Comments

1

Really quite sick of The Stranger to spread rumors that Biden has the coronavirus.

2

It's completely irresponsible to spread false rumors about Joe Biden, no matter what you may think of him. C'mon.

3

Absolutely.
Joe Biden's staff insists the hacking cough and fever are just seasonal allergies and I believe them

4

Did no one hear Dow Constantine when he said "it is time, right now, for people to assume that they and everyone they meet is infected"? I must assume you have it, too, Raindrop.

5

So it's equally fair to assume Bernie Sanders has it too, yes? Is that why he missed out on voting? Everyone else who didn't vote on the relief package was being quarantined....so I guess Bernie has it too.

6

Dow said everyone, Tiger Lily.

7

@4: Of course. But to extrapolate that prudent general health guideline into a sensationalist lead-in about an individual (and very important political figure) is another thing, don't you think?

Words matter. You can't assume that your readership has all the context unless you provide it.

8

If you look extra close at the coronavirus under an electron microscope, those little red pips are actually nanoscipic MAGA hats.

9

Nanoscopic. Why my phone autocorrected to nanoscipic is beyond me.

11

@10 a few days? no it takes 14 days to show symptoms after exposure and no one knows how long to recover. trump is already calling for an end to social distancing just as it's starting to work.

12

@11: 2-14 days, just to be clear https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

13

I've got an idea on how to deal with this virus--hear me out now--how about lowering taxes for billionaires?

15

@13 Bro, that idea is old news. We all know that most problems can be fixed with tax cuts. Its been beat into us since Regan.
Teen moms and unemployment are the only problems that can be fixed with bootstraps.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/03/10/43107252/covid-19-infections-spread-to-more-than-10-seattle-area-nursing-homes/comments/1

16

@15: Yes. Tax cutting is an old idea. Long before Reagan. Can you say "JFK"?

17

@16 FTF

18

Don't be too surprised when many of these liberties that we're begging our leaders to suspend are slow to return when the pandemic recedes. History isn't lacking for examples of freedoms rescinded during times of emergency that don't come back afterward. But hey, our main priority right now is to protect vulnerable Boomers, who are all about self-preservation, no matter what.

19

Joe Biden gave a speech from his home today. He looked and sounded fine, and no one--not one person--has offered any credible evidence he is suffering from the coronavirus. Nor is there any credible evidence Bernie Sanders is suffering from it, either. When some genuinely credible evidence emerges regarding either of them, then, fine, raise suspicions. Until then, let's focus on issues, not snarky rumor-mongering. Meanwhile, Amy Klobuchar is having a very hard time dealing with the inability to be beside her husband. That's tough for anyone--all best wishes to her and anyone dealing with a loved one infected by the virus.

20

@19, Few, if any, of us believe Senile Uncle Joe has the virus. What we have said is that he's a coward who is incapable of showing leadership when it is needed. The Democratic Establishment is yet again passing up on a chance to significantly weaken the Republican PArty, and is instead twiddling their thumbs, and blocking Republican corporate bailouts, without countering with a progressive plan of their own to directly aid the working class.

22

UPDATE: Generation that regularly shits on millennials for eating Tide Pods is eating fish tank additive in an attempt to cure Corona virus resulting in death.

23

Another 15 dead in WA today, bringing us to 110. Only another 225 cases though, so with luck we're starting to decelerate a little (yesterday was 205 new cases).

24

Bernie's heart literally couldnt handle the stress of a primary campaign but sure let's give Joe shit. Cant wait to see how The Stranger staff justifies helping Trump win reelection by pointlessly supporting a losing candidate.

25

@23 We have no idea how many new cases there are, they aren't testing lots of people believed to have the symptoms, One testing facility said they had the capacity to test 1000 a day, and only tasted 11.

26

@25 Agree. I tend to look mostly at death rates (as grim as that is), since it's a pretty solid number. But confirmed cases (even though it's missing a lot of cases) is a leading indicator for said death rate.

