;)
The Commentariat -- April 27, 2020
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. "Less than an hour after the Small Business Administration started taking requests for another $310 billion in emergency aid for small businesses on Monday morning, its computer system for processing the loan applications crashed.... It was a rocky start for the second round of funding through the Paycheck Protection Program, a stimulus measure that offers small companies a low-interest loan to cover their payroll and other costs. If borrowers comply with the program's rules, the loans will be forgiven." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here.
Luke Darby of GQ: "Dallas billionaire Monty Bennett had a special hand in draining the first round of PPP money -- he's the single biggest recipient of PPP funds, with $96.1 million going to his businesses. Bennett is the the head of what the Dallas Morning News calls a 'hotel empire.' He's the CEO of Ashford Inc., a company that serves as the 'external advisor' to Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, two companies where Bennett also serves as chairman of the board. As Popular Information reports, the three companies made $2.2 billion in revenue in 2019. But in March, when U.S. businesses started to feel the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the companies laid off 95 percent of their employees and hired lobbyists for the first time ever to make sure that they could get bailout money. That same month, Bennett personally donated $50,000 Donald Trump's reelection committee.... In a statement out Saturday, Ashford Inc. announced that unlike other publicly-traded, multi-million dollar companies, it would not be returning any of the funds it received." ~~~
~~~ Jessica Silver-Greenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "A company in Georgia paid $6.5 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation -- and, two weeks later, received a $10 million federally backed loan to help it survive the coronavirus crisis. Another company, AutoWeb, disclosed last week that it had paid its chief executive $1.7 million in 2019 -- a week after it received $1.4 million from the same loan program.... The loan program was meant for companies that could no longer finance themselves through traditional means.... The law required that the federal money -- which comes at a low 1 percent interest rate and in some cases doesn't need to be paid back -- be spent on things like payroll or rent.... But dozens of large but lower-profile companies with financial or legal problems have also received large payouts under the program.... Another dozen or so collected money even though they have recently reported being able to raise large sums through private means. Several others have recently showered top executives with seven-figure pay packages.... Instead of having the Small Business Administration, which is guaranteeing the loans, decide which companies get funding, the process was essentially outsourced to banks. The banks collect fees for each loan they make but don't have to monitor whether the recipients use the money appropriately."
Poor, Pitiful, Marvelous Me. Jeremy Peters, et al., of the New York Times: "The self-regard, the credit-taking, the audacious rewriting of recent history to cast himself as the hero of the pandemic rather than the president who was slow to respond: Such have been the defining features of Mr. Trump's use of the bully pulpit during the coronavirus outbreak. The New York Times analyzed every word Mr. Trump spoke at his White House briefings and other presidential remarks on the virus -- more than 260,000 words -- from March 9, when the outbreak began leading to widespread disruptions in daily life, through mid-April. The transcripts show striking patterns and repetitions in the messages he has conveyed, revealing a display of presidential hubris and self-pity unlike anything historians say they have seen before."
Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the early weeks of the coronavirus epidemic, the United States recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths, nearly two times as many as were publicly attributed to covid-19 at the time, according to an analysis of federal data conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health. The excess deaths -- the number beyond what would normally be expected for that time of year -- occurred during March and through April 4, a time when 8,128 coronavirus deaths were reported. The excess deaths are not necessarily attributable directly to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They could include people who died because of the epidemic but not from the disease, such as those who were afraid to seek medical treatment for unrelated illnesses, as well as some number of deaths that are part of the ordinary variation in the death rate.... The analysis suggests that the deaths announced in the weeks leading up to April 4, based on reports from state public health departments, failed to capture the full impact of the pandemic."
