;)
The Commentariat -- April 5, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Sarah Kliff & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Across the United States, even as coronavirus deaths are being recorded in terrifying numbers -- many hundreds each day -- the true death toll is likely much higher.... The undercount is a result of inconsistent protocols, limited resources and a patchwork of decision-making from one state or county to the next.... With no uniform system for reporting coronavirus-related deaths in the United States, and a continued shortage of tests, some states and counties have improvised, obfuscated and, at times, backtracked in counting the dead."
John Ismay of the New York Times Magazinke: "Capt. Brett E. Crozier, the Navy captain who was removed from command of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to two Naval Academy classmates of Crozier's who are close to him and his family." ~~~
~~~ Lindsay Cohn, et al., in the Washington Post: "Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden condemned the Navy leadership in a tweet. Retired rear admiral and former Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby called the firing 'reckless and foolish.' And retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said relieving Crozier of command 'was a really bad decision.' President Trump ... [said] Saturday [that] .. Crozier's letter was 'not appropriate' and insinuating Crozier was responsible for exposing his sailors to the virus by making a stop in Vietnam -- a stop that was pre-scheduled by the regional command.... Complicating the optics of the situation is the involvement of [acting Navy Secretary Thomas] Modly himself. Last summer, Trump intervened in the Navy's handling of a personnel action involving Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, ultimately resulting in the November 2019 removal of then-Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer and the installation of Modly.... Many questioned the appropriateness of civilian political intervention into internal professional processes.... The fact it was a political appointee associated with another highly politicized case who relieved Crozier ... may contribute to a perception that this is more about political embarrassment than a breach of security."
Marisa Taylor & Aram Roston of Reuters: "In mid-March..., Donald Trump personally pressed federal health officials to make malaria drugs available to treat the novel coronavirus, though they had been untested for COVID-19, two sources told Reuters. Shortly afterward, the federal government published highly unusual guidance informing doctors they had the option to prescribe the drugs, with key dosing information based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science.... The episode reveals how the president's efforts could change the nature of drug oversight, a field long governed by strict rules of science and testing.... 'The president is short-circuiting the process with his gut feelings,' said Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah But, Trump pushed the drugs because he was receiving expert advice from his "personal science advisor": ~~~
~~~ Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Rudolph W. Giuliani ... has cast himself in a new role: as personal science adviser to a president eager to find ways to short circuit the coronavirus epidemic. In one-on-one phone calls with Trump, Giuliani said, he has been touting the use of an anti-malarial drug cocktail that has shown some early promise in treating covid-19, but whose effectiveness has not yet been proved. He said he now spends his days on the phone with doctors, coronavirus patients and hospital executives promoting the treatment, which Trump has also publicly lauded.... Giuliani's advice to Trump echoes comments the former New York mayor has made on his popular Twitter feed and a podcast that he records in a makeshift radio studio installed at his New York City apartment, where he has repeatedly pushed the drug combination, as well as a stem cell therapy that involves the extraction of what Giuliani termed placenta 'killer cells.'"... Giuliani's controversial comments have helped him regain a bit of the prominence he had during impeachment -- last week, he was back in the spotlight when Twitter briefly locked his account for promoting misinformation about covid-19."
Mary Spicuzza of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Assembly Republicans are calling on Gov. Tony Evers to allow in-person services for Easter and Passover amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.... Evers declined the request. The [request] came one day before Republicans in the Assembly and Senate stalled Evers' move to push back Tuesday's election due to the coronavirus pandemic...."
Rowena Mason & Peter Walker of the Guardian: British PM "Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus after suffering persistent symptoms for 10 days. Downing Street insisted it was just a precautionary measure but Johnson's admission on a Sunday evening comes after days of rumours that his condition has been worsening.... It is understood Johnson remains in charge of the government, although Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, is poised to take charge if he should worsen."
