NYC parks could become 'temporary’ burial sites as coronavirus deaths increase:
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-new-city-parks-burial-20200406-4vxvowhtk5f45brouqd32s7iau-story.html

3

They're getting their talking points/marching orders now for the movement of that goalpost. Don't worry. They'll all be here shortly mimicking the same nonsense.

Be like the Queen, not the sniveling Ladies of Slog.

Keep a stiff upper lip.

@4 German Sausage: Any chance BoJo can pass it on to Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Brett Kavanugh, and Mitch McConnell? @7's already dying of MAGAvirus.

@1 -- That was my first thought as well, but I'm a Yank. To Brits -- especially those of a certain age -- it has a completely different meaning. It was popular when Britain faced its darkest hour, which is why it is referenced in the Kinks song, Mr. Churchill Says.

7: Boris Johnson's poor decisions early on cost lives. And it's ridiculous to wag a finger at people taking joy in Boris' suffering because ultimately his entire political career was predicated dehumanizing other people. So yeah, I won't laugh about it but I won't be crying about it either.

14: The guy you're defending has very little empathy. I mean. do you have concept of who Boris Johnson is or are you just concern trolling?

Just because someone is famous and has a measure of power doesn't mean they deserve some special empathy.

People who build their political careers on opportunistically trashing other people probably deserve a certain amount of shit in their lives.

It whips ass that you can give the president money and he will say your drug cures everything then when someone takes it and dies we all laugh.

@14 &@18: Scared shitless yet? You should be.You and your fellow MAGA trolls are going down fast. I wouldn't gloat if I were you.
@21: The MAGAvirus really must have hit you hard, too.

@22 You seem nice.

When this is all over, I hope we will realize that we should thank our low density single-family neighborhoods. Looking at New York, I think we can safely say the Density Brigade in Seattle is toast.

Maybe I'm just not easily amused, but I don't see the humor or satisfaction of wishing cartoon viruses, much less Codiv-19, on people.

Knowing or even imagining the horrors of being sick with fever and gasping for breath, I wouldn't even want to joke about this virus being inflicted on anyone, including Donald Trump.

"Deserves to die"

Nobody with any morality can utter these words. The death penalty doesn't give you an out on that as that is crime and punishment, not hate and bigotry. And I concur that the death penalty is immoral. Gratuitous vengeance is unbecoming to those of us who care about all of humanity and that includes our political adversaries including Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Grow up Garb. Rise to the intellect we all thought you had.

It’s me! The guy who thinks civility means you get to put kids in cages and take away medicine from poor people as long as you do it without using any salty language. I live on the moon and eat moon rocks. I am a very serious and caring person. I’m here to nuthug the people who really need it like Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, the trump trust fund kids and Dick Cheney.

Poor Leftists.
Souls rotted out by hatred.
Clinging to a morally bankrupt blatantly erroneous ever failing philosophy.
Angry, bitter, resentful, envyous, stewing in their toxic bile;
unable to see that their evil will never make them happy.

@32: For defense.

Nevertheless Boris Johnson is an immoral oaf. Impregnating his girlfriend outside the covenant of holy matrimony. A great embarrassment to the Queen.

But I hope he recovers.

@34: Which is for defense as well. I know what you're trying to do, and it isn't working. Trying to find a constitutional hook to hang your immoral hat on doesn't work.

@37: I can concur with that -- with a caveat on your last sentence, and given the most extreme circumstances and a threat to our republic, is essentially the reason for the second amendment to save us from tyranny.

Good job Garb.

Boris Johnon is nasty and vile. He's not no a ventilator, though (that's the official story anyway) so he'll probably survive to return and sow his misery on as many people as possible before his time in power is over. After all, Brexit is coming up and that is going to wreak a hell of a lot of havoc on top of the chaos caused by COVID-19.

https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-record-sexist-homophobic-and-racist-comments-bumboys-piccaninnies-2019-6

The president is telling people to use an untested drug from a company he owns part of to cure a disease they may not have but somebody has to Stan for him I guess.

@40: I've never said anything to suggest that the Trump administration shouldn't be held accountable. Just because I'm a devout republican you shouldn't assume that. What, you never heard the phrase "Never Trumpers"?

