I confess I don’t get this story. If Trump isn’t firing Barr, then why leave with only 30 or so days left? Why not just finish the job? https://t.co/KCvc5q2k2e
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 7, 2020
Any of the blog’s legal experts want to cite the correct terminology for Bygones be begones / Water under the bridge?
the subtext of this article is that barr was a loyal servant to donald trump who tried his best to do everything trump asked of him, which is, i suppose, true, and how i expect the press will help all of these people try to whitewash and recover their reputations in about a month https://t.co/1bstPRno1M
— special interest machine (@golikehellmachi) December 7, 2020
before he was appointed to AG bill barr wrote a suck up letter practically begging to get invited to trumpworld. the dude absolutely loves the extralegal shit trump is into. now he’s like whoa this is too crazy for even me https://t.co/pfQhqOOvGY
— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 7, 2020
the takeaway here should not be “bill bar has limits” but instead “bill barr likes the crimes to be committed in a neat and orderly fashion in which it is easy to make them go away and the trump dipshits are now splashing gasoline all over the fireworks factory”
— kilgore trout, tiny desk carpenter (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 7, 2020
Roger Moore
Yeah, I’m sure Barr is only thinking about quitting because he thinks it will look better if he pretends to have an attack of conscience rather than sticking it out to the bitter end.
debbie
@Roger Moore:
Nah, that cow left the barn months and months ago. Barr will never get the Trump Stink off.
RaflW
Bill Barr would like to resume billing clients at exorbitant rates after the syndicate collapses. And B.B. would like to keep getting invites to conservative (paid) commencement addresses, etc.
If he’s not on deck the exact moment, the SS Trump sunders, he’s good, right?
Kent
Two comments.
First, Barr’s ass is already fired. We all did that ourselves on November 4th
Second, he has to have wind of some truly horrifically illegal shit in the pipeline for the next 40 days. If, after everything he has done and covered for over the past several years, the last month of the Trump Administration is going to be a bridge too far for someone as vile a Barr.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Barr is a snowflake. He had his fee fees hurt by Dear Leader.
Cameron
Maybe he’s just figured out that Trump’s check was going to bounce.
rikyrah
I told you, the Woodward tapes told us something straight and clear:
ALL actions taken with regards to COVID-19 were NEVER born out of an ignorance or misunderstanding of the virus.
They understood COMPLETELY the science of the virus.
Their decisions were full of DELIBERATE MALICE.
THIS decision goes right along with this.
Never forget that they had settled on HERD IMMUNITY.
Just let the virus run rampant.
So, that they wouldn’t order plenty of the vaccine should not be a shock.
Order more for the common good of the country?
When has he ever cared for the common good of the country?
No. Deliberately DO NOT ORDER doses of the vaccine and repeat the situation of Early Spring, where we had the Hunger Games with the States.
This action should make clear that he thought that he was going to cheat his way back to the White House, and so he was going to ‘punish’ disloyal states with the vaccine.
Also, Pfizer wasn’t part of “Warp Speed”, so he couldn’t take credit for it. And, if he couldn’t take credit for it, what good is it??
This is why the so-called COVID-19 Task Force didn’t want to ” share” their work with the incoming Biden Administration-it’s full of bullshyt like this.?
The Biden Administration should resolve to start from scratch. There is nothing positive or competent that will be coming forth from the trash of Dolt45’s Administration.
MJS
@RaflW: I’m sure that’s the plan. “I tried to tell/warn them, but they wouldn’t listen, and it finally got to be too much. You can only do so much. I tried. Wait, what? Why are you serving me with a subpoena? Didn’t you just hear what I said?”
RaflW
@MJS: I dearly hope he’s too late, as you suggest. The D.C. press of course will forgive him in a red hot second.
John Kerry windsurfing? Still embarrassing and wrong. Olly North doing actual crime? Eh, bygones.
Cameron
@rikyrah: I wish you weren’t right – but you are.
scav
New defining measure from the US National Bureau of Standards: Low Barr.
Mike in NC
Maybe Bill Barr regrets his role in the infamous Battle of Lafayette Square. Meanwhile, Trump wants to re-enact that event as one of the highlights (lowlights?) of his failed presidency. Millions of people watched the assault on unarmed protesters — something Putin probably goaded Fat Bastard into doing — and said, “What the fuck? That doesn’t happen in a democracy”.
