According to the TSA, idiot nation is ignoring the plague and going home for turkey and to kill gram and gramps:
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recorded its highest number of weekend passengers since the coronavirus pandemic began in March, with over 3 million people traveling in the past three days. The surge comes despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance advising against Thanksgiving travel because of mounting covid-19 cases across the nation.
Sunday was the busiest travel day since the beginning of the pandemic in March, according to TSA spokesman Daniel Velez, with 1,047,934 passengers. TSA screenings surpassed a now-rare amount of 1 million screenings on both Friday and Sunday; Friday was a slightly lower travel day with 1,019,836 travelers screened. On Saturday, TSA saw 984,369 travelers.
Hospitals are already overwhelmed in many places, close in others, and the death rate is climbing as we all know that it is hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators. It’s going to be an awful couple of months, and there literally is no help on the way because the Senate is not going to do anything and the current administration is more worthless than breasts on men. So, yay.
The thing that bothers me the most about this is that the people traveling are all people of privilege. If you are flying across country for a three day holiday, you are de facto middle class or higher. Poor people don’t do this. So people who are already in a position of privilege are simply incapable of denying themselves the luxury of going home for the holidays, and their actions will, as always, wreak havoc on those less fortunate or who have no say. The virus will hit the old, the weak, communities of color, the immune suppressed, the medical community, and, of course, the working class.
The very same working class who, unlike those in the middle and upper middle class, won’t be getting to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with their families even without travel. Why? Because they are all having Thanksgiving today, or tomorrow, and likely early in the day or late at night, because they have eat before their midnight shift or after they get home from their swing shift. They’ll gather around the table at noon today and then head off to fucking Walmart or the gas station or the Walgreens or whatever restaurant they work at. Just like they fucking do every year.
And such that it is.
We’re a profoundly stupid and selfish and unempathetic nation, for the most part. Other than some masturbatory rhetoric early on about “essential workers” and “our heroes in the medical community,” we’ve basically done fuck all to make their lives easier. It was basically empty rhetoric, a sort of act of auto-erotic patriotism and the performative dance version of a war effort. None of this is surprising- it’s who we have been conditioned to be. In the last twenty years we’ve financed several wars and multiple tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the kids being crushed economically right now, and instead of being asked to sacrifice during wartime we were instead told to go out and shop. So it’s no surprise that asking people to turn down nonna’s cranberry sauce during a plague is just a bridge too fucking far.
We don’t give a fuck about anyone but ourselves, and the selfish pricks traveling this week and the assholes hosting them are the fucking worst of the worst.
HumboldtBlue
Amidst the selfishness and the dipshittiness there’s always Obama hanging out with Maverick Carter and LeBron James.
WaterGirl
I am nodding in agreement, but with tears in my eyes because I have family members who are doing exactly this.
Jeffro
Between the Sturgis motorcycle thingy and the trumpov super-spreader events around the Midwest, and now this…it’s almost like someone wanted infections to go through the roof in middle America.
Does it qualify as manslaughter or negligent homicide? I dunno…what do YOU think, Scott Atlas?
eclare
@WaterGirl: My relatives from six different households are getting together for Thanksgiving. I told them I wasn’t coming. I’m terrified to go to Kroger!
NotMax
Reap. Sow. Something something.
//
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
I’d like to think that, if it must happen, and is happening, no matter what, and the goddamn plague spikes to the heavens, which it will, then THAT will be the deal breaker at last. Back to lockdown, mask mandates, stimulus relief, no-crowd Dropkick Murphys concerts… The “Hate to say I told you so, but” moment.
Capri
What kills me are all the people who are surprise when I tell them that I’m not going anywhere and my kids aren’t coming to me. Like I have some bizzare belief system that they can’t quite get their head around. Everyone I know who is traveling thinks their family is healthy and it’s someone else who is the problem.
Maybe, like politics, countries get the pandemics they deserve.
CarolPW
Curbside grocery pickup is keeping me safe. For a while I could lavishly tip the workers, but they are now forbidden to accept any tips. It was already stupid, because what is an appropriate tip for someone who is keeping you alive? And now no tips allowed.
Odie Hugh Manatee
If they get sick themselves or their friends and family who choose to expose themselves to it sick then I hope they all get it with both barrels, no sympathy here.