Not that I'm not used to such projection.

@44: Go ahead and think what you want. I don't care.

The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot

I

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us — if at all — not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer —

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

@46: How cute.

The Republican Party doesn’t exist anymore, ask Slade Gorton. If you still call yourself a republican it just means you think 1 guy should run everything and nobody should question him and you think it’s cool to put kids in jail and treat them worse than Mitchell Rupe. Have a word with yourself.

@50: Yes, as John Boehner said before he gave up the house speakership - "it's the Trump party now" - but the Republican ideology still exists. It doesn't just evaporate.

Trump was never a Republican. In fact, he is far more of a D than an R. Gave to dems more often than republicans before running in 2016. He hijacked the party.

That’s awesome that the final form of the Republican Party doesn’t have an ideology it’s just a more racist Democrat party and that’s cool with republicans. Well give the people what they want I guess.

Yes all those republicans were just so helpless and hapless Trump was able to take over their party without them doing anything about it. Bitch, please.

I used to believe that Rainydrip was concern trolling. Now I realize, nope, he actually is that stupid and naive.

@54: Just like Joe Biden is the Jesus of the Democratic party. God bless.

@56 I love that your response to someone saying the man leading the party you claim to be part of is legally a moron is to say some shit like “The guy leading the other party isn’t perfect” and not “Perhaps this party isn’t for me anymore, I don’t need a party to blindly follow”. Never change, it’s awesome. Kissing my fingers so hard I can feel the blisters form.

@57: Correct, you proved my point. So let's stop conflating our Lord and Savior with current politicians.

@60: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s.

Please make a note of it.

Don't fool yourself. Saying you are a Republican but don't like Trump is just being nostalgic. It is no different than saying you are a Progressive Republican, in the Teddy Roosevelt model. Sorry, that Republican Party is gone. It may come back, but I doubt it.

Trump is not on the fringe of the party, as Reagan (and Goldwater) were when nominated. He is a mainstream Republican. He embodies the heart of the party, as expressed in talk radio and Fox News. The opposition from Republicans has come mainly from those concerned about politics, not policy. There is support from Republicans for almost all of his goals -- they just are concerned about his approach. Tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts in social services, anti environmentalism, disbelief in global warming and science in general (including evolution), nationalism (especially racially based nationalism) are all bread and butter issues for Republicans. The only major policy difference is with the idea of a trade war. This is the only divide within the party as a whole, and Trump has come down in favor or protectionists, while those in power (wealthy plutocrats) decry anything that would limit their ability to make money. You see the same sort of thing with immigration. They really don't care about the immigrants in the same way that they don't care about mistreated workers in other countries. But they sure as hell want enough of them to do the work without paying them well.

There is a reason why Trump's support among self described Republicans is so high (often around 90%). He is the obvious evolution of the Republican Party, and that has been happening since Nixon and Reagan.

Oh, and if you think Trump is an aberration, consider how Romney fits into this. After all, he was the previous Republican nominee. At first glance, he seems like an old-school, Eisenhower style Republican. After all, in Massachusetts, he actually passed what is essentially ObamaCare. Romney also famously voted to remove Trump, in what was considered an act of courage and honesty. Consider then, what Romney said to a group of Republican contributors:

"All right, there are 47 percent who are with [Obama] who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

My job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Consider that statement. This is, by all accounts, and honest assessment made by an honest man. That is really how he feels. He honestly believes that almost half the population wants to be on the dole. Those on AFDC (what most people call "welfare") for example, wouldn't trade their measly check for childcare and the chance at a job.

More importantly, he was saying this because he thought this is what a group of powerful Republicans want to hear.

Are you saying that he was lying? Do you think this group of powerful Republicans is also an aberration -- that they don't represent the heart of the party? Don't fool yourself. This is the modern Republican Party.

Do you know what they call an Eisenhower Republican? A Democrat.

Parties do go through eras. I'm certainly am not a democrat, so it's more accurate to identify as a republican. There are only two (poetically realistic) choices after all.