BruceFromOhio
Splashing gasoline all over themselves under the impression that “this will work GREAT”.
Nope, Billy Barr made his play when he spilt the beans on election fraud and the lack thereof. He knew the arsonists were beyond reason and made the call. He’ll land in some cushy tenure alongside the criminals from the Bush regime.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Kent: That’s my read. “Somebody’s going to jail for this one, and it’s not going to be me.”
BruceFromOhio
Meanwhile, this will make at least one news cycle: COVID whistleblower rips Florida governor after raid by state police.
“The pointed guns at my kids.”
Zelma
@rikyrah:
There’s an article at New York that suggests that the Moderna vaccine had been developed as early as January and that other vaccines were developed almost as early. And that it took all this time to do the trials, even with speeding things up.
The author explains why it took so long but also points out that China has been vaccinating its military since summer with some kind of vaccine. Frankly there was no sense of urgency from the top.
The reason Moderna was able to develop a vaccine so quickly is that it could piggy-back on the SARS vaccine lessons. It’s an interesting article.
MattF
Barr wants to get the big fees for speech-making, but ‘traitor’ doesn’t hit the right note with the booking agencies.
LuciaMia
@Roger Moore:
Bingo!
sdhays
@Kent: I love point number 1.
Bill Barr has proven to be an exceedingly unethical individual, and it has been enlightening just much the elite legal profession didn’t realize this despite having been a mob-style fixer the last time he had the job and having written a slobbering suck up letter begging to be allowed to be a fixer again this time around.
But so far, everything he has personally done has probably been technically legal. If there’s some major criming that he sees coming, either he’ll have to actually take a stand against it (and thus become a target for the MAGAT hordes) or become possibly complicit in a legal liable way. And since he’s already in the dog house with old Dumpy, he’s not going to get one of those fancy blanket pardons…
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@rikyrah:
But why until June?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
My take is Barr is a true believer in the Divine Right of Kings (he’s Catholic after all) but Trump’s contempt for the rules is the deal breaker with the way Trump is trying to punish people for not breaking the law for Trump. Barr want’s Louis XIV, not a post syphilis Al Capone.
BruceFromOhio
@Roger Moore: Presumes presence of a conscience, i.e. facts not in evidence.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Zelma:
Sounds like China using it’s troops as guinea pigs
TS (the original)
@BruceFromOhio:
Trump’s America – and Florida voted for Trump and DeSantis to keep doing this type of thing. I like to think some folks don’t know this is happening – but that is just lying to myself.
trollhattan
@MattF:
Federalist Society, Heritage, US Chamber, AEI will all leave the light on for him, and a check on the table. They got their money’s worth.
NotMax
Head/desk.
Wyoming health official says ‘so-called pandemic’ a communist plot
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@BruceFromOhio:
That was a disturbing video. Lots of aggressive, frightening, commanding bellowing by LEOs
SiubhanDuinne
@BruceFromOhio:
Saw that a few minutes ago, and was horrified. I sent the link to Anne Laurie, and I hope she’ll give it prominent placement in the morning Covid thread. This story deserves wide circulation.
Glidwrith
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Because Pfizer filled several other orders and it takes time to create more. Pfizer offered us more. The Orange Slime Mold fucked us over. Again.
Taking into consideration Martin’s comment in the prior thread, yes, the Pfizer cold storage is an issue. But how many doses of the Moderna vaccine will be available? Last I knew, Moderna isn’t a large company – do they have the production capacity that Pfizer has?
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Yup. Sabotage all the way.
Hoodie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They’ve promised production to other customers? UK has approved the Pfizer vaccine.
tybee
at least our youngest offspring will be on the early list for the vaccine:
graduated in May of this year, BSN, passed the NCLEX in June and now works in a trauma ICU.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
I think you’ve got this exactly right ?
patrick II
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Trump has been threatening to fire Barr, so my first thought was simply “You can’t fire me I quit”. After his own threats to leave, I am surprised that Barr hasn’t gotten one of Trump’s firing tweets. So, you are probably right — maybe they have too much on each other. Or maybe Barr is still hoping for a pardon (although in his own mind he probably doesn’t think he needs one).
I would like to say with only 43 more days to go I’ll stop worrying about it –but Trump is creating as much damage as possible on his way out of the door.