I’ll save my empathy for the innocent people that they infect and kill.
NotMax
Olbermann on a roll today, his dander up high enough to graze the ISS.
Chetan Murthy
John, thank you for this. It’s important that we all remind each other, that we’re not staying in our houses only so that we will survive, but so that -others- will survive also: so that others we don’t even *know*, will never *meet*, will survive.
If, someday, a latter-day Gibbon writes the epitaph on Our Experiment, I think that he will write somewhat as the original Gibbon wrote: that we forgot why we were Americans, and we especially forgot our *responsibilities* as Americans, focusing only on our *rights* as Americans.
Sigh. USA! USA! USA![1]
[1] It is *singularly* disgusting to hear this chant from racist jingoist fascist partisans of the Fucking Traitor. Singularly so. Because if the Traitor weren’t that: if at least he were a partisan of American First (for real), of American power, I guess I could understand them. But he’s not. He’s all about what’s good for him, and giving away our hegemony is part of that. And yet his feculent, suppurating horde chant nevertheless. It’s so …. dispiriting.
Villago Delenda Est
The life endangering stupid. It kills.
NotMax
How’s that benighted repeated promise going, Dolt 45?
US coal jobs down 24% from the start of Trump administration to latest quarter
Punchy
December funerals are all the rage nowadays.
sdhays
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I just have to say I love your ‘nym, I invariably chuckle whenever I see it, even in a depressing thread like this one.
ArchTeryx
My best friend’s mom and he (I often go to visit their place on Thanksgiving) did it the rational way. They talked about it, checked COVID statistics for NYS and Vermont, looked at government websites, and decided to cancel the trip. We’re having a Zoom Thanksgiving like most sane people are, and hoping we get through the next two months alive.
concerned citizen
The human species survives because a little over one half isn’t completely evil. Make sure your at-risk folks are quarantined.
sdhays
@Chetan Murthy: The people most likely to chant “USA” are typically the people who mostly hate everything about the USA, or at least most of the people in it and making the things they like or depend on possible.
NotMax
@Punchy
The shroud of tourin’.
//
satby
I’m seeing karma IRL as the mask refuseniks at the farmers market slowly disappear because they’re home sick with covid. The latest one morbidly obese and diabetic and wore her mask mostly around her neck. I hope she ends up ok but I don’t have a lot of sympathy. It takes a slight bit of extra effort to wear a mask, and it does appear that tiny bit is too much to ask of many people.
PeakVT
68% test positivity rate in Wyoming yesterday.
Benw
And such that it is -> So it goes.
That’s a very high compliment. And I hope you both are eventually wrong :)
dexwood
You can pry my turkey drumstick from my cold, dead hand… unfortunately.
geg6
My oldest sister, who has battled Crohn’s disease since she was 19, just had a tumor and a chunk of her liver taken out. Her husband has MS (I introduced them and was their maid of honor). Their daughter, my niece, has an 18 month old and a baby due in February. She has had her wedding postponed for almost a year now. I haven’t seen any of them since July. My younger sister, BIL and college age niece are also absent from my life since July. And July was the the first time I saw all of them since March. My only living brother is battling lung cancer and I haven’t seen him since last Christmas. I’d do anything to be with them as we always have. But we can’t because I want them all alive for the holidays next year. Thankfully, I have one sister and BIL who have been our bubble, so we are able to at least spend a meal together. But it will be short, with the windows open, masked unless eating/drinking. We sacrifice now for a better life ahead for us all. I have no patience for anyone who isn’t willing to do the same.
Chetan Murthy
@sdhays:
100% with you. Which is why I’m so angry at them: for perverting a chant that is the simplest expression of my patriotism, into something the -opposite- of. I remember reading that one of the things modern Germans struggle with, is a sort of “pride in our reckoning with our evil past”. There’s actually a *vigorous* debate in Germany, about whether they can take pride in their, y’know, shame for their nation’s evil deeds. A patriotism like that, including the self-doubt about whether we have a right to -pride- would be …. refreshing. Ah, well.
Punchy
@NotMax: The coughin’ coffin caravan….