27

Significant jump in resolved cases. % of deaths down to 14% of the resolved cases.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Still, more cases and the USA today than yesterday.

Meanwhile, Italy's mayors are losing their shit and yelling at people who are too stupid to stay inside as directed: https://twitter.com/protectheflames/status/1241696164782669824

28

Yes. Lucky you guys have a Democratic Congress. That bailout package is disgraceful! Get on the phone to your Congress people..
Thanks for keeping it moving along Chase and the Stranger. Legends, all of you.

29

Politics at the moment is trump and his bunch of greedy losers, so focus there. Jesus. Fighting over Bernie/ Joe, now? If either of them get it, being older folk, then we know the stats. So wish them both good health and do what has to be done to deal with the rabble in charge.

31

You should go grab a free burrito, Prof.

32

Lots of us love this paper, @30. You’re free to disengage.

33

@30: If you're sincere and actually feel that way, then that's your very last comment. Good bye prof.

34

Never Bernie Sanders. Never.

35

People's knowledge is only as "good'' as their sources:

“Rupert Murdoch Put His Son in Charge of Fox. It Was a Dangerous Mistake.”

“The 48-year-old Lachlan Murdoch stood by as Fox News hosts played down the danger of the deadly coronavirus to their viewers . . . for two crucial weeks in late February and early March, powerful Fox hosts talked about the ’real’ story of the coronavirus: It was a Democratic- and media-led plot against President Donald J. Trump.

Hosts and guests, speaking to Fox’s predominately elderly audience, repeatedly played down the threat of what would soon become a deadly pandemic.

The person who could have stopped the flow of misinformation was Ms. Scott’s boss, Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of the Fox Corporation. But he wasn’t paying much attention.

The 48-year-old heir to his family’s media fortune was focused instead on buying a streaming company called Tubi for $440 million, a person who has spoken to him said. The acquisition would drive 'long-term growth,' he proudly announced in a news release on March 17.

That same day, the number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 5,600.”

Murdoch's Covering his Bottom Line
was more Important than any
impending Pandemic

Therefore they're
Culpable.

END Fascist Ownership
of OUR Airwaves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/business/coronavirus-fox-news-lachlan-murdoch.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

36

@30 -- precisely the Trolls wish as well.

Shutting down Free Speech
(always they accuse the Left of)
is how Fascism thrives.

See: Fake "prez."

37

Trump and its lackeys are the major disaster.
@30:ProfessorHistory: Take care, Prof. The Stranger is the only decent news the Seattle area has left.
@36 kristofarian: For the WIN! Agreed and seconded.

38

Trump just confirmed its wish not to get rebought into the White Trash House. You read it here, folks---no racism. Terminal MAGAs--especially those of you in the process of losing everything, including family, loved ones and all your possessions, please take note.

39

And, yeah, thank God for Uncle Joe Biden*
(currently leading The Way the Fawk Outta This Mess)
[taking the Bull by the Horn] [so to speak?]
oh. wait--

So, this is how Joe's gonna Win the next Election
(should we happen to Have one) by keeping mum?

Where IS your Guy?
What the Fuck's he up to?

Or, perhaps he's just waiting patiently
for the right circumstances to pop up...

Hello, Donnie?!
Hello Donnie II:
The Retributions

does Joe want us to
Vote by Mail? or
what

*not a whole lotta TIME left
if he Does

40

@30
I'll be making another donation to the Stranger!
Hint: If you run out of TP - use the Seattle Times!

41

Adios, House.
HELL-oh
Fascism.

44

@39: No, it can't be cancelled. Please stop fear mongering - we're a little stressed out right now.

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/21/21188152/trump-cancel-november-election-constitution-coronavirus

45

@40 pat L: Good idea to keep donating to The Stranger. Agreed and seconded. Obviously, we've long run out of the toilet paper with Trump's ugly face printed on it. I have a strong feeling that TP company can't get it out fast enough.
@39 & @41 kristofarian: Please stop scaring me, kris. I'm trying to remain healthy and calm.