*politically realistic

I appreciate your comments Ross.

Yes, Trump is indeed an aberration - especially considering he never really wanted to win in the first place. There's no data to conflate an aberration into a long term political reality.

How can Trump be an aberration when every one of his opinions that are popular among conservatives were positions articulated or dog-whistled over the last 30 years of the party? Substantively and tonally, Trump is no different than Rush Limbaugh or, a little further to the right, Pat Buchanan in the 1990s. In fact, Trump is very much the political heir of Pat Buchanan. You can't claim someone is an aberration when their own party has said the same things and pursued the same policies for decades. The only thing that differentiates Trump from the non-Buchanan Republicans is his trade policies. Everything else, form hypocritically running deficits and running up debt to cutting regulations and benefits, is pure Republican. Trump is just cruel and shameless enough to take the party where it wants to go.

Raindrop is very much in the Ross Douthat mold of political commentator. Someone who agrees with 90 percent of Trump's positions but doesn't like that he's mean and crass. People like Douthat are very useful (useful idiots? or malicious?) to Trump because they create a protective smoke screen around him, giving soft arguments for his policies with the qualification that Trump is a potty-mouthed meany. They're all about making liberals and lefties doubt themselves, shifting blame away from the presidents (mean and decadent progressive and liberals are the cause of every problem) weakening institutions through insinuation, and using whataboutism to discourage people from voting their conscience.

Republicans recognize that President Trump is the best president the nation has had since FDR, that he is finally tending to issues that GOP presidents have only paid lip service to for generations.
The depraved Left's desperate deranged pathological hatred of President Trump just confirms how effective he is to Americans.
Americans are profoundly grateful for President Trump.

73: Why not volunteer to suck his dick then you sycophantic loser? Seriously, you morons have made this idiot a god king. Are you gonna kill yourself if he loses?

74
Perhaps you are thinking of bill Clinton and his interns?

No, we will be disappointed if President Trump loses but we are big boys and girls; we have lost elections in the past without resorting to curling up in the fetal position in the corner or screaming into the sky or 'resisting' (aka refusing to accept the results of the election) and we will do so again if President Trump loses.

It is a given that our society is in a steady decline; President Trump has slowed the rate of decline but nothing will reverse it until we hit bottom (and shed the depraved moocher Left).

We accept and prepare for that inevitability, come when it may.

In the meantime, the winning just doesn't stop.
Can't wait for the chance to vote for President Trump in November.

btw, has anyone see Joe lately?
We worry that he might wander out into the traffic...

While this article may be somewhat dated (11/30/16)
it does provide Great historical relevance:

"Trump to Step Away from Making His Businesses
Bankrupt to Focus on Bankrupting Country"

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report -- President-elect Donald J. Trump will no longer have day-to-day responsibility for driving his businesses into bankruptcy and will instead focus on bankrupting the country, one of his leading surrogates said on Wednesday.

Appearing on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway said that while Trump no doubt could 'plunge both his businesses and the country into bankruptcy at the same time,' he feels that he 'owes it to the American people to put them first.'

Acknowledging that Trump has no government experience, Conway said that his years of bankrupting a variety of companies would prove 'invaluable' as he does the same to the United States.
--Andy Borowitz

More @:
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-to-step-away-from-making-his-businesses-bankrupt-to-focus-on-bankrupting-country

Oh, and trolling trolly Troll
didja get trumpfy's New
(made in China!):

Making America Grieve Again

Hat? They're only $99.99. A steal
if you swipe one from a Fellow Ass-Wipe.

Enjoy!

Negative freedom (freedom from interference by other people) doesn't seem an issue in the modern era. We are incredibly globalized with social media and collaboration, especially those with jobs that involve a computer. We are certainly polarized in our ideological and demographics, but are constantly seeking reinforcement from our peers.

@76: LOLOLOLOLOL Oh honey! We ALL remember the pissy little tantrum baby you were for the ENTIRE Obama administration. Just because you're 404ing these days doesn't mean we didn't see you then, and we see you now.

Jim Wright calls modern Republicanism "the staggering arrogance of unqualified fools." Describes the party pretty well.