Punchy
@PeakVT: HOLE. LEE. SHIT. Thats….just…..absurd. Sure nice to know theyll do absolutely nothing about it, because masks are the devil.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
One fucking Thanksgiving. They couldn’t give up one Thanksgiving. Shit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I’ve mentioned this before, but I worry about the public’s perception and trust in medical professions going forward because of the GOP and Trump’s bullshit. Ron Johnson was attacking medical professional who works at a major university in an open session of the Senate, essentially calling doctors and nurses liars. Nursing has been one of the most trusted professions in the US for 18 years according to Gallup. That took decades to build. My professors in school often brought this up. Now, potentially almost 40% of the population will distrust us. It took less than a year to ruin it, assuming this is the case. I’m beyond pissed
NotMax
@PeakVT
Croakhack Mountain.
//
Kelly
@PeakVT: Jeeze the entire map has gone to uncontrolled spread since I last looked. Oh wait, Hawaii still yellow. A few thousand miles of ocean helps control spread.
PeakVT
@Punchy: I’m not an expert but it looks like they are fucking up both with the numerator – cases are out of control – and the denominator – their testing rate is pathetically low. Compare with VT a few lines above in the last chart.
Also, it looks like the data was just updated for today, so WY is down to 57%. Progress, of a sort.
Regnad Kcin
@Chetan Murthy: we do need our own Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung, but I ain’t betting on it any time soon
Another Scott
@NotMax: He’s almost a caricature.
Almost.
+1
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Punchy
@NotMax: D’eyennne, Dyoming.
HalfAssedHomesteader
@HumboldtBlue: How does a person not like Barack Obama? Agree or disagree, how do you not like him? I will never understand that.
matt the semi-reasonable
This is the power of bad leadership. Countries with bad leadership don’t last long.
Chetan Murthy
@HalfAssedHomesteader:
I know you’re aware of this quote. I really do think it explains it all. For myself, I think that the Obamas exemplify American royalty in a way that the Kennedys aspired to, but never achieved.
OGLiberal
@geg6: My son – 14 has Crohn’s and that has us super worried with COVID since it’s all auto-immune stuff. I’m the only person who has had contact with outside folks since late February. But I know some idiot is going to give it to me no matter what precautions I take – never go without a mask or gloves, limit outside time, clean all our groceries, etc. So far, the folks here in NJ/PA have been very good with the masks and social distancing. Just hope it lasts.
Sm*t Cl*de
@satby:
A lot of people in NZ wear masks for public transport and such… we are currently COVID-free, but there will be another incursion some time, and it could be happening now (just not detected yet).
I do not enjoy the mask, for it brings back happy memories of the whole Asthma experience of fighting for every breath. OTOH I do not enjoy wearing trousers either but I am willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
craigie
This seems to me to describe the US 90% of the time.
Steve in the ATL
@eclare:
The one at Poplar Plaza? It is frightening.
Or is your fear related to the pandemic?
Poptartacus
I’ll be working, the rest of the family is hunkered down waiting for the vaccines to show up. We haven’t been doing this shit since March to fuck it up now.
https://youtu.be/HsM_VmN6ytk
HumboldtBlue
@HalfAssedHomesteader:
I easily know a dozen, Obama haters are thick on the ground.
Elsewhere, Blaire Erskine reminds of the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
Steve in the ATL
@There are those who call me…tim… (Still posh):
Ok this lockdown has officially gone too far! They are a fantastic live act, and shitty everything else act.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
So WTF is going on in PA right now? Flipped on CNN and there’s going to be some “hearing” in the PA Senate with Trump joining Giuliani to testify about “irregularities”?
What the fuck do these people think they’re doing?
JCJ
@HumboldtBlue: Thanks for the link! That was a nice discussion
MisterForkbeard
@satby: Got into an argument today with someone who insisted that I was giving up my “freedom” by wearing a mask.
I don’t really know what to say to these people. I don’t think they understand what Freedom actually is, and think it’s just a license to fuck around and do whatever you want without consequence.
Mai Naem mobile
Don’t mean to sound like an old fart but this country couldn’t respond to WWII like it did. A draft would be a joke. Rationing??? Ain’t gonna happen. People would refuse to ration coffee, chocolate or, hell, any other food items. Buying bonds?? Only if they make some big bucks off it. Rationing gas? Are you kidding me? We’ve all become selfish a*holes.