46

Then there's the full color Sunday edition Doonesbury cartoon with Zipper in a tattoo parlor. He sees a hot design he'd like to have done, based on someone he met in a bar who went by the name of "Thumbellina" (according to the bartender).
The tattoo artist recommends that Zipper sleep on it, explaining that the only thing worse than the pain and expense of getting a tattoo is the pain and expense of getting it removed.
'And if you DON'T have it removed you'll have a saggy swath of gray skin stained with cheesy art in the name of a huge mistake.'
Zipper asks the tat artist if he actually worked there.
The tattoo artist replies, "I see the remorse, man. I've done a lot of Trumps."

Thank you and bless you, Garry Trudeau. Keep it up.

47

The Election "cannot be cancelled"?
(they gotta ask you first?)

So, your'e saying they're (Smokin' Joe and the 'D'NC're) Working Hard on making sure All states can Vote By Mail? Or, this'll all Blow Over by November?

too much blind Faith
and not enough Questions
Fuck off rainy.

48

@15 It's really amazing that after pushing that huge tax cut through two years ago, and having us all watch how Big Biz used that money to buy back stocks, increase CEOs' salaries and executives' bonuses, AND ADDING NO JOBS, the GOP has the gall to try to use a pandemic to push through yet another hand-out to the richest people, while denying loans to nonprofits that serve the elderly; the disabled; rape crisis and women health clinics; and people suffering from amental illnesses. Horrible, horrible people! And ALL of them except the ones in self quarantine voted for this! Susan Collins is as much a liar and fraud as Trump. Centrist my ass! So hope her job after November is a Fox News contributor! First she sent a God-damned RAPIST to the highest court in the land for a LIFE appointment, now this travesty of a $500 BILLION secret slush fund which Trump can grab for his ugly hotels and golf courses.

49

Apologies, auntie Gee -- what about my comment frightens you?

I'm lookng for A Leader on the Left
and not seeing them. Where are they?

50

I don't always pay close attention to the comments, but is Professor_Hiztory (@30, @nauseum) pretending to be ProfessorHistory? Is the old ProfessorHistory banned or retired or something?

51

@iseult -- so True.

There are Alternatives:
from Amy Goodman's AWESOME "Democracy Now!":

"'Coronavirus Capitalism': Naomi Klein’s Case for
Transformative Change Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

AMY GOODMAN: Today we spend much of the hour looking at the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, what some are calling coronavirus capitalism. Soon we’ll be joined by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, whose new book is People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent.

But first we begin with a new video by author and activist Naomi Klein, produced by The Intercept. In 2007, Klein wrote The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Now she argues Trump’s plan is a pandemic shock doctrine, but it’s not the only way forward.

The video opens with this quote from economist Milton Friedman, who says, “Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.”

NAOMI KLEIN: 'Ideas that are lying around.' Friedman, one of history’s most extreme free market economists, was wrong about a whole lot, but he was right about that. In times of crisis, seemingly impossible ideas suddenly become possible.

But whose ideas? Sensible, fair ones, designed to keep as many people as possible safe, secure and healthy?

Or predatory ideas, designed to further enrich the already unimaginably wealthy while leaving the most vulnerable further exposed? The world economy is seizing up in the face of cascading shocks."

Tons more at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/19/naomi_klein_coronavirus_capitalism

52

One more wee snippet

"NAOMI KLEIN: The Fed’s first move was to pump $1.5 trillion into the financial markets, with more undoubtedly on the way. But if you’re a worker, especially a gig worker, there’s a very good chance you’re out of luck.

If you do need to see a doctor for care, there’s a good chance no one’s going to help you pay if you aren’t covered. And if you want to heed the public health warnings to stay home from work, there’s also a chance that you won’t get paid.

Of course, you still need to pay your rent and all of your debts — medical, student, credit card, mortgage. The results are predictable. Too many sick people have no choice but to go to work, which means more people contracting and spreading the virus.

And without comprehensive bailouts for workers, we can expect more bankruptcies and more homelessness down the road.

