“Red” States Are Suicidal In Thinking They Are “Safe” Due To State Lines, As If CoronaVirus Pandemic Does Not Cross Borders!

We have now seen about 44,000 people die from the CoronaVirus Pandemic, increasing more than 2,000 per day.

Twenty thousand of these deaths are in the Tri State Area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

But there are even more deaths in the other 47 states, and not just the coastlines, meaning not only the Pacific Coast and Atlantic Coast.

The virus has hit everywhere, although not equally, but there is no certainty or security that numbers will not grow dramatically, in the so called “Flyover States”.

And yet, the “Red States”, the Republican states of the “hinterland” are living in a delusion that they can conveniently “open up” in the next few days or week, particularly in the Southern states of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and Florida planning to join this “suicide mission” in effect soon, as well!

These states, which tend to be highly religious, as compared to most of the nation, and are so oriented toward Pro Life on the issue of abortion, seem ready to sacrifice loss of life because the capitalist system demands opening up, even if workers are endangering their own lives, and that of their families!

And we have people who cannot tolerate delaying haircuts, having their nails done, going bowling, and a myriad of other activities, and are not concerned that they are endangering their own family members and friends, and strangers too, along with themselves, because they are so spoiled and only think of “Me, Myself, and I”!

We are losing an American life every 32 seconds right now, and have lost more than the top five European nations combined, but profit and greed still rule in Republican states, as if the virus does not cross state lines!

Within the next two weeks if not sooner, we will have lost more Americans in two months than all of the years of the Vietnam War–58,000–which took 12 years, not 60 days!

When will Republicans and Southerners value life over profits? This is what Donald Trump has done to the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, Reagan and H. W. Bush, a total disgrace!

29 comments on ““Red” States Are Suicidal In Thinking They Are “Safe” Due To State Lines, As If CoronaVirus Pandemic Does Not Cross Borders!

  1. Jeffrey G Moebus April 21, 2020 11:50 pm

    i’m not sure where You are getting Your numbers from, Professor; but You need to fact-check them before using them. i use https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-united-states-coronavirus-outbreak/?sref=Ibao1i8N .

    RF: “We have now seen about 44,000 people die from the CoronaVirus Pandemic, increasing more than 2,000 per day. Twenty thousand of these deaths are in the Tri State Area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.”

    As of April 21, 2020, 9:30 PM EDT, there have been 25, 290 deaths in the TriState Area.

    RF: “But there are even more deaths in the other 47 states, and not just the coastlines, meaning not only the Pacific Coast and Atlantic Coast.”

    Given that there are 44,650 deaths nationwide, that means there are 19,360 deaths in the other 47 states; hardly “even more,” wouldn’t You say?

    Here are the leading “Death States” and their Case numbers [how many of these are so-called “Blue” States?]:

    Deaths Cases
    NY 19,114 258,484
    NJ 4,753 92,387
    MI 2,700 32,967
    MA 1,961 41,199
    PA 1,614 35,249
    IL 1,468 33,059
    CT 1,423 20,360
    CA 1,300 35,643
    WA 664 12,563
    OR 78 2,004

    That means that 563,915 of 813,542 national Cases have occurred in those States, or 69.3%.

    That means that 35,075 of 44650 national Deaths have occurred in those States, or 78.5%.

    RF: “The virus has hit everywhere, although not equally, but there is no certainty or security that numbers will not grow dramatically, in the so called ‘Flyover States’.”

    “Not equally” is a bit of an understatement, wouldn’t You say?

    RF: “And yet, the ‘Red States’, the Republican states of the ‘hinterland’ are living in a delusion that they can conveniently “open up” in the next few days or week, particularly in the Southern states of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and Florida planning to join this ‘suicide mission’ in effect soon, as well!”

    Is anybody in any of those States going to be forced to come out of lockdown or shelter-in-place against their own personal judgment and will? Or is that irrelevant to Your argument?

    RF: “These states, which tend to be highly religious, as compared to most of the nation, and are so oriented toward Pro Life on the issue of abortion, seem ready to sacrifice loss of life because the capitalist system demands opening up, even if workers are endangering their own lives, and that of their families!”

    And exactly how “highly religious as compared to most of the nation” are the people who live in the States You mentioned? Got any numbers to substantiate that assertion? Also, NONE of these States that have You so frothed are among those “hinterland so-called Flyover States.”

    What are the Case and Death numbers for the States that are Flyovers? Have You bothered to check them?