Raven Onthill
“If you are flying across country for a three day holiday, you are de facto middle class or higher.”
Petit-bourgeois, Marx would have called them. He didn’t have a lot of use for them as a group, for many of the same reasons that you don’t.
HalfAssedHomesteader
@Chetan Murthy: Well said.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mai Naem mobile:
That unfortunately happens when you’re the most powerful superpower in the world for 70 years and your culture teaches you you’re the best in the world
JoyceH
@CarolPW:
My local grocery just started curbside pickup and I had my first pickup today. It was so awesome! While my order was being shopped, I got real time texts to let me know they were substituting this brand of iceberg lettuce for my selected brand which was out, and this and that specific flavor of canned soup was out.
I asked if pickup was permanent or pandemic related and was told it was permanent – I may never go back into a store again!
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Nancy, ( from work) texted me today, to say that her hospital experience was wonderful, supportive and loving.
She had reached out to me because of my experiences this year, during Covid. ( ER twice, MERS infection, concussion and 27 stitches, ICU with Covid). She had to have some tests done and was scared.
Trust in medical professionals amongst the reality based is at record highs.
The 40% of nutjobs can inject bleach into their veins, stuff a uv lightbulb up their asses, rotate and die slowly.
Benw
Sometimes it seems impossible a song like this actually exists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqvX8tVQeI
Mary G
I blame Republicans and corporations who put money above everything. It goes back to cigarettes in the 50s/60s, the environment in the 70s, black people are lazy & stupid since the 1600s, now virology and epidemiology are fake news to sabotage the economy.
Chetan Murthy
@HumboldtBlue: Oh god, she is *terrible*. Just *terrible*!!! I wrote her punchline (here in this comment), and then deleted it, b/c I am NOT about to spoil the fun for others. click! click! click! She. Is. Terrible. In a funny way, of course!
Raoul Paste
Mrs. Paste does home health. She called a household to set up an appt., but the patient (60 yrs. old) had just died at home from COVID. She talked to a wife in shock and grief. That was today. This is a very dark time, and I want to punch the goddamn liars on Fox in the face. Now, nobody here needs to respond with a comment here- I know the goodwill of this group in advance, and I’m going to bed. But I needed this catharsis.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
You were in the ICU with COVID? Sounds like you went through a lot to say the least. I hope you’re doing better and I’m glad to hear your coworker had a good experience. I certainly hope you’re right about continued high trust in medical professionals
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think this is part of the broader damage Republicans are doing to the nation. They can’t have anyone contradict them, so they’re trying their best to destroy trust in EVERY institution that isn’t them.
They’ve gone after elites, races, journalists, experts, everyone in the democratic party, etc. Nurses and Doctors have to brought low because they’re saying inconvenient things that Republicans oppose.
It’s a huge problem but I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.
Chetan Murthy
@Jay: Oh Jay, can I just say, many commenters here have been worried and wondering where you are, and reading your writing is a relief. Thank you for taking the time to write, even as you’re recovering — and I trust that your recovery will be full and speedy.
HumboldtBlue
@JCJ:
It is. Interesting, successful men are always worth listening to.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mai Naem mobile: that keeps going through my mind, and it’s a point I think Biden could hit. He’s said a few times that wearing a mask is patriotic.
I’m just baffled that so many people want to get on a plane. I get that it’s been a while, even I, as your standard introverted and agoraphobic misanthrope, would like to travel and go out to eat, even see a couple of my relatives, for a short time, if I could see them without their annoying siblings, spouses and children, but my gut tells me the people getting on planes this week are not the types who have been strictly adhering to guidelines all through the summer, and what I gather was in most of the country a warm, dry fall. Even I, IaAM, went to a few small outdoor gatherings over the summer, even ate lunch on a restaurant patio once
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Kelly: A few thousand miles helps a lot, but Hawaii has been COMPLETELY RABID (in a good way) about the masking and keeping out idiot tourists. It’s been extremely hard, a huge amount of Hawaii’s economy is tourism, but they will arrest you and ship you back to the mainland if you don’t observe quarantine.
Another Scott
@Jay: Glad to see you. Stay strong and best wishes.
Cheers,
Scott.
HRA
My family members are all staying in their homes with who lives there for Thanksgiving. I believe the same will be done for Christmas.