It’s kind of like not being able to take your eyes off of a horrible accident, but with the difference being there are still pieces flying around that might hit you.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: JFC! What decade do these idiots live in?!
sdhays
@rikyrah: It’s guaranteed that Jared needs a pardon, at least, for his intentional mismanagement of all things related COVID. There’s no way he merely fucked things up and didn’t wet his beak.
Also, this from yesterday: WH COVID Officials Dispute Biden’s Claim Of ‘No Detailed Plan’ On Vaccine Rollout. Biden’s quote is this:
Since he says “that we’ve seen, anyway”, it’s entirely possible that the information just hasn’t been shared with the transition yet. After all, they’re getting a late start because what’s her face couldn’t be bothered to do her fucking job for, what, three weeks?
But somehow I don’t think the plans are as detailed as they think they are.
Elizabelle
Do not forget that Barr greenlighted more federal executions as Trump is on the way out the door. He has literal blood on his hands. From the AP, yesterday:
Quaker in a Basement
Last gasp for Trump to make Jared the AG?
sab
God I wish Kirkland and Ellis have set their standards high enough that a partner who tried to burn down democracy in his country can’t come back.
I know. If wishes were horses beggars would ride.
NotMax
@patrick II
Acting AG Giuliani?
Acting AG Kushner?
Acting AG Rittenhouse?
Glidwrith
@Glidwrith: Just looked up Moderna capacity: they project only 20 million doses for US by year’s end, which translates to 10 million people.
Between Pfizer and Moderna, we can only vaccinate 60 million people with current resources, with the larger company contracted to other countries until June.
Fuck
ETA: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-01/pfizer-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-emergency-use-what-to-know
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Glidwrith:
@Hoodie:
I kinda knew that was the answer, but I was hoping it wasn’t
Martin
I don’t think people realize just how exhausting narcissists are. Yes, they create lots of opportunities for hangers-on, but as soon as things get out of shape, you have to dedicate all of your energy plus a a bunch that doesn’t exist on appeasing the boss. There’s literally nothing you can do to make your situation better but quit and get out of that space.
Martin
@sdhays: There’s no plan. Say this about conservatism, it’s extraordinarily lazy.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
You’re thinking too small-time
Acting AG Klayman
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike in NC:
Non, il ne regrette rien.
Elizabelle
@Martin: Speaking of bears, not narcissists, I loved that New Republic link you shared, about the New Hampshire glibertarians’ town that “went feral.”
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Acting AG Hannity.
//
sab
@Zelma: From what I have read, they didn’t speed up the trials much. They sped up production ahead of the trials, with government backing. So if a pharmaceutical company backed the wrong vaccine that failed and didn’t get approved they wouldn’t lose a fortune. Every possibility is in production way ahead of approval, with manufacurers financially protected if theirs fails. Sounds sensible to me.
John S.
@BruceFromOhio: I was just reading about this. I have relied on Ms. Jones’ COVID-19 dashboard since she was fired by governor Deathsantis.
Martin
In local news, the nearby Bond Fire was caused by a house fire that spread to the local wilderness. The house fire was caused by a gas generator that caught fire when it was being refueled (while hot – don’t do that), and the gas generator was being used because the utility shut off power due to the high wind threat.
So, in the end we didn’t get a prevention of a fire, but we did get an apparent successful shifting of the liability for paying for the fire. I’m hoping the regulatory agencies and courts this inevitably goes through recognize the dynamic here and put the liability on the utility for being the ultimate source of the problem.
Bury your power lines people. I know it’s expensive but so is restringing them every time a storm blows through.
We had two more firefighters injured on this fire. One of the firefighters injured on the Silverado fire died last month.
Martin
@Elizabelle: It’s a great story, isn’t it?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Mr. Barr regrets he’ll be unable to lunch today, warden.
//
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Stop aiming high – AG “Judge” Boxed Wine!
Redshift
@debbie:
I would like to think so, but after the warm reception he got as an “adult in the room” despite his previous role in recommending the Iran-Contra pardon-palooza, I’m not confident. Maybe his actions this time were blatant enough and not behind the scenes.
trollhattan
@Glidwrith:
I read the UK’s order from Pfizer is coming from Belgium–I don’t have any idea how many plants they have but have to believe they’ve tooled up as many as they can w/o affecting their other manufacturing demands.
Evidently they’ve had issues with supply chains for items such as syringes, etc.
