WaPo published an interesting opinion piece yesterday entitled: “We could stop the pandemic by July 4 if the government took these steps.” Subtitle: “A $74 billion investment in testing, tracing and isolation could rescue the economy — quickly.”
The authors propose categorizing regions as green, yellow or red, depending on infection rates, with the severity of regional social distancing measures tied to the level of risk. People who need to isolate would be paid a stipend to stay home. Here’s an excerpt:
Most Americans — about 298 million — live in yellow zones, where disease prevalence is between .002 percent and 1 percent. But even in yellow zones, the economy could safely reopen with aggressive testing and tracing, coupled with safety measures including mandatory masks. In South Korea, during the peak of its outbreak, it took 25 tests to detect one positive case, and the case fatality rate was 1 percent. Following this model, yellow zones would require 2,500 tests for every daily death. To contain spread, yellow zones also would ramp up contact tracing until a team is available for every new daily coronavirus case. After one tracer conducts an interview, the team would spend 12 hours identifying all those at risk. Speed matters, because the virus spreads quickly; three days is useless for tracing. (Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., are all yellow zones.)
A disease prevalence greater than 1 percent defines red zones. Today, 30 million Americans live in such hot spots — which include Detroit, New Jersey, New Orleans and New York City. In addition to the yellow-zone interventions, these places require stay-at-home orders. But by strictly following guidelines for testing and tracing, red zones could turn yellow within four weeks, moving steadfastly from lockdown to liberty.
Getting to green nationwide is possible by the end of the summer, but it requires ramping up testing radically. The United States now administers more than 300,000 tests a day, but according to our guidelines, 5 million a day are needed (for two to three months). It’s an achievable goal. Researchers estimate that the current system has a latent capacity to produce 2 million tests a day, and a surge in federal funding would spur companies to increase capacity. The key is to do it now, before manageable yellow zones deteriorate to economically ruinous red zones.
I have no idea how feasible this plan is, but the authors say countries that have controlled the spread a lot better than the U.S. have used the same tactics. Such a plan almost certainly won’t be implemented here because the president is a narcissist who thinks positive tests reflect poorly on him (and they do!) and therefore wants to limit testing. He’s said so in public several times. It’s every bit as dumb as a knocked-up teenager avoiding a pregnancy test because no test, no baby.
Speaking of absurdities, in the morning thread, Kay pointed out the preposterous assumptions that underlie wingnut vilification of Democratic governors for taking virus containment measures:
They believe that governors instituted stay at home orders because they all crave authoritarian control and dream of denying people the right to go get a tattoo.
But that isn’t what governors want- governors want 3% unemployment and a humming economy and no new, huge problems on their plate. Governors want an easier job, not a harder job- like everyone else. That’s what they want. That’s what the Michigan governor wants, Ohio, California, doesn’t matter.
The idea that they got the power to shut your diner down and in exchange they got 20% unemployment, imploding state budgets, HUGE daily problems to solve and they sought out that exchange is just insane.
Yes, it really is insane, and Trump encourages this disordered thinking. On the other side of that same coin, Trump and his flunkies won’t take any aggressive measures to control the pandemic and therefore have a chance of economic recovery, even though that is obviously the best outcome for themselves AND everyone else. So, it’s magical thinking and idiocy all around, and those views are apparently going to prevail. We really are living in a failed state.
Open thread.
Baud
Schrodinger’s Baby!
MattF
But… aggressive testing would tank the stock market… Read the other day that it was lil’ Jared who made this argument to Daddy. Yes, he’s an idiot.
Baud
Cheryl Rofer
Thanks, Betty.
I’ve been thinking something like this. For all the news about it, the percentage of cases is very small relative to the entire population. Large for a disease, but small in absolute terms. So we should be able to beat it back if we do the right things.
But Trump wants – I’m gonna say this out loud – no testing at all. Zero testing. And, of course, Republican toadies back him.
He’s been quite explicit about this. It’s probably not advisable to try to get into Trump’s head, but there’s something I think hasn’t been said enough. He’s said that he wants the numbers down because of the financial markets and his electoral chances, and I think that’s true. But his statements also show the signs of fear of the disease itself. He’s a germophobe, after all.