Presidential Race. New York. Stephanie Saul & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "New York officials canceled the state's Democratic presidential primary on Monday, calling the vote a 'beauty contest' that the state could ill afford in the face of the coronavirus epidemic. The move by Democrats on the New York State Board of Elections followed the decision by Senator Bernie Sanders to concede the Democratic presidential nomination to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., rendering the primary unnecessary. Officials had struggled with the decision, which was certain to anger some supporters of Mr. Sanders, but they ultimately concluded that the risk of spreading the coronavirus was too great to justify holding an election with no real meaning. Because of the board's decision, voters in about 20 counties that had no other contests on their ballot will have no need to go to the polls on June 23.... Despite arrangements to encourage absentee voting, polling places are expected to remain open in about 42 counties for down-ballot races.... In a letter to the board on Sunday, Mr. Sanders's campaign had urged the board to keep him on the ballot and hold a primary in the interest of party unity, and the Sanders-aligned group Our Revolution had cautioned against the presidential primary's cancellation." ~~~
~~~ Rich McHugh of Business Insider: "In March, when a former aide to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden accused the candidate of sexually assaulting her in 1993, two people came forward to say that the woman, Tara Reade, had told them of the incident shortly after it allegedly occurred -- her brother, Collin Moulton, and a friend who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. Now two more sources have come forward to corroborate certain details about Reade's claims. One of them -- a former neighbor of Reade's -- has told Insider for the first time, on the record, that Reade disclosed details about the alleged assault to her in the mid-1990s.... [Lynda] LaCasse told Insider that in 1995 or 1996, Reade told her she had been assaulted by Biden. 'I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,' LaCasse said. 'And he kind of put her up against a wall. And he put his hand up her skirt and he put his fingers inside her. She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn't feel there was anything she could do.'"
Susannah Luthi of Politico: “The Supreme Court on Monday ruled the federal government owes health insurers massive payments from an Obamacare program shielding them from financial risks after the companies accused Washington of reneging on its funding promises. The 8-1 decision could open the floodgates for federal cash to the insurance industry. Insurers who accused the government of a 'bait and switch' claimed they're owed $12 billion from the Affordable Care Act program. The case concerned a temporary fund in the health care law intended as a buffer for health plans who had sicker customers than expected in the newly overhauled insurance marketplaces. Obamacare's drafters hoped the program would be funded by industry, but health plans quickly racked up losses when the marketplaces opened in 2014. The next year, Republican lawmakers approved the first in a series of annual appropriations riders barring HHS from using taxpayer dollars to bankroll the program, known as risk corridors. The high court agreed with insurers that the congressional spending restrictions didn't release the government from its original promise to fund the Obamacare program."
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Philip Bump & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump strode to the lectern in the White House briefing room Thursday and, for just over an hour, attacked his rivals, dismissing ... Joe Biden as a 'sleepy guy in a basement of a house' and lambasting the media as 'fake news' and 'lamestream.' He showered praise on himself and his team, repeatedly touting the 'great job' they were doing as he spoke of the 'tremendous progress' being made toward a vaccine and how 'phenomenally' the nation was faring in terms of mortality. What he did not do was offer any sympathy for the 2,081 Americans who were reported dead from the coronavirus on that day alone -- among more than 54,000 Americans who have perished since the pandemic began.... The president has offered little in the way of accurate medical information or empathy for coronavirus victims.... Over the past three weeks..., [Trump spoke at supposed briefings for] more than 13 hours ... -- including two hours spent on attacks and 45 minutes praising himself and his administration, but just 4½ minutes expressing condolences for coronavirus victims. He spent twice as much time promoting an unproven antimalarial drug that was the object of a Food and Drug Administration warning Friday. Trump also said something false or misleading in nearly a quarter of his prepared comments or answers to questions, [an] analysis shows." ~~
~~~ Tina Nguyen of Politico: "For once..., Donald Trump's latest tossed-out suggestion for a way to combat coronavirus -- injecting ultraviolet rays -- did not originate from a Fox News guest, a viral Twitter thread or an article on a conservative website. Instead, the process worked in reverse. First, Trump offered a muddled but hopeful theory -- that one could somehow insert light or medicine into the lungs -- and conservative and Trump-friendly media outlets started trying to explain and boost it. They flagged obscure research papers and said the president was simply attempting to raise the country's spirits. They tried to discredit mainstream media coverage of the comments."
This Is Scandalous. Joe Ruiz, et al., of CNN: "If you're getting money from the federal government as part of the recent stimulus response to the coronavirus, you'll also get a letter from ... Donald Trump explaining why.... The one-page letter arrives in an envelope from the IRS as part of the Treasury Department, with both postage and fees paid for by the IRS, according to a notice on the envelope. The letter reads, in part, 'We are fully committed to ensuring that you and your family have the support you need to get through this time,' and notifies the recipient exactly how much they would receive and how. On the other side of the letter is a translated Spanish version of the same text. Trump goes on to thank Congress for working with his administration in passing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), 'which I proudly signed into law.'"
