May 8, 2020

Just wear the stupid mask

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article242570136.html


Just wear the stupid mask | Raleigh News & Observer
By the Editorial Board
May 07, 2020 02:29 PM, Updated May 07, 2020 04:42 PM

snip//

Or, you can exercise your right not to go where they are required. But don’t whine about freedom when a retail store decides to take measures to protect employees and customers, as businesses have done for many decades. Don’t channel your inner Patrick Henry when your state or local government tells you masks are necessary at a beach or other public spaces.

Guess what? Government forces you to do a lot of things. If you don’t believe us, try this little experiment: Head over to your local grocery store wearing nothing but your freedom. Or try out that personal liberty line the next time you get pulled over for speeding or not wearing a seat belt. You’ll quickly get reminded that governments have always set the boundaries in which we live our lives.

We, in turn, have a voice about those rules and societal standards. We can vote for people who share our philosophy on them and government. We also can disagree with those who get elected, and we have the freedom to say the boundaries are wrong and work to change them. It’s all part of the messy pact we have with each other.

There’s another pact we have - or at least one we like to talk about. That’s a pact to care for and about each other, especially in times of hardship. But while there are many good people doing many good things in this coronavirus crisis, we wonder if this notion of rallying together is a bit of an American myth. It’s something we see in commercials and like on social media, yet so many of us are unwilling to do something as simple as cover our faces for a few months in public. Even worse, some of us are yelling at those who do.

Just wear the mask.

Yes, we get the resistance to coronavirus restrictions and stay at home orders (although we think those measures are necessary.) Jobs are being lost. Economies are getting hollowed out. There’s legitimate worry that our attentiveness to public health now will result in years of financial hardship. It’s a tension that’s worthy of exploration and debate.

But as someone you know likes to say, what have you got to lose with masks? Even if you believe the danger of COVID-19 is overplayed, there’s no question that it’s real. And if it is real, there’s no reason not to do your part to slow its spread, to protect yourself and your family and, yes, your fellow man and woman.

It really is that simple. It really costs you nothing. It really shouldn’t be partisan.

It’s a mask, not a statement. Wear it.

May 8, 2020

Stacey Abrams Says the Shooting of Ahmaud Arbery Was "Murder"

Exclusive: Stacey Abrams Says the Shooting of Ahmaud Arbery Was “Murder”
In a live broadcast with Mother Jones, the Democratic powerhouse also laid out her plan for fair elections in 2020.


In exclusive interview with Mother Jones on Thursday afternoon, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was clear about how she sees the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man: It’s “murder,” she said.


https://twitter.com/i/status/1258537256530444288
While the killing happened back in February, a Georgia prosecutor recommend a grand jury consider charges only earlier this week, after a video of the incident was made public. “That murder should be held to account and the murderer should as well,” said Abrams. “The way we get the justice we deserve is by electing people who believe we deserve that justice.”

more...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/05/exclusive-stacey-abrams-interview-ahmaud-arbery-murder-fair-elections/

May 8, 2020

Trump Death Clock: Times Square Billboard Tallies Lives Lost to COVID-19 Inaction

Trump Death Clock: Times Square Billboard Tallies Lives Lost to COVID-19 Inaction
StoryMay 08, 2020


A 56-foot billboard called the Trump Death Clock was unveiled in Times Square in New York City. The tally of lives lost to government inaction was created by filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, who says, “On behalf of all of those who needlessly lost their lives to this failed leadership in a pandemic, we need a symbol, a symbol that cries out not only for accountability, but also for more responsible and responsive stewardship, going forward.” As of the Friday morning broadcast, the death toll count was nearly 47,000 and growing.

more...

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/5/8/times_square_trump_death_clock_covid?

May 8, 2020

After Three Years, Who Are We Now? By Connie Schultz

https://www.creators.com/read/connie-schultz/05/20/after-three-years-who-are-we-now

After Three Years, Who Are We Now?
By Connie Schultz
May 7, 2020

snip//


If ever there were a time for self-reflection as Americans, it is now. Regardless of who we are supporting for president, we have changed in these three-and-a-half years of Trump's presidency.

Everyone notices, as Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole recently wrote with devastating clarity:



Who were you before Donald Trump lived in the White House? What did you expect from your leader, your president? What did you take for granted as you slid into bed and turned off the lights? What vile rhetoric did you assume would never be uttered by the leader of the free world?

How do you talk about the presidency now with your children and grandchildren? When is the last time you felt comfortable pointing to the television screen and saying to a child you love, "You could grow up to be president someday"?

Who were you before Donald Trump was elected?

Who are you now?

May 8, 2020

Frustrated doctors push administration to reveal which hospitals are getting remdesivir -- and why

How do I hate them? Let me count the ways... Sure as I'm sitting here, they're killing even more people.