I've suffered through two Republican administrations during my adult life, and they've both ended up with international tragedy, severe disruption to the safety of our country, and complete economic collapse.

Come back, Barack ... all is forgiven ...

@22: Don't you have 7th grade remedial Math homework to catch up on?
@43, @45,@49, @51, @53, @56, @61, @66, @67, @79: Give it up, Rainy, and go have a cocktail.
@74 JMS: The MAGAs are already dying in large masses, and they're scared shitless. They're among the irresponsible idiots who are still flocking to the beaches, packing the churches, engaging in large social gatherings, and looting Wal*Marts against their better judgment. Their blood red states--particularly in the Southern Deeply Divided States--oppose expansion of Medicaid. The South is predicted to become a desolate wasteland, largely due to lack of sufficient healthcare and being a food desert (consisting of fast food restaurants, pizza delivery, and lack of fresh meats and vegetables provided by grocery stores being outsourced by Wal*Marts.
@76: LOL. You really are a sad, scared shitless little MAGAvirus-whipped puppy now, aren't you?
@77 kristofarian : Spot on and SO appropriate for the current nightmare. The real tragedy is that all this was preventable.
@80 Lissa: You nailed it again. Bravo, and keep it up! :)
@81 Lastlight: Agreed and seconded.

Let’s call him and his entire party what they really are fucking murderers.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/7/1935332/-John-Roberts-is-a-Murderer?utm_campaign=trending

Great, another thread filled with anger. It’s bad for your body, so calm the hell down and stop abusing each other. This is not a drill. Now. Who has got a joke?

@85 - Social distancing does make Twister a lot more challenging to play.

Donald Trump, Anthony Fauci, and Deborah Birx walk into a bar...

Two masked men just walked into a bank and nobody noticed.

As front-line healthcare workers care for patients with COVID-19, they commit themselves to difficult, draining work and also put themselves at risk of infection. Hundreds throughout the world have died.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927976

@85 LavaGirl: How about a song parody?

@85 LavaGirl: Jokes? Okay, here goes:
There are four people on board a small hydroplane flying over the state of Florida.
The pilot, a rabbi, a hippy, and Donald Trump.
The weather that day is particularly turbulent; instantly the first of four engines blows.
The pillot says, "Hang on; it's going to be a bumpy ride, but we'll manage."
Trump says, "I'm doing a GREAT job!"
The wind picks up, and the second engine--and finally, the third of four engines goes out, and the little plane starts to nosedive.
The pilot informs the three passengers that there are only three parachutes. The pilot takes one, claiming that he must report the accident, and jumps out.
Donald Trump gloats that his adoring fans need him, believing he is the greatest thing since tax shelters for billionaires, and jumps out.
The rabbis says to the hippy, "Go on, my son. I have lived a blessed life. I will be all right."
The hippy grins at the rabbi and sys,
"All is cool, man--Trump took my backpack!"

funny Grizelda, be something he’d do, right?, and others too. Thanks.
Don’t let trump et al take your spirits and moments of joy away. Be proactive in calling reps or writing on WH fb page etc, do what you can.
Life is this. The AIDS plague was another horrific time and then the Govt. did zilch to help. Patients turned away from hospitals. The LGBT+ community worked together, with enlightened others. Years though of young men fading away, everywhere.
Do things which make you feel good.. paint write sculpt make things poetry sing compose play music etc..
as well as feel deeply about the injustice of being subjected to corrupt Leaders and their underlings.

@66 -- "Parties do go through eras. I'm certainly am not a democrat, so it's more accurate to identify as a republican. There are only two (poetically realistic) choices after all."

No, you can call yourself an independent. More people call themselves independent than Republicans or Democrats.

"Yes, Trump is indeed an aberration - especially considering he never really wanted to win in the first place. There's no data to conflate an aberration into a long term political reality."

