The most depressing and enraging part of this Pandemic

[Proud Liberal Dem]

for me is that this is 2020, NOT 1917-1918 and we should be much better prepared as a country for these sorts of things and we should not be in such a panic/crisis as we are. I'm not saying that, even under the best of circumstances, that there wouldn't a lot of people catching this or some people dying but, because we have piss poor leadership in this country, because we've had years and years of electing people to government to hobble it, deconstruct it, and diminish its importance, to diminish and scoff at the importance of facts and knowledge and....gulp....SCIENCE, we now find ourselves in this kind of predicament. And now lots of people will be paying for this with their lives. Once this is all over, we CANNOT go back to the way we used to be. We have to push back against HARD against people who want to tear government down, who refuse to consider facts, whom refuse to acknowledge, well, REALITY and FACTS. Willful ignorance and "Know-Nothingism" KILLS people. This- what we are going through right now- is the culmination of years of George W. Bushes, Sarah Palins, Mitch McConnells, Tea Parties, and, of course, Donald Trumps.

[tanyev]

1. AND we had, what, about 2 months to get ready for it?

Think what a competent administration that was more concerned about the country than the next election could have accomplished.

[uponit7771]

2. +1

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Yup!

[magicarpet]

4. Don't forget Ronnie Raygunn, Tommy Delay, Gingrich, Hastert...

So many how could you name them all ?

[DEbluedude]

5. I shudder when I think of how vulnerable we are right now.

Think of what could happen if there was a intentional biological attack. When this clusterfuck finally subsides, the next administration needs to take a cold, hard look at all of the the systemic failures that have occurred, not only during this Covid-19 pandemic, but how our judicial system was hamstrung by these TRAITORS.

It all leads back to Trump and the repukes. They must be held accountable - they are TRAITORS.

[Moostache]

7. National Defense needs a serious redefinition...

What good are all of our infected air craft carriers now?
What use is that stockpile of aging nuclear bombs?
How many people are going to die in this fight that did not have to?

We spend TRILLIONS a year on "defense"....yet, now, when the actual defense of Americans is needed the most? What do we have? Are our healthcare workers safe? Are we able to ramp up medical equipment production and distribution?

We have bullets and bombs and guns and tanks and they are all 100% fucking useless right now...at the cost of most of our national blood and treasure...or at least the percentage of it not hoarded at the top by the super-elite and super-wealthy 0.1%

When this is all over, there should be a global reckoning that forces us to admit things like "borders" and "walls" and "wars" are constructs of a disconnected globe, something that never really made sense in the first place, but nevertheless cannot work at all in an interconnected world and global economy.

This is going to all get so much worse than it is today, and years from now I hope I am wrong, but I fear we will look back to now and say, why didn't we do more to stop him, to turn the tide, to make a difference...it haunts me already, but I feel as certain as Jacob Marley telling Scrooge to repent that it is true...

[UpInArms]

9. When national defense only means a military exercise

We are screwn

[Blue_true]

12. President Obama HAD set up the very organizations that you mentioned.

Donald Trump used his power as president to Eliminate those organizations. One of al queda's long held goals was to release a biological or radiological weapon on the West to cause death and economic destruction.

[HotTeaBag]

16. That's actually a really scary thought...

All a foreign adversary has to is watch how incompetent we've been and how quickly the country has been brought to it's knees.

Forget flying planes into buildings, unleashing a bio-engineered virus in maybe three or four major metropolitan areas would accomplish so very much more - and I doubt it's going unnoticed.

[Moostache]

6. Not to overstate the obvious, but society in general needs to wake the fuck up...

Science is NOT a goddamn religion. It is NOT an opinion or a 'best guess'. It is NOT a scam to make money by bankrupting virtuous capitalists either.

Science is a PROCESS. It is a METHOD. IT is the search for TRUTH.
In short, it is antithetical to anyone that looks at Trump and thinks anything other than "you have GOT to be kidding me"...