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: When you read this from a Rupert Murdoch publication, you will be very angry at the fake MSM for their dozens of reports about what a disengaged, unprepared, no-show slacker Trump is: ~~~
~~~ Steven Nelson & Ebony Bowden of the New York Post: "President Trump's schedule is so packed amid the coronavirus crisis that he sometimes skips lunch, his aides told The Post — refuting a report that the commander-in-chief spends his days obsessing over TV coverage and eating fries. White House staffers said the president works around the clock and can make five dozen work-related calls a day during the pandemic.... A ... White House official said that Trump, some days, doesn't eat lunch.... 'I can tell you that the biggest concern I have as a new chief of staff is making sure he gets some time to get a quick bite to eat,' White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told The Post. He said that Trump recently called him at 3:19 a.m. He ... was asleep when the phone rang." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: See, Mark, when someone calls you about nothing at 3 am, that doesn't signify he's diligent. Rather, it's quite a good indicator he's a thoughtless narcissist. As for Trump's missing lunch, the office staff would have no idea what Trump eats between the time his evening propaganda show ends & the following afternoon, because he's upstairs watching the teevee & occasionally tweeting & retweeting during that time period. For instance, ~~~
~~~ But Meadows & a few unnamed staffers weren't the only people in the White House who noticed how hard Trump works. Trump noticed, too! ~~~
~~~ Daniel Politi of Slate: "On Sunday the president went on an angry Twitter rant that was intense even by Trump's standards. And in his seething, it looks like the president didn't really think twice about spelling, criticizing reporters who won 'Noble prizes' investigating his administration, and those who say he eats 'a hamberger' in his bedroom. In his rambling outburst on Sunday afternoon, Trump complained that no one applauds him for all the hard work he is doing during the coronavirus crisis. He claimed he hasn't left the 'White House in many months' but then has to 'read a phony story' in the New York Times about his work schedule 'written by a third rate reporter' who doesn't know him. 'I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & see that I am angrily eating a hamberger & Diet Coke in my bedroom,' Trump wrote. 'People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!' He later deleted that tweet and reposted it with hamburger spelled correctly.... Trump then went on to threaten to sue the 'Noble committee' if it failed to revoke the awards.... 'Better be fast!' he added. Hours after deleting the tweets, Trump tried to play off his spelling mistake and his apparent confusion between the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, claiming he actually meant to write Noble. 'Does sarcasm ever work?' he asked on Twitter." Akhilleus has something to say about this in today's thread. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So all of Trump's apparent mistakes -- from suggesting Americans might benefit from drinking Clorox & Lysol cocktails, to threatening Scandinavians who never bestowed a prize of any name on undeserving U.S. journalists, to misspellings -- are sarcasm that you and I are too unsophisticated to appreciate. ~~~
~~~ Ursula Perano of Axios: "President Trump tore into Fox News in a series of tweets on Sunday night.... While he continues to praise and live-tweet several of his favorite Fox News shows, the president has taken a more critical overall tone toward the outlet in recent months.... [Trump tweeted,]
@FoxNews just doesn't get what's happening! They are being fed Democrat talking points, and they play them without hesitation or research. They forgot that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn't let @FoxNews participate, even a little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates.
Even the Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats laughed at the Fox suggestion. No respect for the people running @FoxNews. But Fox keeps on plugging to try and become politically correct. They put RINO Paul Ryan on their Board. They hire 'debate questions to Crooked Hillary' fraud @donnabrazile (and others who are even worse).
Chris Wallace is nastier to Republicans than even Deface the Nation or Sleepy Eyes. The people who are watching @FoxNews, in record numbers (thank you President Trump), are angry. They want an alternative now. So do I!
There's not a lot in this mix showing sympathy for the deaths of 55,000 Americans. Indeed, as we learn in the next linked story, the White House has a plan to ignore Americans lost to Covid-19 & their bereaved families (and the rest of us who need information) to concentrate instead on "economic success stories."-- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
~~~ White House to Scale Back, Change Focus of Trump Daily Car Wreck, Sideline Docs. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "The White House plans to shift its coronavirus messaging toward boosting the economy and highlighting 'success stories' of businesses, reducing its public emphasis on health statistics, according to two officials familiar with the planning.... Trump will host businesses who've been harmed by the coronavirus, and he'll highlight the governors who are reopening their economies in line with the Trump administration's guidelines.... The Coronavirus Task Force -- and the doctors who've become household names, Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci -- 'will continue but take a back seat to the forward-looking, "what's next" message,' a White House official told Axios.... [A] source wondered aloud: 'I mean, you wonder how we got to the point where you're talking about injecting disinfectant.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We all knew Fauci's & Birx's days were numbered. The last straws: Brad Pitt as Fauci, viral video of Birx. It's fatal to upstage Trump and of course to react to his stupidity with the horror it deserves, even if one tries to suppress it.