So his reaction is that the disease must go away. NOW. He said again this week that it will just disappear all by itself. He doesn’t want to think about it, and he especially doesn’t want it near him. Just go away.
SFAW
@Baud:
Saw various tweets/replies saying (snarkily, of course) things like “Yeah, my grandma was healthy until that test showed she had advanced cancer. So if she hadn’t been tested, she’d have been OK.”
As Betty said, it really is insane.
Sister Golden Bear
Every accusation, a confession. The wingnuts would be fine with such restrictions if they only were being applied to those people.
SFAW
@Cheryl Rofer:
That’s because he’s either (as Betty intimated) insane, or incredibly stupid.
Hah! Trick “question” — he’s both.
Not all of them are insane (I suspect) nor stupid (I suspect), but they are ALL evil. I was never a big “get the tumbrels ready” kind of guy, but I’m getting there.
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: Huh, what and FFS!
“Hey everyone! Trying to ensure everyone’s healthy will cause mass uncertainty!”
MattF
@Sister Golden Bear: It’s all ‘What would I do if I was governor?’ The notion that other people live outside the bubble and do things for other reasons is just absent.
EthylEster
I am not an economist but I am a scientist who has been following closely the science (such as it is) in this pandemic. Promising to get things back to normal in 7 weeks seems ambitious to me, given that there are not enough “good” tests available and this “plan” relies completely on that.
And having an economist from a very ideological academic economics department (George Mason University) give advice on public health matters is a red flag IMO.
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: Thankfully for Dump, there’s a White House barber to regularly dye that cotton candy crap piss yellow.
Brachiator
This sounds like a very good plan, but it is made more complicated by the segment of the population who either deny the seriousness of the pandemic or who insist on chanting “Give me liberty and give me death, but preferably for other people!”
In the current environment, some people would resist social isolation or ignore it. And people might resist being singled out because they would fear the loss of a job or the potential expense of a hospital stay.
Another potentially complicating factor. I have been reading about incipient anti-vaxxers who declare that they will not make use of a vaccine, even if an effective one is developed.
It may be that the only thing worse than a pandemic will be those idiots who refuse to react intelligently to the efforts to mitigate the pandemic.
Amir Khalid
Is anyone in America developing/deploying a contact-tracing phone app? Here in my Third World country, I downloaded the MyTrace app last week.
Kilgore Trout
Someone on Twitter pointed out that once he was no longer able to do his two hour
hate ralliespress conferences every day he completely lost interest in COVID – so we’re back to the “it’ll just go away” wishful thinking.He is the laziest man in America and doesn’t really want to be President outside of being on TV and basking in the adulation of his base. Combine that with the only qualification to be a Trump administration official being unfettered adulation of the Donald – no subject matter competence required! – and we are completely screwed.
ziggy
@SFAW: Oh Trump loves testing, and wants lots of it–but only for the white house! The rest of us can just FOAD as long as it doesn’t make him look bad.
SFAW
@Kilgore Trout:
I disagree. He absolutely does not want to do ANY of the work associated with being president. But he certainly wants to wield the power of the office to hurt any/all of those he does not like, or who dare to do anything other than kiss his obese ass. [NB: Not an exhaustive list of those he wants to hurt/harm.] I also agree with your “adulation” comment, of course.
SFAW
@ziggy:
OK, I’ll agree with that.
Brachiator
@Cheryl Rofer:
And yet, his supporters ignore the clear contradiction of all the testing of White House staffers. His idiot buffer wants to simultaneously say that fear of the virus is overblown and that it is perfectly reasonable that Trump test the shit out of everyone around him.
I think you are definitely on to something here! Trump’s reaction to the pandemic has been notable from the very beginning by his denial and refusal to really provide any leadership. He early on tried to wish the virus away or tried to throw instant magic solutions at it. And all this was well before he started insisting that the economy needed to start up again as soon as possible.
His hunt for a fast vaccine is another indicator that he just wants to not have to think about the virus at all.
West of the Rockies
@Baud:
Wait… SC is expecting and nobody told me?
J R in WV
@Baud:
Amazing funny remark, only two words, wife and I both laughed out loud!!!!