~~~~~~~~~~
April Is the Cruelest Month
Saturday in Mixed Messages. Juan Perez & Marie French of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday warned that America's 'toughest week' of the coronavirus crisis is coming up, predicting 'there will be death' as the number of Covid-19 cases surges in the days ahead. The president said he was committed to supplying hotspots around the country with medical supplies needed to combat the outbreak, noting that the federal government has agreed to handle infected patients at field hospitals in Dallas, New Orleans and New York.... But the president also signaled his growing impatience with the stringent social distancing measures states had put in place around the country.... 'We have to open our country again,' Trump said. '... We don't want to be doing this for months and months and months." ~~~
~~~ From the New York Times' live updates for Saturday: Trump "suggested again that Americans might be able to congregate for Easter Sunday services.... He said he would again like to consider relaxing social distancing rules for Easter services and that he had told advisers, 'maybe we could allow special for churches' gatherings that were possibly outside with 'great separation.'" ~~~
~~~ Michelle Stoddart of ABC News: "... Donald Trump pushed to reopen the country Saturday ... while talking at a briefing with the White House coronavirus task force.... '... The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. We've got to get our country open,' Trump said. The president discussed a Saturday morning call he had with commissioners of most of the major sports to discuss the effects of coronavirus to the industry, emphasizing that he wants fans 'back in the arena' as soon as they can be.... 'No, I can't tell you a date, but I think it's going to be sooner rather than later.' He said that sports aren't 'designed' for closures, which he said is also true of the country, emphasizing that he wants citizens to get back to work. 'It has to get open. This country was not designed to be closed,' Trump said. 'Think of it. We're paying people not to go to work, how about that? How does that play?'" ~~~
~~~ Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has directly urged Americans worried about Covid-19 to take a little-studied anti-malaria drug for the disease, despite potentially serious side effects and a lack of data on safety and efficacy in treatment of the pandemic virus. At a lengthy, rambling and combative briefing on Saturday afternoon, the president also sought to discredit media reports of his administration's failures and called some outlets in the White House press corps 'fake news'. Media reports about shortages of ventilators and personal protective equipment, he claimed, relied on state governors asking for more supplies than they needed.... The drug repeatedly pushed by Trump, hydroxychloroquine, has only shown anecdotal promise.... [Trump] said he 'may take it' himself, though he would 'have to ask my doctors about that'. The president's own public health advisers, who stood with him in the briefing room on Saturday, have warned against taking hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19." ~~~
~~~ Katherine Seley-Radtke in the Conversation (April 3), republished by Yahoo! News: "On Saturday [March 28] the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of two antimalarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine and a related medication, chloroquine, for emergency use to treat COVID-19. The drugs were touted by President Trump as a 'game changer' for COVID-19. However, a study just published in a French medical journal provides new evidence that hydroxychloroquine does not appear to help the immune system clear the coronavirus from the body. The study comes on the heels of two others - one in France and one in China - that reported some benefits in the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for COVID-19 patients who didn't have severe symptoms of the virus.... There are already other clinical studies that showed it is not effective against COVID-19 as well as several other viruses. And, more importantly, it can have dangerous side effects, as well as giving people false hope."