Look, we know this script. In 2008, the last time we had a global financial meltdown, the same kinds of bad ideas for no-strings-attached corporate bailouts carried the day, and regular people around the world paid the price.

And even that was entirely predictable. Thirteen years ago, I wrote a book called The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, described a brutal and recurring tactic by right-wing governments.

After a shocking event — a war, coup, terrorist attack, market crash or natural disaster — they exploit the public’s disorientation, suspend democracy, push through radical free market policies that enrich the 1% at the expense of the poor and middle class.

But here is what my research has taught me. Shocks and crises don’t always go the shock doctrine path. In fact, it’s possible for crisis to catalyze a kind of evolutionary leap. Think of the 1930s, when the Great Depression led to the New Deal."

53

@47: Yeah, the ol' "blind faith" retort. So malleable, and so handy when cornered.

54

Okay, last one: "NAOMI KLEIN: Look, we know what Trump’s plan is: a pandemic shock doctrine, featuring all the most dangerous ideas lying around, from privatizing Social Security to locking down borders to caging even more migrants.

Hell, he might even try canceling elections. But the end of this story hasn’t been written yet. It is an election year. And social movements and insurgent politicians are already mobilized.

And like in the 1930s, we have a whole bunch of other [Excellent] ideas lying around."

There IS Hope.

55

@53 -- "If you want a quick summary of the state of play over fiscal stimulus legislation, here it is: Republicans insist that we should fight a plague with trickle-down economics and crony capitalism.

Democrats, for some reason, don’t agree, and think we should focus on directly helping Americans in need.

And if legislation is stalled, as it appears to be as I write this (although things change fast when we’re on Covid time), it’s because Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is holding needy Americans hostage in an attempt to blackmail Democrats into giving Donald Trump a $500 billion slush fund.

But righ now Republicans seem dead set on exploiting a crisis their own president helped create by his refusal to take the pandemic seriously."
--Dr. Paul Krugman, nyt

Where the Fuck's OUR (Lefty) Lion?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/republicans-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

56

1 on the list of non-essential employees in this country is Trump himself. Get rid of him and the country improves 1000% INSTANTLY.

57

@48 iseult: SO true. Agreed and ---wait--thirded after kristofarian.
@49 kristofarian: "Smokin' Joe [Biden] doesn't have much time left"? "Goodbye, House, Hello, fascism"? Yes, I found such commenting, however disquietingly true, rather hard to read.
I just got a letter about the billing for my current VA PTSD mental health services, and am feeling stressed out. There's a possibility that I might not have any healthcare available at all by my next birthday. I have only been able to receive the healthcare I need finally over the last two years and don't want to lose it.
Did you and others read my comment @46, a quote from a Garry Trudeau Sunday cartoon edition of Doonesbury?
@53: Rainy, Rainy, Rainy..........is it really getting that dank, dark, and claustrophobic for you in your mother's fruit cellar?
@55 kristofarian: I'd volunteer to be a Lefty Lion(ess), but I am on anti-depressants and have a severe allergy to RepubliKKKans.

58

@56 xina for the WIN!! I appoint you as our Lefty Lioness.

59

Joe Biden isn't a centrist. He's a fucking Republican.
Of the entire Democratic field, only two candidates were to the left of Dwight Eisenhower and Biden wasn't one of them.

62

How’s everyone doing?

63

@59: Then you're obviously going to vote for Trump if Biden is a Republican because Trump sure isn't a Republican. Never was.

64

@55: Off-topic. We were arguing about something else.

66

@62: We're all hanging on. Hope you're doing OK.

67

Even when he's pretending to be against racism, his mindset reveals itself. "They" are working closely with "us?" Who's they? Who's us? You just said "Asian-Americans." They is us!