Thanks! Will vote Baud! 2020 !!!
Kilgore Trout
@SFAW: Fair enough – he does indeed enjoy inflicting pain on his enemies du jour.
Anya
I don’t usually check this dude’s tweets but this came into my TL and it’s just too insane not to share it with you.
https://twitter.com/peterdaou/status/1259109700282482688?s=21
“The fact that a generic Democrat isn’t 30 points ahead of Trump in EVERY state demonstrates the abject failure of the Democratic Party to distinguish itself from the GOP.“
Does he live in this world or does he just wake up every morning to spout nonsense about how the democrats have failed?
Kay
The NYTimes political team has an entire piece repeating and amplifying the Trump campaign against Biden:
It’s the A Team. The big stars. Jesus is it the EXACT same approach they used with Clinton in 2016. They are incapable of fixing this or in any way doing anything differently.
Welp, if this garbage work is what we’re getting, we better figure out how to overcome the disadvantage because they’re not changing a winning formula. Carry on. The only way out is through.
Ksmiami
@MattF: The only appropriate ending to this regime Is trials, hangings, jail and financial ruin for the perpetrators- over and over
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Definitely a point of view that merits additional exposure as well as our intellectual and emotional investment…
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
Personally, I think there should be no choice involved.
You either get vaccinated and receive a certificate signed by a medical staffer or you go into Typhoid Mary style endless quarantine, locked into a small set of rooms with bad food delivered twice a day, no visitors, ever.
Kay
I love the sense you get that they’re actually on the team now- GOP operatives report back to the NYTimes political team on whether that attacks are working.
I mean, it’s kind of an interesting window into how the media team work with the campaign team, so you keep reading, but at the end you’re like “WT FUCK was that?”
J R in WV
@Anya:
Pretty sure other commenters have remarked at the irrational remarks Peter Daou is well known for making. Evidently, from reading those comments, Daou is a Bernie Bro — those folks can’t add and subtract, let alone think logically and rationally.
Not stupid, deranged.
Or, Not Democratic, Russian.
ETA: Please President Biden, don’t invite Senator Sanders (I-St Petersburg) to be in your cabinet. He is too disorganized to participate successfully in an Easter-egg hunt!
lamh36
Today is Commencement Day.
Starting at 2pmEST with “Show Mr Your Walk” where special guest PBO speaks to HBCU college grads, along with other including Kamala Harris (Alumnmi Howard U) and just now for Del State:
Then tonight, airing nationally on all the major broadcast nets… #GraduateTogether from LeBron James and friends, including remarks to high school Class of 2020 by PBO and performances!
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yeah, they’re incorrigible. Their pathology just has to be factored in as a perpetual obstacle. It won’t change.
I wonder about blowback from the “Biden is senile” campaign. I use streaming services to watch TV, so that might affect how ads are served, but I’ve seen those ads in FL, and it seems unwise to run them in a market with so many seniors.
Also, the Trump campaign is drastically lowering expectations for Biden. Seems like it would be smarter to portray him as a slick lifelong pol.
Mandalay
It’s not just the NYT wiggling around on Trump’s lap.
Here’s an opinion piece by Karen Tumulty (who I thought knew better) from yesterday’s WaPo titled “It is far too early for Democrats to panic over Biden“:
WTF??? That drivel isn’t even worthy of being called clickbait.
O. Felix Culpa
New Mexico now offers testing to everyone. We worked hard to get Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham elected in 2018 and it has paid off. Elections matter, as the saying goes.
Cameron
@lamh36: Wonder what the odds are of Trump calling an ’emergency press conference’ at 8?
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
“It’ll be okay, The old farts will forget them five minutes later.”
//
Mandalay
It happened a bit earlier than I expected, but this morning Don Trump Jr accused Joe Biden of being a pedophile on Instagram.
Geminid
@Anya: Daou and his like simply hate the Democratic party. I doubt if he even believes that crap. He’s just a malicious liar.
HumboldtBlue
California’s governor and San Francisco’s mayor worked together to act early in confronting the COVID threat. For Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio, it was a different story, and 27,000 New Yorkers have died so far.