~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday defended his decision to fire the intelligence community's top watchdog, calling the sacked official a' total disgrace' over his handling of a whistleblower complaint that led to the president's impeachment. 'I thought he did a terrible job. Absolutely terrible,' Trump said of Michael Atkinson, who was let go from his role as the inspector general of the intelligence community on Friday night. 'He took this terrible, inaccurate whistleblower report and he brought it to Congress,' Trump added. The initial report was largely corroborated by witnesses testimony and the summary describing Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine, which was the subject of the whistleblower complaint. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump mused about House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) being the whistleblower's 'informer,' without citing evidence.... 'They give this whistleblower a status that he doesn't deserve. He's a fake whistleblower,' Trump concluded. 'And frankly, somebody ought to sue his ass off.'... Some Republican senators expressed uneasiness with the president's actions and praised Atkinson. Sen. Chuck Grassley, for example, said the firing of Atkinson 'demands an explanation.'... Also on Saturday, the office of the director of national intelligence announced that Thomas Monheim, who has served in top legal positions throughout the intelligence community, was named acting inspector general." ~~~
~~~ Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Two weeks before he was fired, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson told the Senate's top Democrat that the past six months had been 'a searing time for whistleblowers,' and rebuked public officials who fail to defen whistleblowers when the stakes are highest. In a letter to ... Chuck Schumer dated March 18, Atkinson took a thinly veiled swipe at those who had failed to defend the intelligence official who first reported concerns about Trump's conversation with the president of Ukraine last summer.... Atkinson ... wrote the letter in response to Schumer's request one month earlier that all inspectors general investigate 'instances of retaliation against anyone who has made, or in the future makes, protected disclosures of presidential misconduct.' Trump waged rhetorical war on the whistleblower last fall, calling for the anonymous official to be 'exposed' and 'questioned,' while accusing him of having 'ties to one of my Democratic opponents' and perpetrating a 'hoax.' Some lawmakers used closed-door hearings during the impeachment probe to gather information about the whistleblower and get his alleged identity into the congressional record." ~~~
~~~ Trump Knocks Another American Hero. Juan Perez of Politico: "A Navy commander's written alarms about a coronavirus outbreak aboard his aircraft carrier 'looked terrible'..., Donald Trump said Saturday, as he praised military leaders who removed the USS Theodore Roosevelt's top officer [Capt. Brett Crozier] from his post.... 'I thought it was terrible, what he did, to write a letter. I mean, this isn't a class on literature. This is a captain of a massive ship that's nuclear powered. And he shouldn't be talking that way in a letter,' Trump said.... Trump said he fully supported Crozier's removal, though he said, 'I didn't make the decision.'" ~~~
~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "The sudden firing of Capt. Brett Crozier ... has created another unsettling moment for a country traumatized by the worsening pandemic -- and for a Navy already rocked by President Trump's remarkable intervention last year in disciplinary cases involving the elite Navy SEALs. Crozier's crew cheered him as a hero as he walked alone down the gangway.... Former vice president Joe Biden tweeted his support for Crozier.... A half-dozen former top Navy officials said in interviews Saturday that [Acting Navy Secretary Thomas] Modly's intervention was a mistake that they feared would have a chilling effect on commanders and encourage them to suppress bad news that might upset political leaders.... By Wednesday, Modly told a colleague he was thinking of relieving Crozier and that Trump 'wants him fired.'... The acting secretary had the authority to sack Crozier but in doing so undermined the uniformed officers who normally oversee such personnel decisions." ~~~
~~~ Juan Cole: "The Trump administration has forced [Capt. Brett Crozier] to retire because his letter warning of large scale deaths on his ship somehow made its way to the San Francisco Chronicle. [Thomas Modly,] one of those grey 'acting' high officials -- with whom Trump has surrounded himself in preference to actual confirmed cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries -- forced Crozier out.... Modly got the go-head for the ouster of Crozier from secretary of defense Mark Esper.... Crozier is a better man than Modly, by orders of magnitude. As Acting Navy Secretary Modly was certainly briefed repeatedly in January and February on the dangers of the coronavirus.... What did he do about that, as he sat around watching Trump call the deadly pandemic a 'hoax,' a 'nothing,' 'like the flu,' and promising it would go away quickly whatever it was? Modly knew that Trump was lying to the American public and that his lies would cost hundreds of thousands of American lives." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. "At least 276,000 people in the United States have tested positive for the virus, and officials believe the number of people who have been infected is far higher. More than 7,000 people have died, including at least 3,565 in New York State." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here. "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is trying to convince the United States not to block the export of 3M respirator masks to Canada. By stopping shipments of critical medical supplies, the United States would be 'hurting itself as much as Canada' because essential goods and services flow both ways across the border, Trudeau said Saturday at a news conference. On Friday, 3M revealed it is under pressure to stop exporting masks to other countries, including Canada, after the White House used the Defense Production Act to order the company to prioritize U.S. orders and cease shipments to Canada and Latin America." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** The Fish Rots from the Head. Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "By the time Donald Trump proclaimed himself a wartime president -- and the coronavirus the enemy -- the United States was already on course to see more of its people die than in the wars of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.... The United States will likely go down as the country that was supposedly best prepared to fight a pandemic but ended up catastrophically overmatched by the novel coronavirus, sustaining heavier casualties than any other nation.... It took 70 days from that initial notification for Trump to treat the coronavirus not as a distant threat or harmless flu strain well under control, but as a lethal force that had outflanked America's defenses and was poised to kill tens of thousands of citizens. That more-than-two-month stretch now stands as critical time that was squandered. Trump's baseless assertions in those weeks, including his claim that it would all just 'miraculously' go away, sowed significant public confusion and contradicted the urgent messages of public health experts.... Other failures cascaded through the system." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post: "In January, when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first tried to brief President Trump about the coronavirus threat, the president got distracted and wanted to talk about vaping instead. That same month, Trump told a CNBC reporter that he was not worried about a pandemic; by March, he was claiming, 'I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.' After declaring a national emergency, Trump fumed about the images of empty airports and grounded planes on television. He has publicly compared his poll numbers with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's. He has responded to anodyne questions from reporters by saying they are 'nasty' and demanding that journalists 'be nice.' In other words, not even a crisis as massive as the novel coronavirus has stopped the president from behaving like a cranky toddler. Trump's toddler traits have significantly hampered America's response to the pandemic.... For Trump's staff, crisis management revolves around managing the president's temper, not managing the actual problem."
This Week in Narcissism. Ashley Parker & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The novel coronavirus has decimated the economy, turned hospitals into battlefields and upended the daily lives of every American. But in Trump's White House, certain symptoms remain: a president who governs as if producing and starring in a reality television show, with each day a new episode.... Trump still seems to lurch from moment to moment, with his methods and messages each day disconnected from -- and in some cases contradictory to -- the ones just prior."
Nancy Cook of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump exacted revenge Friday night by ousting the chief watchdog for the intelligence community, it was just one more instance of the president's addiction to sideshows.... In the weeks since the coronavirus first hit the U.S., Trump has continued to pursue pet projects dating back to his 2016 campaign such as rolling back Obama-era regulations, building the border wall and fighting with the Federal Reserve. A new White House personnel director, 29-year-old Johnny McEntee, has meanwhile been hunting for political appointees who have shown any hint of disloyalty to Trump and ordering them transferred or fired."
** Elise Viebeck, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump and a growing number of Republican leaders are aggressively challenging efforts to make voting easier as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts elections, accusing Democrats of opening the door to fraud -- and, in some cases, admitting fears that expanded voting access could politically devastate the GOP. Around the country, election officials trying to ensure ballot access and protect public health in upcoming contests face an increasingly coordinated backlash from the right. Much of the onslaught of litigation has been funded by the Republican National Committee, which has sought to block emergency measures related to covid-19, such as proactively mailing ballots to voters sheltering at home.... Democrats and their allies in the civil rights community are also seizing the moment, arguing that the current crisis has created an urgent need for many of the voting policies they have pushed for years, including mass expansion of mail balloting and relaxation of voter ID, signature and witness requirements." See related story linked below under "Presidential Race."