68

@63 We can all have our various opinions on that. However, Trump would never have been able to inflict this much damage, pain and misery on our country without the GOP's lock-step condoning, enabling, excusing, lying, covering-up, distorting truth and reality, AND enacting his cruel, inhumane Corporate America First agenda and policies at the expense of the middle class, the poor, and other nations. The Republicans elected a sociopath who has NO FRIENDS - and therefore no empathy, no compassion, no morals, no use for truth and honesty, no principles except that of cheating and stealing from others to enrich himself - and for the last 3 years+ have been more than ecstatic to gorge at the Trump tax-cut-trough. Even now they are using this crisis to blatantly enrich the big corporations, to protect their stock portfolio and their wealth, while denying help to nonpofits that serve the most vulnerable - the disabled, the mentally ill, the elderly, the poorest of us all - those who are suffering the most because of their policies!

So it doesn't matter what you call Trump. HE.IS.THE.REPUBLICAN.PARTY.NOW! And clearly the GOP are 100% behind him every step of the way, EVERY.FUCKING.DAY!

Helping the American people should not be just a Democratic Party's goal. Especially when this help is to be enacted by using money paid in by the middle class and the poor, while the rich and the corporations they run have been successfully evading paying any taxes since Reagan! We even KNOW for sure that Trump himself paid NO TAXES for at least a decade by using tax loopholes to claim unproven losses.

Don't try to excuse the Republican Party, this crisis is totally on the GOP.

OWN.IT!

69

This man is truly evil! Open by Easter. He’s howling at the wind.

70

I’m ok raindrop. My daughter and her partner, they just been stood down. Many people in my area work for hospitality, so it’s chaos as they now all try to register for unemployment benefits.
It’s true what Iseult says.

72

Trump wants people to die. He truly does. Meanwhile more COVID-19 cases from a party held at his property in Los Angeles. His properties seem to be hot spots no matter where they are. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE FILTHY.

It's really simple, people. If we declare life go back to normal and everyone goes back to their jobs if they still exist, millions more will get sick. Our hospitals, already overwhelmed with no protective equipment, not enough beds, and no where near enough ventilators will be so overwhelmed sick people will simply die in their homes.

As more and more people get sick and die how many restaurants and hotels and all other entities now shut down do you think people will flock to and patronize? Will cruise ships suddenly be full again and air travel bounce back to 100%? I mean the rest of the world is shutting their shit down, so where are people going to be flying to?

Trump and his minions LITERALLY said people should be willing to die, to sacrifice their lives for him and his desire to get back to business as usual. Who wants to go first? I mean where are all of the Evangelicals who think Trump is their savior? Why aren't they raising their hands and stepping up to go first?

This psychotic, deranged shit bag has destroyed everything he has come into contact with since he slithered into the WH. I refuse to die for him and I refuse to kill my mother for him.
I want to be alive when that motherfucker dies and I hope he dies a horrific, slow, painful, terrifying death, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HE WANTS ME TO DO.

73

72
You really should get some help.
Do you have any real-world friends you could talk to?

74

This is what Trump wants to happen here:
Coronavirus: Spanish army finds care home residents 'dead and abandoned'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52014023

Spanish soldiers helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic have found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in their beds, the defence ministry has said.

The virus is spreading very fast in Spain - the second worst-hit European country after Italy.

On Tuesday, the health ministry announced that the number of deaths had risen by 514 in the past 24 hours - a daily record.

A total of 2,696 people have now died and there are 39,637 confirmed cases.

75

Trump push to reopen businesses will kill a lot of people—and that will be bad for the economy, too
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/24/1930673/-Trump-push-to-reopen-businesses-will-kill-a-lot-of-people-and-that-will-be-bad-for-the-economy-too

As Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tweeted Monday as Trump’s push to abandon social distancing drew attention, “Anyone advising the end of social distancing now, needs to fully understand what the country will look like if we do that. COVID would spread widely, rapidly, terribly, could kill potentially millions in the yr ahead with huge social and economic impact across the country.” But Republicans would rather pretend for now that that won’t happen than make the changes needed to confront the pandemic as best we can.