A great niece just sent a photo of herself at a brewery with the message “We are still under orange.” We are inching closer to red. We became the highest in NYS this time. I am not surprised for you just cannot fix stupid.
Chetan Murthy
@eclare:
Tomorrow morning, bright-and-early, I want to go to the local bagel store. But I have to call ahead, and make sure they’re willing to carry the bagels out to the front door of the store, b/c no way am I entering. And this is in an area with a test-positivity of <1%.
100% I feel you. No way I’m entering a “foreign building” until the vaccine is sufficiently widespread that community transmission has ended, and measurably so.
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
thank you. I am home now. When they brought me out of the induced coma, the first thing the Doctors and Nursing Staff said when my brain was awake was “Joe and Kamela won!”.
Then they set up Facetime with SWMBO.
Long term, they don’t know and we are taking it one day at a time.
Strokes are a big deal in my family, so I am lucky.
If I feel okay, in about 2 weeks I can go back to work on reduced hours and duties, and I can volenteer again, teaching only, no street work, for a while.
scav
@MisterForkbeard: Tell them who the hell are they to take away your freedom to express your values and your care and love for others by wearing a mask.
Splitting Image
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Priming the suckers to send them every dollar they can spare in the next election cycle. And the next.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
a lot of interesting movies being released on Netflix: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, I don’t want to give JD Vance any money, but I like Glenn Close a lot and I’m kind of curious about Hillbilly Elegy, and the Mankiewicz biopic with Gary Oldman looks really interesting. Charles Dance as WH Hearst? I’m sure I’ve seen a picture of Hearst, but in my mind’s eye he looks like Orson Welles in the second half of Citizen Kane.
Chetan Murthy
@MisterForkbeard:
Two thoughts: (1) back away slowly, no sudden movements, and never be in their presence again. (2) “So, I guess you never obey speed limits: good to know”.
And, well, the third, which I also would not utter (until this is all over): “Did you know I have a proof that there is no God? Because if there were you would be dead already from a thunderbolt, you moral abscess”.
P.S. “Salus populi suprema lex esto, you fuckwit”. HAHAHA! But I get you: one is at a loss for what to say, in the face of such a moral black hole.
Jay
@Another Scott:
first beer in almost a month, first night I’m not sacked out at 5pm.
little things, cats missing my lap and now making up for it.
Yarrow
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Grandstanding. Getting publicity and (likely) money. Increasing their name recognition ahead of the next election. Doing their masters’ bidding.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Chetan Murthy:
@MisterForkbeard:
I would say that it’s just a piece of cloth; it’s a minor inconvenience. “Freedom” has little to do with it
laura
@Sm*t Cl*de: Me too with the asthma- the “shortness of breath” is my worst fear of the while covid range of symptoms. Anxiety and breathing and masking is concerning. If you can – please consider trying the mask I use. It is so easy breathing, doesnt glom onto your mouth and nose because the design is really good, tight fit, waterproof yet light & easy breathing. It can be spritzed with iso alcohol and reused 10 times. N95. It’s from South Korea and is Air Queen nano filter. I feel safe in it and I can breathe.
Yarrow
@MisterForkbeard: Tell them you’re protecting your freedom to be alive and likely theirs as well.
laura
@laura: pants-wise – how you sort out that whole 2 legged crotch burka is on you.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Splitting Image:
@Yarrow:
That’s really sad and despicable that they’re trashing democracy for publicity and donations
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard:
I think you’re right. The medical professions are just more casualties of the GOP’s authoritarian impulse to crush any dissent against them
HumboldtBlue
@Jay:
Good, enjoy that beer and give the cat some scritches for me.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
Yay! Nothing like a nice alcoholic beverage and the love of a kitty
Calouste
About working on Thanksgiving etc. In the UK, Christmas is the big family holiday, and the country is basically closed for two days (25th and 26th). Offices and shops are all closed, some restaurants and pubs might be open, but not all of them. Public transport is minimal, smaller train stations are just closed completely, and what runs might run once, maybe twice an hour. And of course it’s a paid holiday for everyone.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@sdhays:
I’m glad something I’ve done has put a smile on a face out there. :)
Omnes Omnibus
You have said this before, but I have no idea what you mean.
Jay
@HumboldtBlue:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
problem is, there are two cats, Little Bit and Mellow, and they don’t like each other, but they both like my lap.