James E Powell
@Kay:
Neither the NYT nor any of the press/media believe there is anything to fix. They are not doing anything wrong, they never have. They are not making any mistakes, never have. They are getting the results they want. They kept That Horrible Woman out of the White House and Trump is the greatest content generator since 9/11. They’re completely satisfied
I’ve been saying this since 2000, but I have yet to convince a single Democrat to cancel a NYT subscription.
Eric
@Betty Cracker: they will explain it away thusly. I am old. I know old people lose a step. Not me of course. But Biden is a Democrat so he did. QED. They can rationalize anything
SFAW
@NotMax:
Forget what?
Sure Lurkalot
@Cheryl Rofer: So, why all the tests in the White House? If testing is bad and unnecessary?
Chyron HR
@Anya:
When Bernie loses by not getting enough votes, it’s rigged. If Biden wins by not getting enough votes, he’s failed.
SFAW
@Mandalay:
Would that be Donald “I like killing puppies and kittens” Trump, Jr.?
At least, I think I heard some people say that Junior likes doing that. Maybe OANN can investigate
ETA: I fully expect Junior would try to deny it. Maybe he’ll blame it on Eric. Or Barron.
Miss Bianca
@Mandalay: What do they fucking get out of this, these pundits? I mean. as a poorly paid reporter myself, I get that it must be nice to be paid so handsomely to eat shit and then vomit it up again in the form of their columns, but don’t they see *any* danger to themselves in what they’re doing? Why do they keep eating GOP shit and then vomiting it up again with an “I R smart! I R magickal!!” air to it all? Trump and the GOP openly despise them, openly *threaten* them, have now crashed the economy *again*, while causing thousands of needless deaths with their arrogant, clueless, recklessly homicidal behavior, the polls are all showing a huge amount of support for Biden over The Blob, and yet…*Biden’s* the one with the issues?
This endless fucking ENABLING and coddling of Republicans and scolding and condescension towards Democrats by the so-called “liberal media” has got me feeling positively stabby.
And sure, maybe you can blame publishers and editors for allowing and encouraging this kind of shit, but you’d think it would dawn even on THEM that it’s endangering not only democracy – I mean, who gives a shit about that – but their own fucking *businesses*.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
For example, I’m not a registered Democrat and I canceled my NYT subscription of my own accord.
It’s about ethics in print journalism.
Anya
@Betty Cracker: but also, it’s not like Trump is much younger than Biden. Like, how would he not at risk of the same accusations? But then again, we’re talking about Facebook crowd. Critical thinking is not an issue.
SFAW
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
Is that before or after the blogger ethics panel?
MoCA Ace
My suggestion… they should be forcibly quarantined in “Covid Camps” where the disease is rampant and they can develop immunity the way God intended.
Fuckem.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
@Anya: Not to mention that Biden could lose 2/3 of his current mental acuity and still be at minimum twice as sharp as Trump at his peak.
Jinchi
Shhhhhhhhh. Don’t give them any ideas on how to be smarter.
Amir Khalid
@Sure Lurkalot:
Is simple answer. Trump desperately wants not to die of Covid-19. The rest of America? Pah, what are they to him?
Bill Arnold
@EthylEster:
I thought the piece read as reasonably honest. The big definitely technically achievable takeaway in that plan is to make mask wearing mandatory in public indoor places[1] in the “yellow zone”, which is currently the entire United States. Politically achievable, maybe, with proper leadership at the national level.
I’m strongly encouraged by the daily new case numbers in New York, which appear to have dropped a lot starting 5-10 days after NY State’s mandatory face coverings order. (Been looking at county level graphs.) [2]
[1] and crowded outdoor places.
[2] NY State daily tracker
SFAW
@Anya:
but also, it’s not like Trump is much younger than Biden. Like, how would he not at risk of the same accusations?
Not a medical professional, but I would bet a case of expensive beer that, were the two of them given a dementia assessment — by someone NOT in the Murderer-in-Chief’s pocket, of course — that the results would show Trump’s senility is so far beyond any Biden might have, that it would be “game over” for Shitgibbon. [Well, in a rational society, it would. In ‘Murica, not so much.]
HumboldtBlue
Barack Obama with babies is what I didn’t know I needed.