Ken Delanian & Stephanie Ruhle of NBC: "The co-founder of a huge private equity firm sent an email this week to Jared Kushner and other Trump administration policymakers seeking to relax rules on coronavirus relief money in a way that would benefit the company, according to sources familiar with the matter. Kushner's family real estate business has financial ties to the company, Apollo Global Management. A source close to Kushner says there was nothing remarkable about his receipt of the email, from Apollo co-founder Mark Rowan.... But Apollo is not just any business: It made a $184 million loan in 2017 to Kushner Companies[.]" --s
Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Thousands of National Guardsmen around the country are in contact with people who've contracted COVID-19. But while the federal government has called on them for frontline assistance in battling the pandemic, it's not giving them what they need to protect themselves: access to the military's health insurance.... According to the National Guard's advocates and the U.S. governors' association, the guardsmen are activated on orders that last 30 days. That puts them one single day shy of the requirement allowing the military health insurance system known as TRICARE -- think of it as Medicare For All In Uniform -- to cover them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dana Hedgpeth, et al., of the Washington Post: "... experts say more than 5 million people who identify as American Indians and Alaskan Native are especially vulnerable [to the coronavirus]. 'When you look at the health disparities in Indian Country -- high rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, asthma and then you combine that with the overcrowded housing situation where you have a lot of people in homes with an elder population who may be exposed or carriers -- this could be like a wildfire on a reservation and get out of control in a heartbeat,' said Kevin Allis, chief executive of the National Congress of American Indians. 'We could get wiped out,' Allis said. About half of Native Americans ... live in small homes, where the virus can easily spread through families. Houses often lack electricity and running water so washing hands is more challenging, health experts at Johns Hopkins University said." Access to this story is free to nonsubscribers.
Marty Johnson of The Hill: "Some cash-strapped states have dipped into their election security funds provided to them by the $2.2 trillion stimulus package to help pay for their responses to the coronavirus outbreak. The money from the from the mammoth bill was included to help states protect the 2020 elections from malicious cyber activity. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Alabama have either used or intend to these funds, as the pandemic continues to plague the country ABC News reports." --s
Brian Kemp Is One Stupid Governor. J.D. Capelouto & J. Scott TrubeyAtlanta Journal-Constitution: "Elected leaders in two coastal Georgia communities on Saturday blasted Gov. Brian Kemp's statewide shelter-in-place order, which allows beaches to reopen with social distancing, saying the mandate undermines local efforts to contain the coronavirus.... Local officials previously closed beaches on Tybee and St. Simons islands, while the state-owned Jekyll Island also closed its beaches. Kemp's order, which took effect Friday, nullified local ordinances that did not match the statewide shelter-in-place order, doing away with many local actions such as beach closures.... Early Saturday morning, a reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution walked St. Simons main beaches and they looked as they did in pre-coronavirus days. People were walking dogs jogging and just strolling. Barricades the county erected last month to close beach parking lots were set aside, and Georgia State Patrol cruisers patrolled beachside neighborhoods." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall, "Kemp said he wasn't aware that asymptomatic people could transmit coronavirus as he announced he was preparing to issue a state-wide shelter-in-place order.... He said his decision to issue the shelter-in-place order came after he found out that people could transmit the virus before they started showing symptoms.... Researchers and health officials have long said that coronavirus can be transmitted by carriers before they show symptoms or those who don't ever show symptoms." You can bet that some of the folks cavorting on Georgia beaches thanks to Kemp, are asymptomatic carriers.
Bill Bowman of the Franklin Reporter & Advocate: "Somerset County's entire 35,000-mask order of N-95 and surgical masks targeted for various health care workers has been 'commandeered' by the federal government, the Somerset County Freeholder Director said on April 3.... Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson ... said the vendor did not say which federal agency confiscated the order.... Robinson said Gov. Phil Murphy's administration 'has gotten involved' and is trying to find out why the masks were taken.... 'We've been waiting on that order for two-and-a-half, three weeks. 'You don't just take them,' [Robinson] said. 'You have a conversation.'" --s ~~~
~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: "[W]hat I'm more interested in are reports of federal authorities confiscating physical shipments en route to states, local governments or regional hospital systems.... It's also very unclear just who is seizing the supplies, what they're being used for or who is getting access to them. The assumption seems to be that they are being handed over to FEMA for distribution to other parts of the country.... In any case, we need to know more.... But these seizures of shipments are at best causing confusion for desperate states and hospitals. And they seem so haphazard that they are raising legitimate questions about whether they are being allocated to states in a preferential or politicized fashion. We need to know more." --s
Maureen Dowd interviews somebody worth interviewing about being a shut-in & other matters: Larry David. "I asked what he fears most and he replied: 'Anarchy and a potential dental emergency -- and not necessarily in that order.'"