No, he is not an aberration. History will look at this era of the Republican Party as starting with Ronald Reagan. Trump will simply be part of it. As I wrote, Romney is as well. If you saw the "47%" quote, and didn't know who it was from, wouldn't you guess it was from Trump? Or maybe the former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Or maybe some other member of the Tea Party, like Mike Pence. Or maybe some commentator, on Fox News or Talk Radio, who has been saying this sort of thing through the entire era. That is my point. This is normal. This would have been a shocking thing to say fifty years ago. Eisenhower would have disavowed such talk if it was said by a fellow Republican.

But again, Eisenhower would be a mainstream Democrat these days. If he was a Republican these days, he would be an aberration.

I side with Presidential historian Jon Meacham and former CIA director John Brennan in calling Trump an aberration:

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/01/607303543/has-the-partisan-divide-ever-been-this-bad-author-jon-meacham-says-yes

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/john-brennan-trump-is-an-aberration-and-not-in-a-good-way-1246197827546?playlist=associated

85

Here's a joke:

Joe Biden is running for President!

Paying people more to sit on their asses at home than they earned working a job is just one more asinine fatally stupid way this society has responded to this Non-Crisis.....

Political parties don't have ideologies - they have constituencies. Main Street Rotarians and Yeoman Farmers were once an important republican constituencies - this was the party that Raindrop and John Brennen remember. But those constituencies have been obliterated by economic developments over the last 40 years. Now all that left is xenophobes, gun-humpers, god-botherers and crony capitalist grifters: groups for whom Donald Trump is the perfect avatar.

Constituents have ideologies that influence their parties, and the reverse is also true. The GOP is older than 40 years. The term aberration fits. In your opinion it doesn't. It really doesn't matter, but most of us typically respect commentary by noted presidential historians.

"Boris Johnson has left intensive care. He was in intensive care for three days due to COVID-19 complications."

See, that's the Difference 'twixt US and G.B. -- they have Medicare for all (sorta) and if Doofus Number 1 tells you not to worry, go ahead, get fucking infected, THEY (Brits) don't hafta go Bankrupt to fucking pay for such incredble Stupidity directed directly down, from the very tippyTop.

Oddly, we're just the opposite -- trumpfy says it's Hoaxy, not to worry it's just Dems being Dems, mingle mingle mingle and don't worry, the Stock Market's looking Great again.

Till it Didn't. And so all those gullible (can ya Blame ‘em?) (they’re no more ‘clever’ than our own resident trolling trolly Troll, for Pete’s sake) peeps that followed Derr 'leader,' over the Cliff, as they say, how many have either shit or no Healthcare whatsoever?

What is it, like 25%, typically (In this Backwards-ass shithole country) so what do THEY do when they're too sick to work?

Oh, and all those peeps whose Healthcare is based on their being Employed (better add another 20,000,000 or so more)? What’re THEY ‘sposed to fucking DO? Go straight to the city Dump and looks for a nce pair of Bootstraps? Dutiring a Panfuckingdemic?

Where the Fuck is all that ‘Republican’ PRO-Life shit, now that Life is, truly, On The Line for so god damn many?
On fucking Holiday?

Btw – nice Move, Rs, holding an Election
During the middle of a PAN Fucking Demic.

If the Reptilicans hafta Sacrifice a whole lotta Dems (and a few of their own) in the process, they’ll swear it’s for our own good. And 33% of the Electorate’ll fucking BUY it. Well, the ones that’re left over; who didn’t listen to Hair Furor or just plain got Lucky.

WOWzer.

"About one in 10 workers in America lost a job in the past three weeks. If those workers in Washington state were making less than $62,500 a year, they will probably earn more from unemployment insurance."

But -- Will they still
(assuming they did)
have Health insurance?

They extra bit they'll receive (for not working) (OUCH, eh repubs?) pales in comparison to the Whopping Medical Bills they may receive should they happen to pick up a Dose.

Hey, I've got a Great idea
Let's join The Civilized World:
M4A, baby.
Or Bust.

@104: kristofarian for the WIN!!

104
Should they happen to pick up a dose they will probably have no or mild symptoms.
In fact.most people who pick up a dose never know they did.
As Plagues go the virus is a real softie.
It's really sad that it took so little to destroy this flimsy house off cards Leftist Urban 'Civilization'...