LuciaMia
@Cheryl Rofer: His statement this week along the lines of “If there wasnt so much testing we wouldnt have so many cases.” Was just jaw-dropping.
Hey, who knew? And we can beat cancer by just not doing any testing. No mammograms, prostate and skin exams. Who knew they were the real culprits? Just ignore it and itll all go away.
jeffreyw
@SFAW:
It sure makes a big difference watching old movies because I’m always surprised by the twist.
Anya
@SFAW: as per article he says there are too many Joe Biden creepy videos. I mean, at least there’s no video of Joe Biden creepily perving on his own daughter or sexual poses with his 15 year old daughter. I hate that fucker more than his monster of a father.
JaySinWA
@Miss Bianca:
Pravda and Izvestia continued to exist, why wouldn’t FYNYT?
Another Scott
@Ksmiami: My preferred outcome is to make the RWNJs irrelevant. Supermajorities in the House and Senate with a broad enough coalition (we know that Lefty McLeftish politicians and viewpoints are not a majority in the USA) so that sensible compromises are created inside the party as we know that compromise with the GOP is no longer possible (or desirable).
Spending 2-5-10 years in Truth and Retribution as an end in-and-of-itself is a waste of time that is needed for fixing and improving the USA. Congress needs to work on legislation and let a sensible, independent DoJ do its job. Yes, the DoJ and state AGs need to go after them, but Congress cannot be distracted from doing the jobs that the USA needs done. 40+ years of RWNJism needs to be reversed and we need to make actual progress.
We have less than 2 years to make progress on problems that are impacting real people’s lives. Stringing up Barr isn’t in the top 25 of what voters in 2022 are going to be looking at in making their minds.
tl;dr – Punishing the evil-doers is only part of the job. It cannot be allowed to dominate. Eyes on the prizes.
Cheers,
Scott.
CaseyL
If you posit that the US is a failed state, and the institutional power centers realize that, then power centers such as the NYT’s continued enablement of the GOP can be seen in a different way. FTFNYT is positioning itself to be the newspaper of the aristocratic intelligentsia: defining the world in their terms and reinforcing the legitimacy of their view.
(I’m thinking of places like England in the 19th Century, where the newspapers covered crises like the Chartist Movement exclusively from the point of view that these were lesser orders rebelling against their rightful masters rather than citizens who wanted a more democratic government.)
Sure Lurkalot
@Amir Khalid: Yes, of course. But how do you impart testing is bad and unnecessary to your cult when you are relying on it? Trump has certainly convinced them not to wear masks…while his “comfort” not wearing one is due to those continual bad and unnecessary tests. And considering the failure rate of the tests and the fact that there’s proof of that in his own house….
NotMax
@Anya
Not the sharpest crayons in the box, any of them.From last fall, by way of a name you’ll recognize.
Kay
@Mandalay:
No substantive coverage of the Democratic candidate, at all, again. The word cloud looks like this : “Hunter Biden, Tara Reade”. I suppose that’s slightly better than single topic emails coverage- they have two words this time.
Apparently Donald Trump and Joe Biden are identical on issues. Nothing at all to be written about there.
Jinchi
I’m convinced, but I’d have to subscribe in order to cancel.
Kay
@Mandalay:
It;s even worse than that for the public. Their industry is collapsing. When the dust clears the ONLY people who will be left employed are these people. No statehouse coverage, no local news, no nothing. We’ll get billion dollar coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails and nothing invested in anything else. They cleared out the entire bottom and middle rung of the industry. It’ll be 25 national celebrity reporters and nothing below that.
SFAW
@Anya:
You talking about Junior, too? I mean, I know the Murderer-in-Chief has done that, hadn’t heard of Junior as well. (Or am I misreading your comment?)
NotMax
@SFAW
On the other hand it’s always projection with them, innit it?
Bill Arnold
Re D.J. Trump and testing, I read that as basically a man who sees COVID-19 related numbers as an international contest, complaining that countries can cheat on the numbers simply by limiting testing.
Doesn’t matter a bit; the excess deaths numbers will be part of the COVID-19 Truth and Reconciliation process. And US states can’t be made to lie about their numbers, though some will do so willingly. Then they will get caught by the excess deaths statistics; can’t lie about deaths except in a totalitarian state.