~~~ Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "President Trump's self-assessment has been consistent. 'I'm, like, a very smart person,' he assured voters in 2016. 'A very stable genius,' he ruled two years later. 'I'm not a doctor,' he allowed on Thursday, pointing to his skull inside the White House briefing room, 'but I'm, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.' Mr. Trump's performance that evening, when he suggested that injections of disinfectants into the human body could help combat the coronavirus, did not sound like the work of a doctor, a genius, or a person with a good you-know-what. Even by the turbulent standards of this president, his musings on virus remedies have ... [drawn] widespread condemnation as dangerous to the health of Americans.... No modern American politician can match Mr. Trump's record of false or illogical statements, which has invited questions about his intelligence.... Even some of the president's reliable cheerleaders at Fox News have not tried to defend him."
She Would Not Be Moved. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "A White House official ordered a CNN reporter to give up her front-row seat and move to the back of the press room before President Trump's briefing on Friday, in what appears to be another attempt by Trump to punish [the] network.... Kaitlan Collins refused to move, as did a second reporter whose seat in the rear of the room she was ordered to take. The official then suggested the matter would be resolved by the Secret Service, though no action was taken, according to several people involved in the episode. Network reporters, including those from CNN, have assigned seats at the front of the briefing room, under a plan managed by the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) and agreed to by White House officials last month. The agreement reduced the number of reporters in the briefing room to meet social distancing requirements."
To Go or Not to Go. Chas Danner of New York: "Trump administration officials are considering replacing Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar -- or at least leaking that they are -- according to the Wall Street Journal and Politico. The potential move, which President Trump dismissed as 'fake news' on Sunday night, reportedly stems from frustrations with Azar's management style both before and amid the coronavirus pandemic, particularly after he ousted vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright last week, according to the Journal.... Trumpworld has also reportedly been annoyed with how news reports on the administration's wide-scale mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis have portrayed Azar as more concerned about the threat of the pandemic than Trump was. Indeed, the suspicion that Azar is a leaker also appears to be working against him[.]... Unfortunately, if the above reports are accurate, it does not seem as though helping screw up the U.S. response to the biggest public-health crisis in more than a hundred years is the real reason he'll be ousted."
"The Best People," Ctd. Michael D'Antonio of CNN: "A former Labradoodle breeder, an internet thug and a college senior walk into the White House. This may sound like the set-up of a joke. During the pandemic, however, with the US death toll passing 50,000, these actual administration officials are a grim reminder that we shouldn't expect much from the Trump administration.... There's also Michael Caputo, who is the new spokesman at the Department of Health and Human Services.... Caputo recently scrubbed more than 1,000 tweets and retweets, including racist comments about Chinese people.... [Y]ou get the sense that someone would have to make a real effort to be less qualified for the task of providing trustworthy information to a country in crisis than Caputo.... He comes first, no matter the crisis affecting the nation, and the federal team fighting this deadly threat is forced, in many cases, to prioritize loyalty to the President above science." --s
Helena Evich of Politico: "Tens of millions of pounds of American-grown produce is rotting in fields as food banks across the country scramble to meet a massive surge in demand, a two-pronged disaster that has deprived farmers of billions of dollars in revenue while millions of newly jobless Americans struggle to feed their families. While other federal agencies quickly adapted their programs to the coronavirus crisis, the Agriculture Department took more than a month to make its first significant move to buy up surplus fruits and vegetables -- despite repeated entreaties.... It has been six weeks since ... Donald Trump and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first urged Americans to avoid restaurants as part of national social distancing guidelines to slow the spread of Covid-19 -- a move that immediately severed demand for millions of pounds of food earmarked for professional kitchens across the country." The article goes on to describe what a piss-poor job USDA is doing even as it finally announced a $19BB program to buy up & redistribute excess food.