Martin
@NotMax: If only Rudy wasn’t hospitalized with Covid. Such a missed opportunity. My vote is for DiGenova – he called for executions and that seems like what Trump is looking for.
trollhattan
@Martin:
Damn, irony gods, take the rest of the year off, okay?
Not as bad as a gender reveal, but still….
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Acting AG Stephen Miller
//
sab
Zelma: completely OT but tied to Levenson tonight ( I don’t zoom.) Re the French: have you read Thomas Piketty’s book from a few years back. He is French. Lots about French government bonds in prior centuries. Different from English.
“Capital in the 21st Century” but he goes back several centuries as background. You might like if you haven’t read, but I bet you have already.
coin operated
QFT. Two weeks ago, coin’s daughter finally got rid of her narcissist partner after a 3-year run.
Spoke to daughter last night and her exact words were “Holy shit dad…he was exhausting”
Kent
By years end 2020 or years end 2021?
Keith P.
@Martin: Whitaker v2
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
:-)
John Revolta
“Don’t blame us for this shit!” https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/statement-regarding-u-s-attorney-general-william-barr/
Frankensteinbeck
@Glidwrith:
All of the math, everything, will change radically on January 20th. Plans are being made now, and I bet contacts quietly informed. Remember when there would be no vaccine at all until 18 months at a minimum? Under normal circumstances that would have been absolutely true, but the whole world throwing in on getting a vaccine is not normal circumstances. When extremely competent people throw the whole power of the US federal government behind getting the population vaccinated, the numbers will improve. A lot. How much, I don’t know. The vaccine may not have taken 18 months, but it did take 9.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Martin: Ya this, Barr could simply be quitting to put to put a stop to the endless self pity rambles Trump.
Glidwrith
@trollhattan: As I recall, they’ve got manufacturing in Michigan, with final packaging in Wisconsin.
It was always going to be difficult logistically – one does not simply vaccinate 7 billion people in a day – but Shitgibbon found another way to make it harder.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Actually, in an attempt to feed the mobs I wouldn’t put shoehorning in Scalia’s son as at all out of the question.
BruceFromOhio
@John S.: I filtered down to Manatee County, where an aunt and uncle have a condo in Bradenton. It’s a red “hot spot” on the map, and I try not to think about it too much. If they get in a jam, none of the cousins are close by.
mrmoshpotato
@Keith P.: Acting AG Big Dick Toilets?
luc
Rebekah Jones house raided:
https://twitter.com/GeoRebekah/status/1336065787900145665?s=20
sab
@Martin: I worked in a firm once with an amazing, highly regarded and wonderful boss whose son was a toxic narcissist. It is amazing how much that guys could suck common sense, morality and ethics out of the air. Fortunately, most people never encounter one. Not sympathetic for Trump workers. If you work in DC you should have your antennae on alert.
Sm*t Cl*de
From Barr’s perspective, the important thing is that his short-term successor should be as incompetent and murderously venal as possible, so he will become a shining example in comparison.
BruceFromOhio
@Martin: AG “My Pillow Guy”
Ceci n est pas mon nym
So I just checked with the NYT’s “find your place in line” tool. It seems I’m number 268.7 million.
That’s projecting among others 2.6 M kids (assuming it’s approved for kids) and 1.5 M young adults, which don’t sound like very large numbers for those categories. I’m guessing those are some high-risk subcategory.
Since this thing began I’ve been operating on the assumption that it would be 3rd or 4th quarter of 2021, so nothing has changed that estimate.
Glidwrith
@Frankensteinbeck: Biden will be quite competent and will straighten out logistics with his people as fast as possible, but just like we have >3000 COVID deaths per day already baked into the cake, we now have several months delay which can’t be avoided.
And sadly, the reason the vaccines happened so much faster is because the fascist Thugs poured gasoline all over and lit the match. Vaccine efficacy is always a numbers game – you have to have enough cases to test against placebo and we blew right through the needed cases.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Zelma:
I hadn’t seen that– I’d assumed China would be at the forefront of vaccine development
Winston
@rikyrah: We should have seen this coming //
For those who want to take a vax now, Johnson and Johnson is looking for 60,000 volunteers for a phase 3 trial. Get a 50/50 chance of getting the real vax.
geg6
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That’s pretty much where I fall. So, end of the line. Which is fine, I guess. I just hope I can stay safe and keep my family safe until then.
planetjanet
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I got the exact same number as you. Probably not a coincidence.
jimmiraybob
Pat Buchanan once said on TV (McLaughlin Group) that he would be OK with a king as long as it was a benevolent king… presumably also sufficiently Catholic.