From the Dept. of Stupid. Matt Shuham of TPM: "Anti-government extremist Ammon Bundy led a meeting last week where he agitated for Idahoans to physically defy the state's stay-at-home order, which is meant to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.... In American history, Bundy argued, dying for liberty's sake had been celebrated. 'Now it's the exact opposite, flipped upside down,' he said. 'In order to save lives, we have to take freedom. That's where we're at right now.' Bundy told the AP that he wasn't opposed to social distancing in itself, but that he objected to the state forcing him to do so." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The core of right-wing "philosophy" is a child pouting: "You aren't the boss of me!"
Presidential Race
Wisconsin's Republican Leaders Are Vicious AND Irresponsible. Natasha Korecki & Zach Montellaro of Politico: "Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature refused to delay Tuesday's primary election, formally rejecting on Saturday a call from the state's Democratic governor, Tony Evers, to halt in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes as Republicans on Saturday also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that expanded absentee balloting in the state. State Republicans on Saturday gaveled into a special session called by Evers then immediately closed the session without taking action. Republicans indicated they had adjourned until Monday. It is now up to the governor to try to find other emergency measures to delay the election. Evers suggested on Friday that he would attempt to do so.... Mayors across the state have pleaded for a delay, amid a severe shortage of poll workers sickened by coronavirus or fearful of contamination.... Wisconsin's health officials have reported more than 2,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 56 deaths." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There is no excuse for Wisconsin's GOP. None. In many if not most states, officials pretty much leave it to the parties to decide how their nominees are selected. Particularly in this unique life-and-death crisis, both parties should be free to make whatever decisions they wish on when & how their primaries are run.
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "A small group of Bernie Sanders's top aides and allies -- including his campaign manager and his longtime strategist -- have encouraged the independent senator from Vermont to consider withdrawing from the presidential race, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The group includes campaign manager Faiz Shakir and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a top Sanders surrogate and ally, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive private discussions. Sanders himself has become more open to the prospect of dropping out..., especially if he suffers a significant defeat in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary, which polls suggest Joe Biden will win handily."
Marianna Sotomayor of NBC News: "In a virtual fundraiser with donors Friday night, former Vice President Joe Biden said that he has formally alerted Sen. Bernie Sanders that he will move forward with a vice presidential vetting process even though neither has become the Democratic nominee. He also disclosed to donors participating in the billed 'fireside chat' that he has had casual conversations with emerging leaders in the Democratic Party about possibly serving in his administration if he's elected President of the United States." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Dr. Fatty takes the hypocritical oath. I would not, for an instant, put it past this murderer to announce that he has taken that untested anti-malarial drug he’s been pushing when he had not, in fact, done so. Then proclaiming that he was perfectly fine in order to get others to try it out for him.
He might as well announce that getting smashed then climbing in your car and careening around town is perfectly okay.
First, do much harm.
In Camus' "The Plague" he stresses how this kind of virus exposes existing fractures in societies, in class structure, and in individual character. When we are under a great deal of stress we show who we really are. Adam Copnik mentions that until last week no one ever thought that this novel was about an actual plague; it was always taken as a fable or an allegory, specifically of the German occupation of France. The point was that crises reveal all the human responses, not that the actual plagues tell us much, but that the pressure of extreme and unexpected events forces the flaws in our common character to the surface.