It's not politically incorrect to blame China:

"Without China’s deceit and WHO’s solicitude for Beijing, the outbreak might have been more limited, and the world at the very least would have had more time to react to the virus. China committed unforgivable sins of commission, affirmatively lying about the outbreak and punishing doctors and disappearing journalists who told the truth, whereas the WHO committed sins of omission—it lacked independence and courage at a moment of great consequence.

In effect, China and the WHO worked together to expose the rest of the world to the virus, at the same time they downplayed its dangers."

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/04/08/who-china-trump-coronavirus-176242

'Kung Flu'?
FUCK You.

That's the reality, the xenophobia or prejudice is in how we react to the reality. Two very different things.

Thee Most Dangerous Man in America?

"Noam Chomsky on Trump’s Disastrous Coronavirus Response, Bernie Sanders & What Gives Him Hope"

How did the United States — the richest country in the world — become the worldwide epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, with one person dying of COVID-19 every 47 seconds?

We spend the hour with Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author, discussing this unprecedented moment in history, and its political implications, as Senator Bernie Sanders announces he is suspending his campaign for the presidency.

Chomsky also describes how frontline medical workers and progressive organizing are giving him hope.

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/10/noam_chomsky_trump_us_coronavirus_response

Wondering why trolling trolly Troll is here?
Look no further (than):

"A New Front for Nationalism:
The Global Battle Against a Virus"

"The United States, an unrivaled scientific power, is led by a president who openly scoffs at international cooperation while pursuing a global trade war.

India, which produces staggering amounts of drugs, is ruled by a Hindu nationalist who has ratcheted up confrontation with neighbors.

China, a dominant source of protective gear and medicines, is bent on a mission to restore its former imperial glory.

Now, just as the world requires collaboration to defeat the coronavirus — scientists joining forces across borders to create vaccines, and manufacturers coordinating to deliver critical supplies — national interests are winning out. This time, the contest is over far more than which countries will make iPads or even advanced jets.

This is a battle for supremacy over products that may determine who lives and who dies."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/coronavirus-vaccine-nationalism.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

"For a while, Trump seemed unsure of what to do as news of the virus became more serious.

He was deeply worried about the economic impact of the virus on his reelection bid.

He then found his footing—on the racist ground where he is most comfortable—now routinely calling the novel coronavirus strain 'the Chinese virus.'

In one of his many online rants, he cast himself like the leader of a cult might do, as the savior of those Americans deeply impacted by the virus, saying, 'For the people that are now out of work because of the important and necessary containment policies, for instance, the shutting down of hotels, bars and restaurants, money will soon be coming to you.'

He then implied that China was to blame, saying, “The onslaught of the Chinese Virus [sic] is not your fault!

Trump is implying that he’s simply engaging in a tit-for-tat exercise (hardly an appropriate approach for a head-of-state) because a Chinese media outlet apparently claimed the U.S. military had created the virus as a biochemical weapon.

But Trump failed to mention that right-wing sources in the U.S. were also promoting similarly conspiratorial claims of Chinese scientists creating the virus in a lab.

There is a clear reason why Trump is invoking racism in the face of an infectious virus that threatens us all: It is so he can deflect the blame for its spread.

After months of denying the seriousness of the coronavirus and failing to take quick and early action on ensuring widespread testing,

Trump is now claiming, 'I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.'"

Yep, trumpfy: Our [HOLY] Saviour."

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-uses-coronavirus-to-spread-racism/

@108 raindrop, you're quoting from an opinion piece by the editor of The National Review. Why are you peddling that garbage here?

I'll give you credit for only one thing - you're a masterful troll. At a casual glance, you pass yourself off as genuine, reasonable and thoughtful, but at the end of the day, you’re just another Republican shitbag spreading Republican talking points and propaganda. So go fuck yourself.

@116: It's all of those things, but you can't surgically snip out the fact that some animals in those wet markets become cuisine delicacies. What do you mean "for whatever reason" - its food! China is an ancient society. Google those pics of the Wuhan markets and then tell me if any health department should allow that. This is about world health - not about privileged vs. unprivileged.