Republicans are looking to increase not just the number of deaths but the speed with which they mount, and the economic benefits being promised in exchange are seriously exaggerated. Coronavirus means we will not have the economy that we had six weeks ago, even if we say “just let them die.”

76

NEW YORK GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: FEMA says we’re sending 400 ventilators. Really? What am I going to do with 400 ventilators when I need 30,000. You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators.

78

Is there a website that graphs just Washington State's new cases curve? can seem to find that and I'm very curious to view graphic data re is our curve flattening or not. If you can post a link it's appreciated.

79

"Trump Wants Huge Numbers of People To Die, To Restore Corporate Profits".

Might as well just say it.

81

@76, and Cuomo is so mad he thought he was getting 4000 ventilators. It's actually 29,600 people that will die if NYS needs 30,000 ventilators and only gets 400.

82

63: Fuck this lame-ass RINO bullshit. If 90 percent of the party is pro-Trump, Trump is the leader of the Republicans full stop. The problem you never Trumpers have is that you can't accept the fact that the GOP has not been about small government, fiscal responsibility, or free trade for 40 years. Since the 1980s it's been a dog-whistling party of religious zealots, xenophobes, anti-feminists, hawks and racists. All that small government bullshit was just their smokescreen for gutting the social safety net, environmental and labor protections, and big business regulations, all with the goal of making big money and placating their base through marginalization of poor/working people and minorities. At some point the rank-and-file bigots they cultivated took over the asylum.

Trump is the first Republican to run on the platform and rhetoric of the rank-and-file, talk-radio-listening "conservative." Republican voters have had a steady diet of Trumpian rhetoric for 30 years now via talk radio. The shit Limbaugh listeners supported in the 90s is the shit Trump is doing now. Sooner or later you're gonna have to accept the fact that Eisenhower-style conservatism doesn't exist in the Republican party anymore. The John Birch wing won.

Never Trumpers are trying to pull that RINO shit because they believe they're gonna somehow take over the Republican party after Trump goes away and will need to rebrand the party, put it back in the closet so to speak. And the way the right does that is calling the unpopular president a RINO.

83

The real Easter miracle would be putting Trump in an empty cave behind a big stone. A really big stone. A perfect stone.

84

Someone lock up the guns at Xina’s place.

85

Going forward, if you must post a pointless Trump tweet, then also post the reply by Jeff Tiedich @ItsJeffTiedich

For instance "ideally, you want the President of the United States, the Mayor of Crazytown and the village idiot to be three different people"

86

White supremacists and nazi sympathizers have long been in favor of letting the "unfit" die while they hide away and repopulate the world in their own twisted image as "Children of the Sun." They really believe in this and have need advocating subtle normalization of these attitudes, only now that their hands are forced they have their cheerleaders like Dan Goeb who isnt even a native Texan telling people to put their them and vicariously the false Republican Jesus who is anything but. The only way out of this is going to be New Deal esque policies that keep people working and productive for the common good. The full faith and credit is unsustainable when the economy sits on a throne of lies and falsified ratings to give the global elite all our taxes for them to horde offshore like so much toilet paper.

87

https://youtu.be/1o6-bi3jlxk

These are the people whispering in Trump's ears.

88

Just ignore me. Ffs.

89

@78, I was asking in a recent thread about the daily deaths in WA, and someone referred me to:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m4Uxht9mn3BlMu5zq7EB5Ud05GhMLwawvuZuNqXg8vg/htmlview#gid=927112079

You also might want to check:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/21/upshot/coronavirus-deaths-by-country.html

90

88

Your comments are some of the best ones.

91

@90. Thank you, but I worry at times that in my desperation for action I can do more harm than good. It shouldn't be this hard to get a concerted response from the government whose duty first and foremost is to protect the governed with their consent and with due haste.

92

91

I feel your pain, Garb. Hang in there. Despair is not an option.

93

@89 thanks for the spreadsheet. More positive cases but also more tests. But then again I think they're still testing people mostly who are showing symptoms. Looks to me like we're on the rise still, but not crazy sharply on the rise. Hopefully a lot of people being a lot more careful for about a week so far will result in some better numbers soon.