Fun, fun, fun
Odie Hugh Manatee
@eclare:
You should be terrified to go to Kroger, my wife works for them and knows firsthand that their Covid precautions are nothing more than lip service.
Full speed ahead for the most appropriately named Black Friday at all Kroger and affiliate stores, come and get your Covid!
Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
it’s a heart thing, a British thing, an aspect of modern media.
when I hear Barak or Michelle speak, it’s like smooth jazz, even if the subject is harsh. I see their faces, and I want to smile.
For certain Brits, royalty is an icon, an institution, comfort food.
Brexit’s gonna fuck that up. Hello mag is going to be toast.
Elie
I really believe that the amoral presence and example in our leadership made us ill in spirit People will recover from this period and shake their heads in disbelief No, I do not believe people are all decent. They are not. But stressed and frightened people can be lead to do horrible things. The crematoria in Germany and Europe were next door to regular neighborhoods that allowed them to be there without opposition. Those people knew what was happening but it got normalized by accepting the leadership of the Nazis. There are extreme German right wingers now but most Germans abhore their history and oppose such extremists vehemently
Americans are very tired and spiritually ill. I do believe, like the Germans, we can recover. Biden and his team will help us to see ourselves again and aspire to be decent again. Not perfect. Decent for the most part Seeing his press conference introducing them lightened my heart immeasurably
smedley the uncertain
@Punchy: Land will soon be cheap in the Dakotas.
LeftCoastYankee
It’s extremely important I celebrate my country’s having food and conquering the continent, by spending several of my 2 vacation days from Hell Corp to fly over this continent in the worst possible weather, in order to visit the assholes I grew up with so I can be Thankful I live 3000 miles away from them.
And that I will have to work 70 hour weeks for 6 months to make up for my “vacation”.
Chetan Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: The Kennedys were not merely descended from a gangster pere, but were all pretty fucked-up. Neither JFK nor Jackei were particularly emulation-worthy people. By contrast, Barack and Michelle are both exemplarly human beings, who came from middle-class roots, and their family life is one that really is worthy of emulation.
Maybe their children will disappoint us. But they’ve lived the sort of lives that we can aspire to live, so far.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LeftCoastYankee: on MSNBC, they played a clip of a woman in an airport– they didn’t say where but she was a Steelers mask– who said she “works in the medical field”, so she really needed a break
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
“Hearing,” my formerly well-sculpted butt. It’s a group of Republican state senators sitting in a room – not in the Capitol, not even in the capital city – at a (probably) hotel in Gettysburg to listen to Giuliani fulminate about more nonsense.
Pay it no mind.
LeftCoastYankee
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hope she’s going to the beach somewhere with a small supportive group who she’s been quarantining with.
We should be able to have people take time off whenever they exactly need it.
Citizen Alan
@satby:
I think the thing that pisses me off the most is the perfect overlap between people who think that requiring someone to wear a mask for an hour in Wal-Mart is an unacceptable violation of civil liberties and people who think that requiring a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term for nine months is God’s will.
Gretchen
@Chetan Murthy: I just heard that Jackie got T.H. White to start the whole Camelot thing after Jack died. She called him out to Hyannisport to spin it. People who knew Jack said he would have hated it.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
John was reading my mind. There was an article on CNN with a picture of the crowds at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. I forwarded it to my eldest on Instagram and said, “Look at all these f****** idiots”. Then later we go to Walmart for once a week trip to shop for food and sundries and there are entire families not wearing masks. I just cannot understand the willful ignorance and selfishness.
burnspbesq
@MisterForkbeard:
Try this: “it’s MY freedom, and I have voluntarily chosen to put it on the shelf for the duration of this crisis in order to help keep assholes like you from dying a horrible death.”
Citizen Alan
@Calouste: I suspect that’s why no one notices the alien invasions that seem to happen every Christmas like clockwork (although they seem to have been bumped back to New Year’s Day lately).
Arclite
So the Republicans have decided to voluntarily reduce their voting pool. While I’m not happy about this, it portends a brighter future.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gretchen: T.H. White wrote most of the books that made up The Once and Future King in the late ’30s to early ’40s. Camelot (the movie) came out in 1960. White died in early 1964. I am not sure that story holds to together.