Didn't Get Her Talkng Points. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday -- the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies. It was the latest instance of conflicting signals coming not just from state and federal leaders but also from within the Trump administration.... Last week, Vice President Pence predicted that 'we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us' by Memorial Day weekend." ~~~
~~~ Didn't Get His Talkng Points. Ashley Brown & Jack Arnholz of ABC News: "The U.S. is going to see a jobless rate comparable to what happened during the Great Depression as it recovers from the novel coronavirus pandemic, Kevin Hassett..., Donald Trump's economic adviser, said on ABC's 'This Week.' The unemployment rate peaked at about 25% during the Great Depression. And during the Great Recession, it took roughly 10 months for new unemployment claims to go as high as they now have in less than a month." ~~~
~~~ Got His Talking Points. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday predicted the U.S. economy hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic would rebound this summer and early in the fall even as Fox News's Chris Wallace noted most experts have projected a longer, slower recovery. 'I think as we begin to reopen the economy in May and June you're going to see the economy really bounce back in July, August, September,' Mnuchin said on 'Fox News Sunday.'"
Rainer Buergin & Steven Arons of Bloomberg, via MSN: "Deutsche Bank AG has turned down a request by four U.S. senators including Elizabeth Warren to release details about the lender's contacts with the family business of President Donald Trump, which asked the bank for leniency on some of its loans.... Trump Organization representatives reached out to Deutsche Bank's private-banking unit in New York late last month as the coronavirus pandemic forces widespread disruptions to the economy, according to a person familiar with the matter." --safari: Quid pro quo in the making.
** Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe. But the United States did not take part in the World Health Organization initiative, in a sign of Donald Trump's increasing isolation on the global stage. The cooperation pledge, made at a virtual meeting, was designed to show that wealthy countries will not keep the results of research from developing countries." --s
Sarah Kliff, et al., of the New York Times: "Across the United States, hospitals serving rural areas have spent decades trying to provide medical care and produce enough revenue to stay open. They have closed in increasing numbers in recent years as local populations have declined. About 170 rural hospitals have shut down since 2005. Some nonprofit or community-owned hospitals ... turn to for-profit hospital chains as a lifeline, hoping that a focus on generating revenue could help them survive. But for-profit hospitals are more likely to close than the others, one recent federal study showed." The article concentrates on "three hospitals that have shut down in this corner of rural West Virginia and Ohio since September." ~~~
~~~ Ella Koeze, et al., of the New York Times: "Dozens of rural hospitals have closed in the last decade, many of them in the Southeast. In the West, there have been fewer closures, but hospitals are more dispersed and many are designated 'critical access hospitals,' with 25 or fewer inpatient beds. That means fewer beds, farther apart for the sick, whether those with coronavirus or those needing other treatment. The problem of distance is further compounded by demographics. Rural populations generally tend to be older and have higher rates of underlying health conditions, making them most at risk of hospitalization from the coronavirus." Mrs. McC: The article is headed by a U.S. map purporting to show areas where people live more than 30 min. from hospitals, but the map is confusing or inaccurate. For instance, it shows Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers, Cape Coral) as being a particularly hard-hit area; in fact, if you roll over the map or look at a break-out map of Florida, further down the page, you find there are 5 major hospitals in Lee County and another 4 in Collier County (Naples), just south of Lee. In addition, these other maps show that Lee residents are not in a hard-hit area.
Whitney Kimball of Gizmodo: "God help us if Mark Zuckerberg's next congressional hearing is on the subject of the Bloody Insurrection of 2020. As HuffPost first reported, a scourge of far-right extremist accounts on Facebook appear to be gearing up for a meme-inspired civil war amid the covid-19 outbreak. The Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a research group focused on exposing large platforms' misconduct and influence, released a report finding that 125 Facebook groups are promoting the 'boogaloo,' a term far-right groups use to refer to a wishful Civil War sequel. Boogaloo promoters have been attending anti-quarantine protests, events with ties to pro-gun activists. The report says that the Boojahideen have been hearing dog whistles from the president lately, greeting his 'LIBERATE' tweets with cheers." --s
Zachary Cohen & Alex Marquardt of CNN: "[O]fficials are warning they have seen a growing wave of cyberattacks on US government agencies and medical institutions leading the pandemic response by nation states and criminal groups. Hospitals, research laboratories, health care providers and pharmaceutical companies have all been hit, officials say.... 'It is safe to say that there are only two places in the world that could hit (the Department of Health and Human Services) the way it's been hit,' the official familiar with the attacks told CNN. The primary culprits for the HHS attacks are Russia and China, the official said[.]" --s
Africa. Jason Burke of the Guardian: "African nations are banking on aggressive screening and testing strategies as their best -- and possibly only -- defence against the Covid-19 virus. After a slow start, a sudden rise of more than 40% in the number of Covid-19 cases on the continent in the last 10 days -- to 28,000 -- and a similar increase in the number of deaths -- to 1,300 -- has worried specialists. The World Health Organization has warned of 10 million cases on the continent within three to six months[.]" --s
Malaysia. Lockdown Gender Inequality. The Moscow Times: "A Russian Orthodox Church official has urged women not to reprimand their husbands during coronavirus lockdown in order to avoid domestic conflict -- and to punish themselves if they do.... In March, the government of Malaysia apologized for advising women to 'avoid nagging' their husbands during the country's Covid-19 lockdown. Other tips issued by the Malaysian women's ministry online urged women to wear make-up and dress neatly, sparking anger and mockery on social media." --s
Russia. The Moscow Times: "The head of a Siberian hospital repurposed for coronavirus patients is in critical condition after she fell [from a fifth-floor window] from the hospital building following a conference call with health officials, local media reported Saturday.... [Yelena] Nepomnyashchaya was allegedly opposed to repurposing another of the hospital's buildings to house 80 Covid-19 patients because of its shortage of protective gear and lack of proper training among staff, TVK cited an unnamed source as saying....[P]reliminary findings showed no signs that a crime was committed. The incident with Nepomnyashchaya follows a spate of mysterious deaths by falling out of windows among Russian journalists in recent years." --s
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Reader Comments (21)
Generalissimo El Trumpo Commands...