Frustrated doctors push administration to reveal which hospitals are getting remdesivir — and why
About 25 hospitals have been approved to receive the drug, but doctors say it’s not clear how the government is making those decisions.
By ZACHARY BRENNAN
05/07/2020 07:17 PM EDT


Doctors across the country are demanding that the Trump administration explain how it is distributing the sole drug proven to help coronavirus patients to hospitals.

Physicians and infectious-disease experts say that the government has so far ignored some medical centers that are treating large numbers of coronavirus patients. The drug’s maker, Gilead, has donated an unspecified number of doses to the government, which has put HHS and FEMA in charge of doling out the drug to hospitals.

So far the rollout has been chaotic. About 25 hospitals have been approved to receive the drug, but doctors say it’s not clear how the government — through its contractor, AmerisourceBergen — is making those decisions. A spokesperson for the company said the administration is choosing which facilities receive the drug and how much they get.

Adding to the confusion, a senior HHS official told POLITICO that the government has not finalized its plan for distributing remdesivir.

That has frustrated doctors on the front lines of the pandemic. “The plan for distributing remdesivir should be transparent and should be based on state and regional Covid-19 case data and hospitalization rates,” the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association said in a letter Wednesday to Vice President Mike Pence.

Yet Boston Medical Center, its city’s largest public safety-net hospital, “got none,” Benjamin Linas, an epidemiologist at the hospital, tweeted on Wednesday. “We have the second highest absolute case count and highest per bed in Boston,” he wrote. “We also had no access to early trials. Today, the family of a dying patient asked me why we do not have RDV. What am I supposed to say?”

more...

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/07/trump-administration-remdesivir-hospitals-243833

May 8, 2020

2,100 people died/reported dead today.

11th Hour, Brian Williams.

How do we even keep track honestly?

May 8, 2020

Top Democrat demands 'immediate explanation' from Barr after Flynn case dropped

Top Democrat demands 'immediate explanation' from Barr after Flynn case dropped
By John Kruzel - 05/07/20 04:29 PM EDT


The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee demanded answers from Attorney General William Barr over the Justice Department’s decision to drop criminal charges against President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the “outrageous” move called for an “immediate explanation.” He added that the House Judiciary Committee, which Nadler chairs, would summon Barr to the Capitol as soon as possible, after a March hearing with the attorney general was postponed due to the pandemic and said later in a statement he would ask the Inspector General to investigate.

“Rest assured, we are going to reschedule that hearing, ASAP, and demand answers!” Nadler said on Twitter.

more...

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/496680-top-democrat-demands-immediate-explanation-from-barr-after-flynn

May 8, 2020

Dear America: Testing isn't necessary, unless you're meeting Trump. Then it's mandatory

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/7/1943402/-Dear-America-Testing-isn-t-necessary-unless-you-re-meeting-Trump-Then-it-s-mandatory

Dear America: Testing isn't necessary, unless you're meeting Trump. Then it's mandatory
Kerry Eleveld
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday May 07, 2020 · 3:21 PM EDT


Donald Trump doesn't see the value in doing too much coronavirus testing these days. "In a way, by doing all this testing we make ourselves look bad,” Trump said Wednesday. Besides, what's the point? The reopening is happening and a spike in deaths because of it "could very well be the case," as Trump put it. He's accepted death as a consequence of an economic reboot and so should America.

Except for when it comes to his personal health. Then exactly everyone who comes into contact with him simply must be tested. Asked Tuesday if he had any concerns about the health risks of traveling with an entourage of people to tour a Honeywell plant in Arizona, Trump laid out the mandatory testing regimen in exquisite detail.



Or they wouldn't be allowed to travel with me. Why? Because that would be too dangerous, naturally.

But the rest of America, they're "warriors" who don't need to be tested in Trump's estimation. Well, actually, he included himself in the warrior bit. “We have to be warriors,” Trump explained, for the sake of getting America back to work. “We can’t keep our country closed down for years.” (Actually, countries doing adequate testing and tracing are proving capable of reopening their economies and societies without risking a massive spike in deaths.)

In fact, the latest White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, kindly explained Wednesday that the need for increased testing among most Americans heading back to work was a "myth," even though absolutely everyone around Trump must be tested for the sake of safety.

snip//

In summation: Don't worry America, testing isn't necessary, except where it is necessary. And when real problems arise, Trump—operating out of the safest of safe cocoons—will use the DPA to force you back to work anyway. Because you're warriors ... er, um … or sacrificial lambs. Or whatever. But death is all a part of Trump’s master plan, anyway. So who needs tests? The numbers will just go up. We’ll know plenty when people drop dead. Again, it’s all in the plan. Trump’s got this.

May 7, 2020

"Old People Are All Hidden Away, Fearing For Their Lives"...

I am one.