Anya
@SFAW: Sorry. I was talking about his father.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
@Chyron HR: Bernie cannot fail. Bernie can only be failed by others.
Jinchi
In 2016, with two-dozen accusations of sexual assault, Trump somehow made Bill Clinton’s sex life a scandal that Hillary Clinton was responsible for. Likewise with the Clinton Foundation, Hunter Biden, Obama investigating Russian ties to Flynn. In each case, Trump makes up a scandal that is a reflection of his own real world one.
He gets away with these tactics because Republican voters don’t care if their guy is guilty, but Democratic voters do.
HumboldtBlue
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him.
You were intimidated by him.
You were challenged by him.
You were triggered by him.
Chief Oshkosh
@J R in WV: But it would be good to have him replaced in the Senate with someone who is worthwhile. So, Biden needs to put Bernie at Secretary of Labor. There are several outcomes. One is that, finally being given a post where he can directly work on problems that he supposedly cares about, he’ll stroke out from overwork. Another is that, finally being given a post where his followers think he should be expert on, Bernie will fail to deliver after and year, Biden will replace him, Bernie will retire to one of his homes, and his followers will go on to the next White Knight. Alternatively, finally being given a post where he can directly work on problems that he supposedly cares about, Bernie effectively alters labor relations and American society.
What – It could happen…
Brachiator
@MoCA Ace:
These people are too widely dispersed for easy round up, but it would be so delightful to herd them into the FEMA camps they always claimed were just around the corner. But this time to protect the rest of the country from their lunacy.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: And another thing…
We know the RWNJs run on distraction: Flag Burning Amendments, Balanced Budget Amendments, English Only Amendments, etc., etc., and then get into office and cut taxes for their buddies and cut benefits for everyone else.
They want us to spend years investigating their crimes and all the rest, so they can scream Socialism and Witchhunt and Dark State all the rest, because it prevents us from expanding Social Security and lowering the age for Medicare and improving public education and all the rest.
Don’t fall for it.
Eyes on the prizes. More and better Democrats. The DoJ needs to do its job without interference. Let’s get it done.
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@Another Scott:
Doing Truth and Retribution does not preclude Congress fixing what Trump et al. have destroyed (or tried to). And NOT doing Truth and Retribution allows the Party of Traitors to skate on their evil, not unlike Ford pardoning Nixon.
Unless and until the Party of Traitors and RWNJs is/are made to pay a price for their evil, they’ll keep doing it, every time they get a chance
ETA:
So what? Let ’em. It’s cowering/responding to the perceived threat of their screaming that has the Dems — far too often — taking their eyes off the goal. The Party of Traitors cannot be allowed to skate on their attempted destruction of the government and country; to do so will only embolden them for the next time
ETA2: And, for what it’s worth: poll after poll, over the years, have shown that the populace prefers Dem/liberal policies — if the questions aren’t asked in a push-poll manner. So any screaming would be from a subset of the Trump-or-die contingent. As efgoldman would say:
fuckem
FelonyGovt
This is completely unhelpful, but I keep thinking about those 80,000 or so people in a few states who just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. And now the US deaths have exceeded that number, largely because of the incompetent and malignant “leadership” they voted for.
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh: I find myself oddly charmed by this scenario
ETA: Except for the uncertainty about whether there would be a special election with the possibility of getting another Democratic senator, or whether VT’s Republican governor would be appointing his replacement (presumably another Republican). Not sure anyone else would be able to get away with running for the seat as an independent, but I don’t know enough about VT politics to say.
Brachiator
@Chief Oshkosh:
This would be absurd. The country will need competent and creative thinkers at Treasury, Commerce and Labor, to help spearhead post pandemic recovery efforts. Sanders has no role in any of this.
Ksmiami
@Another Scott: Yes agree; we have to make progress, but part of that is to ensure, like we did in Germany that these evildoers have no future path to power and that means retribution.
BBA
I look at what South Korea is doing to make life reach some semblance of normality. Widespread testing and surveillance to keep the spread of the virus under control, even in a densely packed transit-dependent city like Seoul.