94

@92. Thank you very very much. đź‘Š

95

"However, we [KUOW fm 94.9, one of several local NPR affiliates] will not be airing the [trump daily Big Lie] briefings live due to a pattern of false or misleading information provided that cannot be fact checked in real time."

Well Done.
Shouldda done this Day ONE.

Sinclair Broadcasting owns what, a thousand, or so,
U.S. radio/teevee stations -- do they believe
trump walks on water too? Just put out there
whatever Fake 'prez' spews and what . . .
keep the Faith & good luck? That
should be Illegal. Lies in time of
Pandemic. And were it Obama?

That, they know how to handle.

96

@auntie Gee -- sorry to hear you may lose your Healthcare
that TOTALLY Sux. We need Medicare for ALL ASAP.

but Where's Joe? Why isn't he Out Front on this shit?
He giving trump all the Headlines and trump is so fucking WRONG on So Many Things and where's our Joe -- he should be Hammering the mofo.

By 'too late' for Joe I'm referring to How many more Opportunities will he be getting? They don't show up solely when you happen to want them; and he's letting a Golden one pass by right now. He's not out there, inspiring the Electorate while trump makes a total ASS/FOOL of himself and is, really, quite Vulnerable; and if his current no-show is any indication, and we're not in the trump Recession / Depression, I see a whole Lotta Rs Nov 4th, everywhere. Planet fucking Wide.

So, I'm not currently Elated -- but that is what I'm seeing. I'm sorry if it upsets you. It upsets me too.

98

So if all these people die, who will fly/ take vacations/ go on cruise ships/ buy consumer goods?
The GOP is beyond delusional if they our consumer-based economy is somehow going to benefit if everyone is going Soylent Green.

99

@96 -- Joe Biden is not the president -- nor is he a senator. He holds no official position, and has no official power. He isn't the official Democratic nominee, and he isn't even the presumed nominee. Sanders is still officially a candidate, and (last time I checked) has not suspended his campaign.

There is no reason for Biden to say anything. There is very little to be gained by saying anything. By all means, senators like Sanders and Warren should speak up -- that is their job, as senators. But Biden can just keep his mouth shut, and bide his time until the election gets closer. At this point, it is a loser's game. He is far more likely to hurt his campaign than help it. I don't mean that as a critique of him in particular, that is true of everyone. John McCain was one of the most successful, well loved candidates who ever ran for office, but he did himself no favors when he claimed that "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." It was something a president might say, to calm everyone. But it was a huge blow to his campaign. Biden is much better off laying low, and saying very little.

100

"He is far more likely to hurt his campaign than help it."

Well, I think you nailed it.

But I remain disappointed.
And UN-inspired. And front-runner
(assumed victor) Biden passing up this
Golden Opportunity? NOT inspiring, but
like you say, It's still Early. I pray it's not too late.

101

An example: from "How Cuomo, Once on Sidelines, Became the Politician of the Moment"

"Mr. Cuomo was once considered a bit player on the national stage, an abrasive presence who made his share of enemies among his Democratic Party peers. He was too much of a pragmatist for his party’s progressive wing, too self-focused for party leaders and too brusque for nearly everyone.

But now, he is emerging as the party’s most prominent voice in a time of crisis.

His briefings — articulate, consistent and often tinged with empathy — have become must-see television. On Tuesday, his address was carried live on all four networks in New York and a raft of cable news stations, including CNN, MSNBC and even Fox News.

In a sign of the way Mr. Cuomo has become the face of the Democratic Party in this moment, his address even pre-empted an appearance by former Vice President Joseph Biden on ABC’s 'The View' in New York.

Mr. Cuomo’s handling of the crisis has fostered a nationwide following; Mr. Biden called Mr. Cuomo’s briefings a 'lesson in leadership,' and others have described them as communal therapy sessions. The same blunt and sometimes paternalistic traits that have long rubbed his critics raw have morphed into a source of comfort."