I also find it odd that the mainstream media continues to say "Spanish flu" in reference to the 1918 pandemic (when Spain had absolutely nothing to do with it expect identifying the virus) but yet 'Chinese virus' upsets delicates sensibilities.

It has never been racist to use the point of origin in describing an event or disease, and it shouldn't be now.

Sorry Garb, you're not elevating your position by short circuiting discussion of important issues simply by harping that any discussion of which is xenophobia and stereotyping.

119: Viruses like this can emerge anywhere there is human-animal interaction or massive deforestation. It's not unique to China, Drip. If a disease comes crawling out of the Canadian permafrost, does that make the "Canadian disease."

All you're doing is playing interference for Trump, making lame excuses for your shithead political party.

JMS @120, I'm curious if you agree with Jared Diamond then on "How we can stop the next new virus:"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/16/how-we-can-stop-next-new-virus/

There's a reason SARS-CoV-2 emerged from the same place SARS emerged from, and those facts have nothing to do with whatever divisive name we can come up with for a disease.

121: I don't disagree with a single thing he says in the piece. But such pandemics can emerge from other places through similar or differing dynamics. Calling it "Chinese" ignores the fact that there conditions across the globe ripe for outbreaks. For the specific things he's talking about, yes, China needs to take responsibility and make the necessary changes.

However that doesn't mean that our current predicament is all China's fault. The US dropped the ball on multiple levels, exacerbating what could have been a more managed situation. Shifting all the blame to China is a political smokescreen. I'll blame for China for their role in this, and I'll blame the federal government under Trump for their role. IT'S OKAY TO BLAME CHINA is a diversionary tactic.

"Convidiots" Thank you, Hawaii. Perfect description of Trumpty Dumpty and its MAGAdupes.

JMS @122: "However that doesn't mean that our current predicament is all China's fault. The US dropped the ball on multiple levels, exacerbating what could have been a more managed situation."

On the face of it, I agree with you on this. However...

The major point that needs to be made--and if the Democrats don't make it, they're going to snatch political defeat from the jaws of victory--is that this nightmare we're all living through (and some of us are dying from) is an indictment of BOTH the Trump administration and China. There is rage out there against China, and there should be. Biden's a real intellectual lightweight, and I'm afraid he's going to fall into a trap where he comes across as a China apologist if he's not careful.

And for you to emphasize that, oh well, this is just some unfortunate accident that could have happened anywhere (with the super-legalistic qualifier "through similar or differing dynamics.")--that's a bit like saying Chernobyl could have happened anywhere. No, it wasn't a random occurrence that it happened to happen in the Soviet Union. Talk to some Soviet emigres some time.

Covid-19 is China's Chernobyl. Few places in the world have a thriving trade in live wild animals like China does. And it was a function of the Chinese regime's not valuing their citizens' lives that caused the virus to spread the way it did. Well, I guess we can at least give China credit for not being the only government in the world that's evil enough to respond this way.

@120: You're missing my point. In fact, the 1918 "Spanish flu" pandemic should have been better remembered as the "Kansas flu" pandemic.

I'm doubt you would have found that association racist in the slightest.

A Revolution, a Coup.. there are options to letting a mad man keep the reins.

China looks to be banning eating domestic and wild animals. The origin of the virus is not the point. It’s a manifestation of all our greed and grasping. We have used China and it’s citizens like they have been slaves.
The crap we buy feeds this never ending story of object acquisition, and cheap cheap labour.
This Virus has its origins in Patriarchal Capitalism.

126: And why would I call it the Kansas flu?

130: I don't care where it's from. I only care about preventing its spread. It's not useful to emphasize a Kansan or Spanish origin. It's not a convention for a reason.

131: Just to be clear, I'm not trying to refute cressona's points about responsibility at all here. My point is that solely laying this disaster at China's feet or associating it solely with China by calling it "the Chinese virus" (as if viruses have national characters) prevents us from spreading the blame to all culpable parties, including the US, China, etc. No one's making hay about all the infections in NYC brought by Europeans, and for good reason.

JMS @132, well said. I think you've perfectly captured the complexity of this.