"The secession of the very rich, the isolation of the well-off, the degradation of social capital by inequality; these truths become become sharply self evident." says Copnik, who sees this in stark contrast in his city–-New York–-the rich have for the most part vacated the city for their posh homes elsewhere while the lone deliverer of food rides his bicycle through empty streets and hundreds of health workers put their life on the line to save others.
And then we have Márquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera"––Copnik tells us with cholera referring to both the the name of the disease and the condition of being "colérico," angry and impassioned. Love in the time of the coronavirus was bound to happen––in crisis and despair is born desire–-college students having to leave not only their school but their lovers probably have last minute assignations on the night before the general expulsion. And we also hear about the rise of spousal abuse––being cooped up together is another kind of petri dish of disaster.
And so another Sunday–-churchless believers have to get their inspiration from the tele or if you are Mike Pence straight from the words of Jesus. And we don't have to look upward at the heavens to know that this crisis has revealed all the human responses of cowardice, denial, and courage. The worst of it is that we have the gross misfortune of having a president that cannot lead, that lies, that cheats, that should have been booted out after his impeachment and is now stomping his brute boot on this system of fragile organization. He doesn't really care if Native Americans are wiped out; he doesn't really care that that states are crying out for equipment––the list is long for his not carings–-what he does care about is his ratings–-his image–-his rotten, shriveled heart is beating only for number one– the cheese stands alone––its stink is breathtaking.
Many years ago, I took a class from a professor who designed rational hiring practices for school administrators. He was a thoughtful man, if like many who take comfort in rules and charts, to my mind a little rigid in his thinking. His fundamental principle with which I had no argument: Make hiring a rational pursuit. Seek data and use it. Don't just go with your gut.
I was never sure how far that professor's methods would take one in practice because I had already seen how much irrationality was at play in the world of public schools, both within the schools themselves and at the points where the institution met their various communities.
But that hesitancy aside, I did try to apply sense and logic to the hiring I did. Sometimes I was wrong and had to fix it (often a painful process in school world); more often, it worked well, sometimes better than expected or hoped for, because the person you hire is only a predictor of the person he or she will become, and good surprises happen, too.
In short, experience told me that hiring should be as rational as possible, but that even careful process is, as they say, no guarantee of future results.
Then we have that other system, the one we use to "hire" our elected officials. There it appears rationality plays very little part.
Kemp--the Pretender, the paragon, of course-- is another perfect example of the result.
He knew how to get elected. He cheated. To get the job, he manipulated a flawed system and deliberately appealed to those whom Bea astutely describes as pouting children who don't want to be told what to do, in other words, who don't want to be governed.
In the electoral, even more so than in school world, the skills that propel people into office have little or nothing to do with their ability to perform the duties of the office to which they were elected. I'd go so far as to say, the skills they employ to achieve office often suggest they are incapable of doing what they're hired to do.
That is, govern in a sensible, humane way, keeping the good of the community as a whole always in the forefront of their minds.
My wife has argued that at least some of the toilet paper shortage is because people aren’t using the bathroom at work. Here is an article that backs that theory up:
https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0
@NiskyGuy: Also, no more stealing rolls of toilet paper from the office.
I noticed the paper towels also were in short supply at my local market. I resisted the temptation to buy two rolls because I'm using them a lot more now inasmuch as I'm washing my hands more & using paper towels instead of cloth towels.
I don't think there was any spray cleanser at the market. Luckily, since I moved from two houses to one, I had found some extra bottles tucked away.
Also, no elastic at the fabric shops, and I don't have any at home. I've found some workable substitutes tho.
I'd like to point out that Wisconsin is one of the states that gerrymandering was a huge problem. If the Supreme Court would have allowed the voters to choose their representatives those representatives probably would not be putting the people in such danger. But the Roberts Court says it is OK for Republicans to screw over the voters as long as they are too racist.