So the Fat Fuck in Chief is having a sad because meanies in the press are not jumping for joy over his wonderful plan for us all to swallow Clorox and “shove a flashlight up our ass”, as Randy Rainbow puts it.
So horrible that those awful media types can’t shut up and sieg heil like all good Trump loving Nazis should. What to do? MAGA Moron Number One is in desperate need of thousands to cheer for him with nary a single truthful, contentious voice within earshot. But how to do this? Damned social distancing rules are completely inimical to faux public displays of Fatty adoration. People must be MADE to revel in his golden epauletted presence.
Oh, wait. He can order the entire graduating class at West Point—and their friends and families—to return to the academy, which like all other colleges and schools, has been closed to keep students from contracting a deadly disease. But fuck that. President Death Cult needs some cheering up. So what if a few hundred have to die to make him feel better? It’s their duty to bow to the Fat Turd!
You know how this draft dodging fake bone spur coward is always blaming Obama (Untruthfully) for hamstringing the military? Is there a better way to fuck over the military than to guarantee the deaths of perhaps dozens of future leaders and their moms and dads?
It’s not enough for this criminally insane asshole to encourage American citizens to kill themselves so he can feel vindicated in his stupidity. He must order people to their deaths so he can indulge his obsessive yearning for unearned and undeserved adulation.
He is a dangerous, death inducing toddler.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-west-point.html
And speaking of meanies in the press...
President* Crybaby is so upset cuz someone wrote that he sits in his bedroom, all whiny, eating “hambergers” when he’s actually in the Oval Office til really, really, really late—like wicked late—working hard. Doing...stuff, I guess. (He’s clearly not staying up late reading coronavirus reports.)
And because those reporters are so mean to him, who’s the president and they’re not, he demands they all give back their “Noble prizes”. Why, sure, Mr. All the Best Words, I’ll give back my Noble Prize, but my not Pulitzer, since there is no Nobel Prize for journalism, you idiot.
That really good brain must be busy snacking on another hamberger.
I know he’s got all the best words. I just didn’t know that many of them exist only for him. He’s so speshul!
Stories about produce rotting in the fields and thousands of gallons of milk being dumped out due to the disruption of demand along traditional supply destinations (restaurants, schools, etc.), is yet another disgraceful example of the ignorance and indolence of Donald Trump and his corrupt, greedy, incompetent “administration”.
Granted, not every little detail can be predicted, but this is huge. This was an entirely foreseeable situation that should have been accounted for. Instead, Fatty’s time is spent rage tweeting and obsessing over who sits where in a briefing room. So here, on one hand, we have farmers with product to sell and on the other, millions lining up at food banks. It seems like a no brainer, even for us not so stable geniuses.
Perhaps not every head of lettuce could be redirected, but rather than making sure Jared Kushner gets his millions out of the congressional aid package, someone might have used a little brain power to play out the obvious economic and human problems and come up with some solutions. Take some of that money going to giant corporations and use it to buy milk and produce for distribution at food banks.
But no, what’s more important is for Fatty to whine about not getting enough credit for his wonderfulness and for Mitch McConnell to try to stick it to blue states and their constituents.
Disgraceful.