Pandemics are not a joke.
Climate Change is not a hoax.
Vaccines are not an attempt to poison you.
Antibiotics are not a cure for a viral infection.

Reality is what science traffics in. Bullshit, superstition and lies are what Trump promotes.


This century is going to be far worse than the last in terms of human pain, suffering and misery. And that was a record that I thought would be unassailable...I was wrong.

[Blue_true]

13. If people like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell keep getting put into positions of

leadership by clueless voters, this century could witness the extinction of the human species. The Earth will live on, people that pine about us destroying the planet can't be more wrong, the planet will be ok, we are destroying ourselves. The problem that we face is getting a permanent, critical mass of people to over their lifetimes, realize that electing people like Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and others like them across the world only hastens our own end, religious zealots may want that end to come, but the other people who now vote with them likely don't want that end for their children and grandchildren, so it is those saner people that must help us pull the world back from the cliff.

[Moostache]

14. "so it is those saner people that must help us pull the world back from the cliff."...

Yes....or we need to let the lemmings among us head over the cliff on their own without taking us all down too...

I agree that the PLANET is going to be fine...but the most precious thing on the planet - LIFE itself - is definitely in danger...intelligent or otherwise.

We need a miracle and we need a leader to rally behind...both are in short supply now...

[Blue_true]

15. I all of the five great mass extinctions of life on Earth, some life survived,

and with little competition, that life evolved and grew in number, both in the plant and animal world. There is "life" in the deepest ocean, living in hot water just around the mouths of active volcanoes, so as the world above get hotter, the range of that life grow and they adapt to their new environs and eventually move to the upper ocean and onto land. Where were the predecessors of humans when the great dinosaurs reigned supreme on earth? My point through all of that we see as "life", to the earth is truly irrelevant, it spins each day and revolves around the Sun, while the conditions on it kills off some life, a lot of life in some cases, but makes other new lifeforms possible.

[magicarpet]

8. Another hidden cost that fell off the radar screen,...

....all the folks who got the Covidvirus. Their lung x-rays tell a grim story. Their lungs look like they may have life long and lasting damage from the virus locating in their lungs. Expect asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and much increased susceptibility to colds and flu. These folks lungs took a major beating. A Trillion or two of life long costs and lost productivity. They will get stuck with the med bills because the rules of preexisting conditions will void their health care insurance coverage.

[GeorgiaPeanut]

10. Like George Patton once said

You may have the best tanks, the best ammo and the best men but if you don't execute, you will lose battles and war.

Soldiers and leaders who execute well can overcome any other adversity.

[Blue_true]

11. People that want to tear government down or throw gobs and gobs of money at the Pentagon.

What this virus SHOULD show us is how expensive not building the soft social and scientific knowledge databases is. We can spend all the money we can find on weapon systems, microscopic organisms don't give a shit about our hot weapons, those weapons are useless against them, but well funded, dedicated scientists and social scientists mean the world to our economy and our survival when those organisms strike.

[mgardener]

17. The Republican Party

Needs to get rid of Trump.
They know it.
They had the opportunity with the impeachment.
They need to do something NOW.
Trump is a clear and present danger to the American people.

Republicans have a LOT to answer for.

[rickyhall]

18. The Republican Party needs to die, that's all thereis to it. It's too corrupt fix.

[RussBLib]

19. They wanted to shrink govt so much

They could drown it in a bath tub.

They shrunk it. And now the govt can't do anything right. And thousands are dying.

This is what happens when Republicans run things.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

20. And to add layers of insult to their very painful injury.....

right-wing governments around the globe are using this crisis to gain further power and to tear down hard-earned laws and regulations relating to worker safety, human rights and the environment.

For example, tRump's bunch is doing even more damage to the EPA's air standards in several areas under the guise of supporting jobs. This no doubt is at the bidding of their corporate sponsors.

KY..........