Trump is a one trick pony. He overhypes Everything involving himself. We will have a wonder drug soon just because he is president. We will all be hanging out with our friends soon enough because Trump believes it will make him look good. The universe will bend to his will because he is just so great. But he is just selling us another flat at the latest Trump Tower. He tells it is the greatest, bestest, biggest, goldest. He tells us that ninety percent of the apartments are sold, it's a really hot ticket. Better buy in soon. In reality only ten percent are sold. And like many his Towers this one is destined to never happen. Over sell, under deliver. That is the Trump brand. And we will all be left holding the body bags.
@RAS, there's money to be made in them bags. I wonder what kind of fabric needs to be used to make at home -- blue tarps?
A pallet load of those OD zip-locs looks like hell, but nowhere near as bad as when they're filled and lumpy, stacked in the back of a truck.
Here you go, Marie: How to make a mask with a simple bandana.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-make-face-mask-bandana_l_5e876472c5b63e06281d87d9
@PD I made a bandanna mask just like that one the other day. The downside is that the many layers make it a bit heavy & hard to breathe through, but it’ll do in a pinch. Skinny hair ties work better than thicker ones do - they stretch more and are more comfortable. I also made one from a white tee shirt, which looks like I have a diaper on my face :-(. But again, it’ll do.
These stories of "the federal government" seizing shipments are baffling. I can easily believe that Trump would order federal agents to seize shipments already en route, but I can't believe that the purchasers would not know which agency did the actual "seizure" (s/b "hijacking"). A German official claimed that "American government agents" seized a shipment of 3M FFP2 and FFP3 masks, coming from their Singapore plant, at a Bangkok airport. I find that hard to believe, because the Thais are very proud of never having been colonized by the European Powers, and would not allow such a thing. If it had happened, I believe it would be all over the newspapers and loudly denounced in the Parliament (also, a spokesman for 3M said their Singapore plant had never received an order for FFP2 masks from Germany). Even in the cases where vendors are calling purchasers and telling them "the government" ordered them to not deliver the order, they NEVER say what government agency it was or what authority was cited. In the first one or two cases I could understand such shoddy reporting, but we're hearing more and more such stories, and the refusal to name names is weird. It's similar to still not hearing the name of the company that supposedly furnished the wrong reagent to the CDC, causing the first three week delay in testing. Someone knows the name of that company.
@Procopius wrote, "A German official claimed that "American government agents" seized a shipment of 3M FFP2 and FFP3 masks, coming from their Singapore plant, at a Bangkok airport."
I read somewhere -- maybe in a Washington live update -- that the official had retracted his accusation. That particular item didn't pop up in the Googles, but this from the Berlin Spectator did:
"Some German media quoted U.S. government officials on Saturday who said the allegations were all wrong. For the Berlin Senate, a spokesman corrected one aspect: The masks had actually been ordered through a German vendor. The information about the 'confiscation' of 200,000 masks had come from that company. It was not known which manufacturer had made the masks. Before, ‘3M’ had been mentioned in German-language media. Now the Berlin Senate is trying to get to the bottom of the issue. So far, no allegations have been retracted."
So I think this story is still sitting out there as an allegation that hasn't been proved one way or the other, but the particulars may change if anyone ever gets to the bottom of it.
Dear Mrs. Bea McCrabbie,
I am a faithful reader for several years, since before you took over.
I respect all you do. But, I have to stop visiting your page. I am getting very depressed regarding the overall situation. I live in Wisconsin so the recent crap about postponing the election is front and center. It seems our system is broken. The basic system isn’t to blame as much as the Republican Party. Beginning with Rush and Newt, As a country we are no longer civil. The Republicans have become a “my way or no way” party. Evangelicals are a significant part of the issue.
If one looks at all the negative, nasty comments, a significant majority of them come from Republicans. The Republican Party has become selfish, racist and hateful. The system can’t succeed with their attitude.
So for my mental health, I am checking out of reading anything political. I will vote in person today. The absentee voting procedure is is intended to seriously discourage voting.
My thanks for all you do.