Thanks for the post about the privatization of community hospitals. That particularly profiteer is based in Irvine, California. The corrupting of the community happens just like this story lays out but doesn't flesh-in. Communities buy in to the notion that they need outside experts to fix things they themselves built in the first place. Sort of, 'I promise to fix it, as long as you pay me first' model. It sounds like something my older brother's friends would say.
Speaking of community hospitals:
Our tiny 24 bed rural community hospital was chosen by the feds to be one of the hospitals that was given money to do community testing of covid. However, since the hospital makes all its money on elective procedures, they have had to lay off many staff. This includes the chief lab tech who was assigned to do the covid testing.
Today's (yesterday's) Rt rate shows a big jump in the right direction.
43 states. at 1.0 or below...
Of course, the calculated rate is based on numbers of reported new cases, so I have to believe there's a little GIGO in the daily Rt assessment; still the trend gives hope.
Will be interesting to watch the trends as some states hasten to "go back to normal."
The story about dairy products and produce being tossed instead of used emphasizes once again how our economic arrangements don't serve us, the general populace, all that well. The country has been here too many times before.
In this case we can blame the pandemic for the disruption, but it's not the pandemic's fault that we did little to plan for a pandemic and its foreseeable consequences, one of which would be a major hitch in the food supply chain. We just decided that such planning didn't "pay."
The problem with our economic system is most obvious when it meets common community interests, call them necessities or perhaps even rights, like food, shelter, healthcare, and I would, local transportation. When it comes to such things, all of which require long-term planning and financial support to function well, the quarterly balance sheet just doesn't mesh with reality, and because it doesn't fit, it doesn't care.
America has long pretended that we can run a big and increasingly complicated country on an Adam Smith model, simplified to myth, where all acting in his or her own self interest will best serve everyone.
That has never been true, of course, but the virus (and of course the flailing of the Pretender and all the predators he represents) have cast the failures of our production and distribution systems, which were already there, into even starker relief.
I wonder how many will notice.
The Nobel (who was probably a very noble notable) Prize-winning molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg, who died in 2008, was for years warning about emerging infectious diseases:
" Some people think I am being hysterical, but there are catastrophes ahead. We live in evolutionary competition with microbes–-bacteria and viruses. There is no guarantee that we will be the survivors."
He continued to urge a much more aggressive defense of the planet and issued a pivotal paper recommending that the U.S. greatly expand its early warning system and urged LEADERS to strengthen their ability to respond to microbial threats with new effort on the federal, state, and local levels.
These recommendations were almost completely ignored.
Last night on 60 minutes they featured the CEO's of Ford and GM who have turned their Detroit factories into the making of PPE's and ventilators; the latter involving extremely skilled workmanship like the ability of putting in a screw so tiny they have to use a type of tweezer for the operation; if not put in correctly it won't work.
I'm tempted to play with "screw" and "tiny" by bringing our best bête noire into play but I think I'll pass–-play it as it lays and these days it lays like the last days of a very hot and humid summer.
"... I can tell you that the biggest concern I have as a new chief of staff is making sure he gets some time to get a quick bite to eat,' White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told The Post ..."
That's his biggest concern? That a fat guy with a kitchen staff at his beck, gets a bite during the day? OK, so we know it's not true, that Meadows is just saying that because, well, in that WH you just say stuff. But the fact that half the country doesn't think "WTF?" at such an asinine remark reminds us that idiocay has become normalized.
Gee, I've been typing so hard here I forgot to sip my coffee. All for the cause, no?
This from someone in Europe:
Two paths diverged in the woods and America took the psychopath.
After that last eye popping performance in which he employed “Sar-Chasmmm” (see? THAT’s sarcasm, you dimwit), to let people in on his latest stable genius brainstorm, gargling with bleach, Mr. Science sez it’s no longer worth his time and effort (what effort? Walking down the hall and being stupid?) to hold daily marathon briefings, the ostensible purpose of which is to inform the public about the latest information on the pandemic killing tens of thousands of Americans. Why? Because the actual purpose was the glorification of himself. Passing on useful information or seeking to unite and calm Americans was never part of the plan.
This asshole is easier to read than a three page Dr. Seuss book. He gives the show away constantly. “People aren’t applauding me and showing me deference and abject adoration, so I’m shutting it down.”