@Chetan Murthy: I guess it is the word royalty that strikes a sour note for me. Worthy of admiration? Absolutely. But royalty? I think not. Besides, if you read any history, you would notice how fucked up most royals are.
scav
@burnspbesq: That still somehow links freedom to the lack of a mask. I am free to wear a mask, just as I am free to wear pants, shoes and a shirt. Had my blessed freedom been trampled on unmercifully for however many decades by the signs enforcing no shirt, no shoes, no service? Am I in fact more free now that I don’t have to wear pants during zoom meetings?
cain
Awww, looks like all the cry babies ran off twitter to go to parler – and then they got hacked.. apparently, you should give your drivers license or passport id to be able to get DM, I’ve been told that you should give your SSN.
Regardless, these MFs been talking about conspiracy theories bout Bill Gates stealing their souls through 5G, but daintly hand over their SSN and drivers license for the privilege of being verified or the ability to DM each other. Imagine letting go such private information so you can circle jerk with other Trumpers.
mrmoshpotato
I couldn’t have put that better myself. I talked with my mom a bit over the phone earlier today, and thankfully they (my parents) cancelled having my sister and brother-in-law and their two kids over for Thanksgiving.
I’ve seen my parents in person once in the past year because there’s a fucking plague ravaging the land!
We’re all local so it wouldn’t be something as batshit crazy as getting on a plane, but still…
Fuck Dump, fuck this virus and fuck everyone who didn’t vote for Hillary.
Platonicspoof
“Governor Kristi Noem’s 98-year-old grandmother died over the weekend.”
“Out of the nine deaths in the last ten days, Governor Noem’s grandmother was the only one who tested negative for COVID-19.” (Bold mine.)
“They had 50 some residents. They are down to 42. Out of those residents, 40 have tested positive for COVID-19. 16 staff have also tested positive.
Copyright 2020 Nexstar Inc.
blacque_jacques
To paraphrase Hugh Laurie in “Avenue 5”, we’re seeing millions of people Karen themselves to death.
TS (the original)
This needs repeating again and again. These are the people with health care, who will get the best treatment when they get sick, unlike those without such privilege.
lgerard
There are not many reasons to give props to Politico, but Tim Alberta really nails it here
The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal
Kayla Rudbek
And here I am feeling guilty and worried about having gone to Barnes & Noble for in person-shopping earlier this month. (I was masked up throughout, some of the elementary school-age kids in the checkout line were not masked)
I have relatives on my side of the family local to me now, Mr. Rudbek has more relatives on his side of the family local to us than last year (due to COVID-19 causing job losses and job disruptions) and our current plans are to see everyone on FaceTime/Zoom. Fuck Trump and the rest of the Republicans sideways with a rusty pitchfork for that.
And I moved my next dentist appointment back by a month, and now I’m wondering if I should have moved it to February instead of January.
Sloane Ranger
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Delegitimising Joe Biden’s presidency before it starts? Getting new ideas for voter suppression?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I think the reference is to Theodore H. White who wrote “The Making of the President (1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972)” who died in 1986.
Sloane Ranger
@Calouste:
Less so now than it used to be. Many restaurants/hotels now open for Christmas Day lunches and they are always crowded and most big shopping chains open on Boxing Day to start the sales that used to start on New Year’s Day.
Of course most workers get paid double time or higher for working those days.
Brachiator
People traveling are not necessarily privileged. And while they may be misguided, their reasons for traveling don’t reek in selfish disregard.
About a million people are flying; and airline bookings are down 60 percent. But about 47.8 million may be driving, and some of the driving may be just across town or to a nearby city.
A lot of people are traveling who should not be. And many are trying to do what they can to reduce the risk of getting infected or infecting others. It’s a damn shame, but there is no point in trying to paint them as devils.
PeakVT
Here’s some information about who is traveling by location and by party affiliation.
No points for guessing the party affiliation breakdown.
Sloane Ranger
@Mai Naem mobile:
Thank you. This is what I am thinking about some people here in the UK. They would be bringing court cases claiming that that the blackout violates their rights because drawing the curtains makes them feel claustrophobic or demanding we negotiate a peace because their hairdresser’s windows were shattered when a bomb dropped nearby.