Martin
@BruceFromOhio: Winner! Definitely My Pillow Guy.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I know Chinese scientists were testing the vaccine on themselves during development, which is, uh, NO!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@planetjanet: Over 60, non-essential job, no known risk conditions.
I tried poking in some different ages to see where the age made a difference. If I say 30 or under, or 65 or older, I jump up considerably in line.
I wonder why the emphasis on the young? My guess is that they’ve been identified as the biggest group of carriers.
jimmiraybob
@Martin:
Yeah. I was thinking Steve Bannon but DiGenova seems an even crazier and more destructive act.
Frank Wilhoit
@Glidwrith: Those trucks better have fccking good security!
Martin
@Kent: 2020. My understanding is that by end of 2021, the US had secured offers for 800 million doses. Half or so were Pfizer and the other half spread roughly equally with Moderna, Glaxo, J&J, and Novavax.
Now, those were purchase commitments, not purchases. Basically we got the right of refusal on additional orders over the first 100M that we paid for. But there’s really no way for us to know which companies have come through at which time for additional orders, and which ones we’ve taken.
I understand Hyvee is handing vaccinations in parts of the midwest, which isn’t a terrible plan. They have a lot of local locations and a pretty good distribution chain that involves cold goods. Updating those to handle ultracold is probably not that hard. But that’s the challenge with the Pfizer vaccine – you need a lot of patients all in one place at one time, and that’s hard to pull off in much of the US. That’s why schools have been good options for vaccination – they can control that very well.
Eunicecycle
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I tried it. I am 65 (today actually) and no conditions and I am 118 millionth in line. My husband is 67 with a lung condition and is 23 millionth in line. It seems the pre-existing condition means quite a bit.
Miss Bianca
@sab: I sort of wonder how “wonderful people” end up raising toxic narcissists. Makes me wonder if there’s a “nature” element to narcissism, where I always figured it was a “nurturing” deficiency.
Miss Bianca
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Strange, you and I seem to share that 268.7 millionth place in line!
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:There’s a lot to that. That yearning for a Big Infallible Boss seems to warp a lot of people.
The question I have is, how could someone as experienced in the ways of government, USA-style, blind himself to the non-Louis XIV qualities of Trump – seeing him up close and in continuous petty, dopey, amoral action as he must have – for almost 2 years?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Miss Bianca: Know any good card games we can play in line while we wait?
HumboldtBlue
@rikyrah:
Yup. It was pointed out on Twitter that Trump’s only aim for the vaccine was to get it out before Nov. 3. That didn’t happen so who gives a fuck about anything after that?
Roger Moore
@jimmiraybob:
I think someone like Buchanan would only classify the king as “sufficiently benevolent” if he upheld the right standards of Catholicism.
Kent
I checked it. As a physician my wife is first in line. I’m 135th million in line as a teacher.
I kind of doubt it will actually work like that though. I expect that once they get through the first few categories of essential workers and elderly and the production is ramped up they will probably be giving it out as fast as they can to all comers.
geg6
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Exactly. Asymptotic carriers.
geg6
A symptomatic is what I meant. Weirdness with spellcheck.
Emma from FL
@rikyrah: No lie told. Bastards!
Sure Lurkalot
@geg6: Except I heard they do not know if vaccination will prevent the transmission of the disease…
burnspbesq
Age 65, diabetic and with a stent in one of my coronary arteries? I’m hoping to get shot up sometime in Q1.
Delk
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: 23 million ahead of me.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@tybee: Yup, the kid is on the early list too, OR nurse.
Geminid
The conservative fat cats Barr has served the last few decades don’t give a shit about trump personally, but as AG Barr could guard and further their interests. I expect they want Barr and Mark Meadows to shine trump on until the Georgia Senate runoffs, but after Jan. 6 trump will no longer be of use to them. Then Barr can go back to work for real billionaires. And while he is essentially shameless as to public opinion, I can see how Barr might not want to be around when trump issues pardons next month.
planetjanet
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
The specific number is just the fifth quintile. It is not a finely tuned model. Still, very interesting. The graphic in the FTFNTY article was amusing to see myself at the tail of the line.
prostratedragon
@trollhattan: Ah, Brexit!