And, for a moment, let’s look at that claim of sarcasm. Since sarcasm is the use of irony to display contempt, please to be telling me who or what was the object of that particular display of contempt? Dr. Birx? The Clorox company? Oh, wait. It must have been us, the American public. Fat Fuck was demonstrating his contempt for us by seeing how many people he could inveigle into killing themselves. Ho-ho-ho. What a card. Such a funnyman. Mister Sarcasm strikes again.
Sorry, Fatty, you weren’t within a shithole country mile of sarcasm.
You did, however, create the tsunami of actual sarcasm that has caused you to run and hide with your Parthian lies flying like poorly aimed arrows as you skedaddle back to your hambergers and your Fox ba-ba. And the Noble Prize you ain’t never getting. Schmucko.
Waaaaah.
Someone please tell Trump that the only thing sarcasm and stupidity have in common is the letter "s".
Not astute enough to know what this means, but it probably means something.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/27/supreme-court-rules-government-must-pay-billions-to-obamacare-insurers-211184
A few possibilities occur to me.
The court (for reasons that likely vary depending on the Justice) believes that later Congressional decisions cannot cavalierly abrogate obligations shouldered by earlier legislation.
But did some of those justices in the majority simply wish to impose a greater burden on an already creaky system, providing one more reason to tear the whole thing down? A decision they will be making later in the term.
Or did some see this decision as supporting the notion that the federal government is in fact ultimately responsible for the nation's healthcare and saw it as an opportunity to say so?
Others might have a clear idea, but I just don't know.
Speculation is always welcome, and with this SCOTUS, even required.
some museums whose doors are open online:
1. British Museum in London
2. Guggenheim Museum, New York
3. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
4. Musée d'Orsay, Paris
5. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
6. Pergamon Museum, Berlin
7. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
8. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
9. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
10. Uffizi Gallery, Italy
11. Museu de Arte, São Paulo
12. The Louvre, Paris
13. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
with an on again - off again move, the White House announces that Trump will "Brief the Nation" this evening. This should call for about three fingers worth of your favorite beverage, I think I'll drag out my old baseball glove when I measure mine.
He just couldn't take more than two days.
Hattie,
What, no Musée de Trumpy? Let’s see, what might be housed in such a noisome edifice? His many ghostwritten books, none of which he’s actually read? Faked Time magazine covers? Pictures of Fatty with his bud Jeffrey Epstein, whom he claims not to know? His monograph on pussy grabbing? A room full of Bankruptcy documents? Wall to wall pictures of Fatso looking stern and in charge? Copies of mash notes to Putin and Kim? Phony million dollar bills with his puss on them? A collection of panties from 14 and 15 year old girls purloined when he charged in to dressing rooms at underage beauty contests he sponsored? A couple hundred gallons of bleach? His heavily redacted Wharton transcript? Several hundred NDAs? And perhaps, a 300 ft. construction in the sculpture garden made up of glued together styrofoam Big Mac boxes?
And of course, monitors installed in all the galleries replaying Fox idiots licking his balls.
A must see for the MAGA morons who wouldn’t be caught dead at MOMA or the Louvre. (Or the Loovrah, as Fatty might have it.)
Bobby Lee,
Better make it a first baseman’s mitt. Better yet, a hockey goalie’s glove.
Akhilleus, there actually is a Trump Twitter Library and it's open to virtual tours.
Mon Dieu cher AK!
J’ai complétement oublié Le Musée du Fatté!
(Just one year of HS French so that’s as far as I can take - fake - it.)
Thanks much for the guffaws.
Great exercise for the soul (and the lungs).
Particularly effective: the balls-licking of foxes. (!)
I hope ya’ll are remaining healthy and sufficiently sane.
Thus far, most thankfully, I ain’t gotten sick.
(The mental health? Demands as much discipline and care.)
A few from my innermost have / have had / The Friggin’ Covid.
Learned (NYTimes) that a wonderful Actor (and being) I’d auditioned for (back when I did such impractical things) has died. (Clearly forgot to self-irrigate with UV & Bleach.)
Such an infuriating, terrifying, alienating Sci-Fi terrain, this.
Such a void re: intelligence and leadership.
Big thanks for the perseverance of “Marie of Romania”.
Peace & Health to Ya’ll.
Hat from Mannahatta
File it under don't get your hopes up yet.....but it's not bleach.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/world/europe/coronavirus-vaccine-update-oxford.html?
As impressed as I was with Stacy Abrams when she ran for governor, am wondering if others are tired of her constant campaigning (thinking of my inbox) for Biden’s veep? I am.
I’m willing to be schooled on this, but to this delicate soul, it seems..... unseemly.