And the people concerned are the ones claiming to be the real patriots!
bjacques
@Sloane Ranger: War production would be farmed out to well-connected offshore shell companies owned by the Kenya set from White Mischief, while the GPO would be sold off to the same company that owns Reichspost.
This would be old news to readers of Private Eye, had it existed then.
Geminid
Raphael Warnock has a new ad countering the smear ads the Loeffler campaign is running against him. It shows him walking his dog through nice sunlit neighborhood, calmly telling people not to be fooled by the lies. Then a montage of journalist ad ratings appears: “False,” “No Evidence,” “Misleading,” etc. Next, evidently Warnock’s dog has done it’s business, because Warnock is walking up to a public trashcan with a bag of dog poop, commenting on the worth of Loeffler’s ads as he drops the bag into the trash. The ad finishes with a close up of Warnock talking as he pets his dog. which looks like a large beagle.
Ksmiami
@NotMax: Will Covid be in attendance?
Gvg
I have been using curbside for groceries for months. At first I felt guilty for having someone else take risks for me….but then I thought about how viruses spread. The more people are exposed to other people, the more numerous the cases are to spread it untraceably and exponentially. If more people used curbside and the only people in the store were employees, the less spread there would be, and the numbers could go down, or grow more slowly. A virus has to be carried by people.
The other thing is that the people who stay home are quiet and not visible. The people who go out are conspicuous. Unfortunately I can tell the street traffic is way up, though still not as bad as perCovid.
leeleeFL
@Gvg: I have to work Our Annual Thanksgiving BUFFET meal. Only 450 reservations! To say I am worried at 70 yo is an understatement. Will be masked all day for sure but my Boss tells me I will be fine!!!! His Dad is a physician! Flori-DUH!
NotMax
@leeleeFL
A proctologist? Because the concept of currently scheduling a buffet attended by multiple hundreds is an idea pulled out of someone’s ass.
Make it as safe for yourself as you can. Mask and gloves, at a minimum. If possible, step outdoors for a few minutes now and again – not for a smoke break, for a break to diffuse anger or tension.
grandmaBear
I wonder how many of those in the airports are college students going home until January. I know at least some of the Universities here in Ohio planned from the beginning to close down any remaining in-person things at Thanksgiving. They saw what was going to happen if students returned after the break.
grandmaBear
@leeleeFL: can you wear a face shield too?
Sloegin
A lot of people will die just a couple of months before the vaccine is available because some people can’t TOLERATE skipping a holiday about celebrating FAMILY. I’ll call them evil and selfish because they are. My 16 year-year niece just lost her dad 3 weeks ago because of Covid. Celebrate family by keeping them SAFE.
Goddammit all.
narya
I fibrillated last Christmas about going to visit my family, and I am SO glad I did–I have not seen them since, because they are 900+ miles away. My parents are . . . feeling the effects, especially my 90-year-old dad; he used to go up to the “clubhouse” each day to play pool, and he misses that interaction terribly, and I think it’s affecting his overall mental state (which is largely quite good!). They both miss my nephews, but both nephews, plus bro and SIL, regard the virus as somewhat overblown (nephew: “I had two friends who had it and they were sick for like two days.”). As a result, I am so glad my parents are staying the hell home AND not hosting bro’s family. It’s so frustrating–my parents adore their grandsons, but also know that having them in the house would not be safe. And much as I would love to see Downstairs Neighbor, and safe though we’ve both been, relatively speaking, the only thing that would be as bad as getting it is knowing I inadvertently gave it to someone else. The number of people who can’t make that leap–that their actions might not kill THEM but might kill someone else–is depressing.
StringOnAStick
@Jay: I haven’t been here much because we moved to another state 3.5 weeks ago and it’s been a whirlwind of cleaning, painting, etc. and I did not know you had gotten Covid. I sincerely hope you are feeling much better and will make a full, complete recovery!
debg
@Jay: Cats have extraordinary healing powers. I’m glad they’re able to help you recover. That’s what I would miss most if I were sick.
Good to hear you’re on the road back to better, if not fully recovered, health.
JAFD
@Jay: Hope you recover your best health, real real soon. We jackals care about you.
Paul
I present as an example, the mayor of Denver. Mr. Selfish: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/11/25/denver-michael-hancock-thanksgiving-covid/