And for my part, I acknowledge that a term like "China virus" or "Wuhan virus" is super-counterproductive. If anything, it creates undeserved sympathy for the Chinese regime.

It really doesn't matter what you think about [geographical origin] [good thing] or [geographical origin] [bad thing] such as French food or French virus.

The point is that it's a perfectly valid construct. The usage of the term is not the problem.

"We have used China and it’s citizens like they have been slaves. "

Really? Slaves?

Then how did 600 million Chinese move out of poverty in the past 30 years, the single greatest reduction in poverty in human history, if they are "slaves"?

@137 Yes slaves.

Some articles regarding slavery of the Chinese to feed American capitalism:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90419431/slave-labor-camps-are-supplying-american-fashion-brands

https://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/china.pdf

https://nypost.com/2020/03/02/uighur-forced-labor-reportedly-used-in-chinese-factories-making-us-tech/

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/306909-report-china-sells-minorities-into-forced-labor-to-benefit-apple-foxconn-others

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/9/inside_chinas_push_to_turn_muslim

https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2020/03/03/gadgets-likely-made-chinese-forced-labor-camps-uyghurs/

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/10/17953106/walmart-prison-note-china-factory

And China is hardly the only country where slave labor (and child labor) feed the American consumer machine

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/ListofGoods.pdf

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article63810932.html

and French capitalism, and Italian capitalism, and Russian capitalism, and Iranian capitalism, and last but not least: Chinese capitalism.

@138 OK then explain how China has lifted 600 million out of poverty into middle income in the past 30 years without using anecdotes.

New Rule: Virus Shaming | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Take it away Bill Maher:
https://youtu.be/dEfDwc2G2_8

"He Could Have Seen What Was Coming:
Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus"

'"An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response."

"Mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on other issues, an array of figures inside his government — from top White House advisers to experts deep in the cabinet departments and intelligence agencies — identified the threat, sounded alarms and made clear the need for aggressive action.

The president, though, was slow to absorb the scale of the risk and to act accordingly, focusing instead on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away warnings from senior officials.

Even after Mr. Trump took his first concrete action at the end of January — limiting travel from China — public health often had to compete with economic and political considerations in internal debates, slowing the path toward belated decisions to seek more money from Congress, obtain necessary supplies, address shortfalls in testing and ultimately move to keep much of the nation at home.

The shortcomings of Mr. Trump’s performance have played out with remarkable transparency as part of his daily effort to dominate television screens and the national conversation.

But dozens of interviews with current and former officials and a review of emails and other records revealed many previously unreported details and a fuller picture of the roots and extent of his halting response as the deadly virus spread:

The National Security Council office responsible for tracking pandemics received intelligence reports in early January predicting the spread of the virus to the United States, and within weeks was raising options like keeping Americans home from work and shutting down cities the size of Chicago.

Mr. Trump would avoid such steps until March.

Despite Mr. Trump’s denial weeks later, he was told at the time about a Jan. 29 memo produced by his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, laying out in striking detail the potential risks of a coronavirus pandemic: as many as half a million deaths and trillions of dollars in economic losses."

By Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear, Mark Mazzetti and Julian E. Barnes; April 11, 2020

GREAT Essay.
More at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

America's Biggest Loser[s]?
US.

“'Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion' President Trump said last month. He has repeatedly said that no one could have seen the effects of the coronavirus coming." --Erin Schaff/The New York Times

When ya got a Liar for a 'president,'
you SHOULD expect Pandemics.

Thanks, Reptilians.

The United States has 4% of the world’s population (330 million out of 7.8 billion). Although we have only 4% of the world’s population, we have 30% of the world’s coronavirus cases (500,000 out of 1.7 million) and 18% of the global deaths (18,000 out of 100,000). On what planet is that considered “good performance?"

xina -- with FAKE 'prez' trumpfy
at the helm ya gotta figure what's
the Worst that could happen multiply
that times fifty, and if he cannot quite reach
that bar, thru luck or incompetence we will have 'Won.'

Repub's are oh-so-Willing to settle for totalitarian
Shit
but, remember, when Obama wore those Tan
Pants?

Fuck.
Even bush
the Weaker
was (slightly) better.