Hmmm ... Cuomo appears to have as good a shot
(in a brokered convention) as Biden and possibly Sanders.
Stay the fuck Tuned.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/nyregion/governor-andrew-cuomo-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

102

@100: Just go watch one of the interviews Joe has given today.

103

@101 just going to throw this out there: i lived in nyc on 9/11 and suddenly giuliani who had always been reviled by new yorkers seemed sane and calm and reasonable (but look at him today, INSANE).

i lived in nys when cuomo was elected governor (the first time) and then he turned around and stabbed all of the democrats in the back by enabling the coup in the legislature by the republicans and a bunch of fake democrats just like him. despite what gun nuts believe, cuomo has governed like a republican governor. he may be doing a great job dealing with the absolutely terrifying reality of COVID-19 decimating the city and state of new york. there is no way in hell i'd vote for cuomo for president. his father was a far better man and governor. i lived in nys when he was governor.

trump is a total shit show of such epic proportion anyone, truly, ANYONE (well, maybe not giuliani) seems sane next to him. he is pscyhotic and deranged and hell bent on literally burning the entire country to the ground and leaving nothing but ash before he gets out. trump vs. cuomo right now is about nys going after trump for his crimes (he keeps forgetting that letiticia james is the attorney general and she files the lawsuits, not cuomo). but trump has to engage in a game of "i know i have a micropenis but i'm going to humiliate you if i can" every time he is dealing with anyone whose lips are not sucking shit out of his ass (like pence at every press conference). this is why he laughed at the governor of massachusetts who said the feds kept outbidding him on PPE supplies (specifically masks) and smirked when he heard rand paul had exposed mitt romney (whose wife has MS) to COVID-19.

i really, really, REALLY don't understand why anyone has not taken trump out yet. he wants old people to die? he's 73 and bat shit insane. he can go first.

104

@103: Yes, the current situation is unsatisfactory if not disturbing. But I don't think a murder or a coup would be appropriate as our primary focus is to defeat the coronavirus.

106

@96 kristofarian: After making some phone calls, I am not totally sure I'll actually lose my healthcare. Government letters can be confusing, if not intimidating in the wording. I am now waiting for the VA to contact me about a referral in my program to continue my mental health therapy services for service-connected PTSD.

107

@104 you seem to have forgotten that after 8pm on SLOG it's open season to howl.for political assassinations. After 10pm political mass murder is permissible.

Then pass out drunk on cheap wine, wake up hung over at 9:45am to not go to the job you don't have (and didn't have before Coronavirus). Until 12pm we feign rational pragmatism. 12-4pm is bitter projection of personal problems we created for ourselves onto loosely defined boogeymyn (both individual and institutional) in the name of defending the downtrodden. 4-8pm is manic panic posting doomsday diatribes, with links!

And then we are back again to howling for political assassination!

108

34 Bernie gave/gives people hope. What planet are you on?

Thank you Stranger for endorsing him. Business as usual doesn’t work for the 99%.

BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE NOT THE ELITE.

109

Biden and Klobuchar who have been mentioned in this thread are deeply corrupt and flawed.
Throughout their careers they have used their opportunities to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers.

Biden - the Crime Bill which caused many poor people to spend years in prisons due to the drug war. Also his attacks on social security which were relentless to reduce payments.
Amy Klobuchar - who worked hard to put away poor black youth by using PAID INFORMANTS as evidence to incarcerate them. Why would you promote these people? They are not friends to ordinary people. Grow up.

110

And you let them get away with it.

111

Rainy your primary focus is your fucked up view of the world not to make it better.

112

@109 Shame voters don’t agree with you. But carry on with wishful thinking.

@107 Best post so far.

113

@111: I just hope you feel better now that you've vented. And if you feel better, that's a better world, is it not?

114

@109 perchance we promote Biden because American Democrats, led by a massive coalescence of African Americans, have overwhelmingly selected him, and the alternative is Donald Trump? Or are all those people idiots, and Donald Trump a better choice?


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