“Old People Are All Hidden Away, Fearing For Their Lives”: Trump’s Coronavirus Mismanagement Is Alienating Seniors in a Crucial State
In Florida, Biden is up and Trump is slipping as older voters fault him for his messy pandemic response: “He changes his mind every three days.” The consequences for 2020 could be enormous.
By Ken Stern
May 7, 2020


Golf cart parades are a key part of the political pageantry of the Villages, a 130,000-resident retirement colossus in Sumter County, Florida, often perkily described as America’s fastest-growing hometown. It’s a charming tradition, as the golf carts, festooned with signs and patriotic bunting, proceed grandly down the quiet avenues of the community. But this year many of the established ways of turning out the vote—the golf cart parades, door knocking, massive Trump rallies—may be nixed due to social distancing restrictions, injecting a new note of uncertainty into a state that has raised political uncertainty to a rare art form.

Before coronavirus hit, Donald Trump was a modest favorite in Florida, a state considered critical to his political survival. Trump won Florida in 2016, albeit by the thin margins characteristic of the state, and Florida Republicans have long held significant advantages in organization and fundraising. But the president’s erratic handling of the pandemic and the relative popularity of Joe Biden have changed the political calculus. Recent polls have given the Democratic challenger a small but consistent lead—movement driven largely by shifting views among voters over the age of 65. Senior voters are always crucial, as they vote at higher rates than any other age group. But they’re particularly important in Florida, where they make up almost 21% of the population, a higher percentage than every other state except Maine. In the latest Quinnipiac poll for Florida, Biden held a 10-point lead among respondents over 65. It’s an astonishing figure, given that in 2016, Trump carried the state’s seniors by 17 points. Other recent polls haven’t quite matched the Quinnipiac numbers, but they have shown substantial movement among seniors toward Biden. Given that Trump won Florida by just nearly 113,000 votes, but carried seniors handily by some 330,000, even small shifts in senior voting could turn Florida blue in 2020.

The roots of senior discontent aren’t hard to find. Nora Patterson, a longtime Republican county commissioner and former mayor of Sarasota, told me that the “old people are all hidden away, fearing for their lives.” Florida has so far been spared the ravages of coronavirus compared to New York or New Jersey, two states that tend to feed Florida’s population, but concern remains high: According to the same Quinnipiac poll, 77% of seniors fear hospitalization for themselves or their family members. And seniors aren’t giving Trump high marks for his erratic handling of coronavirus. As Patterson put it to me, “I don’t know what to think about Trump because he changes his mind every three days.” In regard to the handling of the COVID-19 crisis, Trump’s polling numbers among seniors in Florida are not terrible in the abstract (50% disapprove, 47% approve), but they run 13 points behind those of Governor Ron DeSantis and far behind other governors. When asked who should decide when to lift stay-at-home orders, 86% of seniors picked state governors over the president. Most important, seniors now favor Biden over Trump by nine points when it comes to handling a crisis, largely because Biden’s reputation for steady leadership and truth-telling is significantly stronger than Trump’s.

more...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/trumps-coronavirus-mismanagement-is-alienating-florida-seniors

May 7, 2020

The Rude Pundit: Directions to Damnation: Donald Trump's Deranged Interview with ABC

https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/05/directions-to-damnation-donald-trumps.html

The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
5/06/2020
Directions to Damnation: Donald Trump's Deranged Interview with ABC


How fucking weird and disconcerting and downright disturbing was the interview President Donald Trump did with ABC anchor David Muir? The fact that they were propped awkwardly on tall chairs over 10 feet from each other on the factory floor of the Honeywell plant that makes masks for COVID-19 protection (and which Trump had toured without wearing a mask) was the least weird part of the whole thing.

I mean, of course, the entire thing was filled to the brim with lies and then more lies were thrown in until it was overflowing with lies and then a dam of lies broke which flooded the entire valley with lies and, since the valley was filled with Trump voters, they were happy to drown in his lies.

snip//

However, for the pinnacle of batshit, the acme of assholishness, you gotta go to when Muir tried to get Trump to offer compassion to the families of people who died. "What do you want to say to those families tonight?" he asked.

And Trump really responded, "I want to say: 'I love you.'" That's some creepy fuckery right there. He reiterated, "We love you," and then, no shit, added, "And we want them -- you can never really come close to replacing, when you've lost some -- no matter how well we do next year, I think our economy is going to be raging. It's going to be so good. No matter how well, those people can never ever replace somebody they love. But we're going to have something that they're going to be very proud of."

Do you get what he's saying? "You lost your dad to this disease I did pretty much jackshit to try to slow down, but, hey, aren't you proud of how the economy is just raging along?" Do you get how devoid of humanity that is? How fucking sociopathic? It's like a thief saying, "I stole all your shit and fucked up your life and sense of safety in the world, but, man, you got a cool new TV out of the deal. So we're good, right?"

Trump is frantically trying to talk himself out of any blame for this goddamned disaster. Muir asked him good questions but bumblefucked the follows ups (Jesus, stop letting him get away with shitting on Obama about coronavirus tests that didn't exist). The whole thing just feels like we're on an increasingly short road to national damnation, a sense that if Trump's going down, he's gonna take the rest of us with him.