I will let them know.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Just One More Canuck: That’s how we got Arlington.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: @debbie:
I’m late to the thread. It can’t be only you two sitting six feet apart in a silence, boiling rage.
Mind if I join the group?
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: I think you transposed your numbers? Perhaps you meant 4.6?
Or perhaps a misplaced decimal point? I’m thinking that apology was worth no more than a .46
Fucking condescending, arrogant prig flies a million miles to lecture sailors trapped on a ship with a pandemic, tells them to buck up and risk their lives for the sociopathic commander in chief who can’t bear to be embarrassed, all while telling them how hard he has it because people are being mean to him.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: How dare you? They’re shaved steak. I didn’t say good shaved steak, but shaved steak nonetheless.
(And now I want some!) ?
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: In the garden of Eden, baby…
mrmoshpotato
@Just One More Canuck: George Carlin thought golf courses took up too much fucking land and should be made it into housing for the homeless.
I think he’d approve of the cemeteries.
mrmoshpotato
Woo hoo! 10 AM first Tuesday tornado siren testing!
J R in WV
The current Acting Secretary of the Navy is a dolt, too stupid to manage a tire shop.
Too stupid to manage anything with people involved, like a 3-chair barber shop…. would spread lice to avoid spending money on Barbasol to soak the combs in.
Too evil to manage a military organization capable of destroying life on the only planet we’ve got.
What a situation the Navy has backed themselves into !!! Destroying their fleet because they can’t bear to spend money on their people. Wanting someone to invent a Navy without sailors because they hate spending money on crew support, would rather spend that money on building themselves cushy retirements jobs on K street via throwing money away on rocket science leading to super-weapons that don’t work at all.
satby
@mrmoshpotato: c’mon! I have brownies!
oatler.
@mrmoshpotato: That sounds suspiciously like rock and or roll.
Bonnie
The State of Washington (and I believe Oregon, too) has been conducting voting by mail for all voters since before the 2016 election. I wish the media people who talk about if voting by mail is feasible would just look into Washington and Oregon’s systems to find out that there are answers to their questions. I personally love our system and haven’t missed an election since voting by mail begin.