Then I weep, because our government isn’t remotely competent enough to do the same thing. And even if they could, angry white men with guns would openly defy it and undermine whatever benefit we could get from it. (You think Whitmer has it bad, imagine what the reaction would be like if Hillary had won.)
I wish only those responsible for this ugly state would suffer the consequences, but we’re all stuck in this country with them. Ugh.
SFAW
@Jinchi:
I don’t disagree. But it was Anya’s comment to which you’re responding; I had a blockquote brainfart when I replied to her. [I also don’t disagree with her. But I realize that the Murderer-in-Chief’s followers don’t care what he has done or will do.]
SFAW
@Brachiator:
What sucks (a little) is that we can’t clone E. Warren. [Yeah, I’m a big fan.] I can see her doing an excellent job at any/all of those positions.
SFAW
@Ksmiami:
Yes.
Of course, were a Truth and Retribution commission set up (assuming we take back the WH and Senate), we would have to start a betting pool re: how many of them use the “I vas only following orders” attempted defense.
Nora
@HumboldtBlue: Thanks. That made me tear up. What a good father. What a decent human being. What a contrast.
BBA
In the off chance that Biden wins, I think Wilmer would do a fine job as ambassador to Moldova. But there’s one good reason not to send him there: haven’t the Moldovans already suffered enough?
SFAW
@BBA:
How about Elbonia? Would you be OK with that?
Mandalay
@Miss Bianca:
Good question. I was so surprised by that drivel from Karen Tumulty – someone I thought was fair and reasonable – that I dug a bit deeper.
In her particular case, I suspect that she really doesn’t like Biden, and she (unwisely) went out on a limb to support Tara Reade. For example:
TLDR: Tumulty loathes Biden.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
That’s insane thing with the Republicans, yes, they might look bad for a few months but if they had the Virus beat down in couple of months they looked a lot better afterwards. Implementing this program is the cheapest option and does the less trama on the economy and the public health, but doing it takes work for the Entitled Class, work is for little people so this isn’t going to happen until there is a Democratic admin.
LuciaMia
@SFAW: How about Freedonia?
NotMax
@SFAW
San Sombrèro.
:)
SFAW
@LuciaMia:
Aren’t they all Marxists?
SFAW
@NotMax:
Never saw that before. Thanks for the link. I may have to go there, just to ask for directions.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, this and the same with his base. I mean what kind of idiot runs around in a para military outfit during a pandemic unless he utterly terrified and wants to hide it?
I think this fear is going to drive these Conservative men into more and more self destructive gestures in an attempt to hide their fear from the rest of us. I predict we will see a GOP convention in the fall, packed hall with men making a point to publicly embrace and cough in each other’s face.
James E Powell
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
@Jinchi:
I was only talking about the tote-baggers in my social circles. I should have been more specific.
James E Powell
@Chief Oshkosh:
Sanders isn’t the type for a cabinet post. Not a team player, not an administrator. He should just continue his career as senator.
HumboldtBlue
@Nora:
Glad to help. I have a grand-niece named Nora, she’s a sharp li’l cookie.
ThresherK
That’s a higher percentage of Americans than would agree “I like ice cream” in a poll (of non-diabetics and non-lactose-intolerant). We really are in the same boat.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anya:
Like much of BernieWorld, Daou can’t distinguish between their twitter feed and the electorate. “Everyone I follow supports M4A! and everyone I haven’t blocked agrees!”
Pittsburgh Mike
Yeah, this plan explains why testing is important. It lets you catch people who were exposed, but asymptomatic, catch people who are sick and working in positions where they can infect larger #s of people, and catch people who were infected by asymptomatic people.
Mart
When Trump “ordered” everyone home from Europe and tens of thousands were packed into planes and piled into customs shoulder to shoulder for hours without even bothering to scan temperatures; pretty certain the plan was controlling this is too hard, let’s just get everyone sick, herd immunity, declare victory. Sorry about those body bags, but what else can you do? Seemed to be Boris Johnson’s plan before he almost died.
SFAW
@ThresherK:
Oh, bullshit. If they don’t like ice cream, then, by definition, they are NOT truly American.