Anotherlurker
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: According to The Times, I have 118.5 Million folks in line ahead of me.
So I have that going for me.
Anotherlurker
@Eunicecycle: I’m in that same group! Should I bring sandwiches for waiting in line?
prostratedragon
@John Revolta: Now that really is funny!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin: Jared has a JD, just saying.
satby
@Eunicecycle: Happy Birthday!
opiejeanne
@Eunicecycle: Happy birthday!
I ran it on my DH, age 73, no health issues, and he’s behind 118.5 million, or 2.4 million in WA, which is about a third of the state. In King County, he’s behind 627,700.
I’m 70 and do have a health issue, so I’m behind 23 million nationwide, and 440,000 in WA. IN King County I’m behind 146,800.
Looking at the difference between our places in line is depressing and somewhat dystopian.
opiejeanne
@geg6: Kids are disease vectors, to which I can testify having raised three of them.
Eunicecycle
@Anotherlurker: I’ll bring the drinks!
Eunicecycle
@satby: Thanks! I saw Vice President-Elect Harris said her late mother’s birthday is today also.
catclub
huh? whut? The ONLY thing Trump wanted, and telegraphed pretty clearly to the world, was a vaccine by about October 27th.
heck, he did not care if it had been tested or legitimately approved.
catclub
@opiejeanne: insanity is genetic, my kids drove me crazy.
Eunicecycle
@opiejeanne: Thanks for the bd wishes. I wonder too, with the disparity between my husband and me in our “place in line”, will it really work out that way? I pictured we’d go together and get it when available. With his underlying condition of course I want him to get it before me, though.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m at 23 million. I guess that heart attack was good for something.
Chagall Charles Caltrop
@Miss Bianca: my limited experience suggests that a narcissistic woman marries an empathic man, and the marriage endures because since the empathic man has the money, the narcissistic mother never gets too over the top with her spouse. However, Mom the narcissist raises kids she pits against each other, making one the golden child (who becomes the next generation narcissist) and the others the scapegoats.
pluky
@Miss Bianca: my bet is on nature. I have a sister who is one (we are two of four). she basically came out of the womb totally self-absorbed.
pluky
@?BillinGlendaleCA: from NYU which has a first time bar pass rate in the mid-to-upper 90s. So why hasn’t Jared passed the bar?
Zelma
@sab:
I thought the history parts of Picketty were very interesting. I thought he generalized a bit from his very extensive discussion of the French system. I thought Tom did a good job of answering my question, probably because I mostly agreed with him. I think one point that should noted is how much tax collecting in France was in private hands. Privatization wasn’t good then and it isn’t good now.
The Zoom discussion was fun.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
I am working on mold parts for something to do with COVID, but I have no idea what. But from the size and configuration they could be for syringes. They could be from something else entirely, I’m not betting 2 cents on it either way.
Ruckus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
They have the longest life to lose. If you are 25 now, you could have another 70 yrs and if you are a bit more ghoulish, a full career as a tax paying and maybe voting citizen. If you are 50-65 you really aren’t of child bearing/raising years any/much longer to have more tax paying/voting citizens. If you are over 65 you have a much higher risk and if you are under 25 you may be quite a bit less at risk. No one is at zero risk of course
Suzanne
Spawn the Elder is an essential worker; he’s been working at a Walmart Neighborhood Market doing cashiering and door duty, which is managing the line outside to limit occupancy and handing out masks. So I have been really concerned about his safety, because there are too many crazy people. His management is already telling them that vaccines will be rolling out to them relatively soon.
I have asked my management if we are considered essential if we are onsite at healthcare facilities. In the spring, we were deemed essential because we are healthcare supply chain and we’re working with hospital systems on their surge plans. I have an active project in a large urban hospital that is surge space, so it’s important to build, but they have had positive cases on the site and I don’t want to go out there until it’s either under control or I get the vaccine. To be clear, most people in my office wouldn’t be considered essential, just people who have to be on the construction site rather than in the office. Not trying to game anything, but there is no way to keep a construction site from being a germ factory.
Ruckus
@Chagall Charles Caltrop:
That sounds vaguely familiar. There being degrees of narcissism of course.