Villago Delenda Est
A more aggressive testing strategy is the last thing Donald wants to do, even though it’s the only way to salvage any chance of his reelection, because he’s advised by utter idiots like that criminal twit Kushner who tell him testing numbers will make him look bad, as if he doesn’t already look bad enough without testing.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
low-tech cyclist
And nothing else resembling a national plan will be implemented either.
Clearly Trump’s remaining in office for the next eight months will lead to tens of thousands more unnecessary deaths, on top of the tens of thousands that have already happened. It’s blatantly obvious that he shouldn’t be President for one more day.
So why is hardly anyone calling for him to resign?
Sure, he wouldn’t resign. But not saying he should effectively normalizes Trump’s dereliction of duty as being within the range of unfortunate but tolerable partisan policies (like tax cuts for the rich), rather than being off the fucking charts, which is where it is.
EthylEster
@Mandalay wrote : TLDR: Tumulty loathes Biden.
Uh, actually she is just regularly bad. It isn’t just Biden. But you did do a good job of pointing out her recent atrocities. She is sometimes tolerable but then just flips into idiocy. The panic piece today is BS. I referred to her as a concern troll in a recent WaPo comment.
EthylEster
@low-tech cyclist: Check out Roger Cohen’s column today in NYT. He has an, um, interesting take.
Omnes Omnibus
@low-tech cyclist: It doesn’t normalize dick. Any effort to impeach or get Trump to resign or put him on the B Ark and launch him into the sun is a distraction and diversion of effort from the election in November. Full stop. End of story.
Another Scott
@SFAW: re: your ETA2.
President Obama said it better in his HBCU commencement address today (starting around 1:46 from the start of the video in the next thread): #2 – Work together, look for allies, lift everyone up. ‘Just about everyone agrees on where we want to end up. We disagree about the means. And that’s how the powerful prevent change – they have us fighting amongst ourselves over the means…’
Cheers,
Scott.
Uncle Cosmo
FTFY! :^D
Slightly o/t, but I ran across an interesting take on “reopening” on another blog, where a poster characterized the attitude of the “reopeners” as equivalent to –
Uncle Cosmo
@Brachiator: Anyone scrounging for a fast vaccine is odds-on to get a half-fast** vaccine. Remember that first shingles vaccine? Pricey, nasty side effects, and effective for barely more than half of the inoculated.
** (Say it out loud.)
Uncle Cosmo
@Anya: Peter DaWho?? Sounds like a useta-be pounding on the door of the Cone of Irrelevance hoping someone will let his sorry arse out…
Uncle Cosmo
Maybe not quite that draconian, once we have an effective vaccine. We need to deny people the right to endanger others by refusing vaccination, but we can do that by creating & enforcing rules that make that choice inconvenient (and perhaps expensive) for them. Just off the top of my head:
Once we have a handle on how long a vaccinated individual can be expected to produce antibodies to COVID-19, the inoculated might carry some sort of medical ID (probably electronic) noting date of last vaccination, which will allow them into mass venues (concerts, dances, sporting events, etc.). They won’t be required to carry such ID, but things would be a lot more inconvenient for them if they don’t.
If the ID shows you are close to expiration, you get a rapid antibodies test right then & there, and a dose of vaccine if indicated. (Both at your expense if you want to be admitted to the event.) Even if you decline admission, you will be required to leave wearing a mask, you will be noted by the authorities & have your contacts subject to tracing, and be required to self-isolate until you can get a booster shot at a designated venue (at a much lower price).
Something like that anyway. Details to be worked out.
Uncle Cosmo
@J R in WV: I have a cabinet position I can offer Senator Uncle Finger-Wiggly. It’s right underneath my kitchen sink & if he can crouch down far enough to wedge his way in I’d be happy to find another home for the dishwashing soap and cleaning gear.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Anya: I follow him. Sometime in the last year or two he completely lost the plot.
polyorchnid octopunch
@James E Powell: That’s really weird. The Canadian version of the NYT is the Globe and Mail (Grope and Flail). There have been a number of times when them losing subscribers has literally made the news; usually after they’d endorsed Stephen Harper Yet Again despite all evidence that he’s an authoritarian plutocratic lickspittle.