    RF: And we have people who cannot tolerate delaying haircuts, having their nails done, going bowling, and a myriad of other activities, and are not concerned that they are endangering their own family members and friends, and strangers too, along with themselves, because they are so spoiled and only think of “Me, Myself, and I”!

    Wow…. . Way up on our High Horse today, aren’t we?

    RF: We are losing an American life every 32 seconds right now, and have lost more than the top five European nations combined, but profit and greed still rule in Republican states, as if the virus does not cross state lines!”

    Back to the “profit and greed” mantra, i see. In any event, You are wrong again; by a ridiculously absurd margin.

    U.S. 45,039
    Italy 24,648
    Spain 21,282
    France 20,829
    U.K. 17,378
    Belgium 5,998

    The top five European nations combined have had 90,135 deaths, exactly TWICE the number that have died in the US.

    RF: Within the next two weeks if not sooner, we will have lost more Americans in two months than all of the years of the Vietnam War–58,000–which took 12 years, not 60 days!

    In those same two months, how many Americans will have died of Heart disease, Cancer, Accidents (unintentional injuries), Chronic lower respiratory diseases, Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases), Alzheimer’s disease, Diabetes, Influenza and pneumonia, Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis, and Intentional self-harm (suicide) [the 10 leading causes of death in the US in 2019]?

    RF: When will Republicans and Southerners value life over profits? This is what Donald Trump has done to the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, Reagan and H. W. Bush, a total disgrace!

    i can’t speak for Republicans, but do You remember that song by Lynyrd Skynyrd back in the 70s, “Sweet Home Alabama”? Here’s how they might sing it today:

    “Well I heard Doc Feinman sing about her
    Well I heard ol’ Ronnie put her down
    Well I hope Doctor Ron will remember
    A southern man don’t need him around anyhow”

    Or, as the French sentry informed King Arthur in Python’s Holy Grail: “I fart in Your general direction.”

    Happy Earth Day 50.

  2. Jeffrey G Moebus April 22, 2020 12:23 am

    The CDC also said that Americans were facing “a New Pearl Harbor” and “a new 9/11.” Anybody remember that?

    The CDC and Trump’s medical braintrust have predicted quite a number of things that haven’t quite turned out as prophesied, haven’t they?

  3. Ronald April 22, 2020 5:57 am

    Jeffrey, you do not consider 45, 500 Americans this morning dead to be equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11?

    Only more than 6 times higher than both events combined, and those on just two days, and 2,800 yesterday, equivalent of either event?

    I stand by what I said, and honestly, you are taxing my tolerance for your BS!

    You sound like someone evading the truth of science, and willing to ignore health and medicine!

    And yes, the South in particular, is much more “religious” in church attendance, and it is total hypocrisy, as there is more racism, nativism, misogyny in the South than the rest of the nation!

  4. D April 22, 2020 9:17 am

    This reminds me of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 classic film “Jaws” in which the mayor (played by Murray Hamilton) would rather pretend than acknowledge (as told by the police chief and marine biologist played by Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss) that he has to “Close the Beaches.”

  5. Former Republican April 22, 2020 10:58 am

    D – Exactly what I’ve been saying as well.

  6. Pragmatic Progressive April 22, 2020 11:02 am

    COVID-19 Isn’t Just a Matter of Life or Death
    Here are some of the long-term health effects of contracting the virus.

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/04/22/covid-19-isnt-just-a-matter-of-life-or-death/

    In order to track the spread of COVID-19, we have all relied on two numbers: confirmed cases and deaths. I pointed out previously that since it is primarily people who have been hospitalized and those at extreme risk who are being tested, we don’t really know how many people have contracted the virus.

    Recently a study was released by researchers in California suggesting that the number of cases could be 50 to 80 times higher than what has been reported. But as Josh Marshall explains, the methods used are suspect, while the researchers seem to have an agenda.

    [The team behind the Santa Clara study is a group of doctors and researchers from Stanford University, two of whom are what we might call COVID19 severity skeptics. To be clear, I’m not talking about crazies or conspiracy theorists. These are credentialed medical specialists who’ve argued that COVID19 is likely more widespread than we know and thus less lethal than we fear. Because of this they have argued that the public health measures employed in the US are too severe.]

    In other words, the case these researchers want to make is that, because COVID-19 is much more widespread than we thought, the death rates from the disease are a lot lower than anyone thinks, meaning that the measures we have taken to slow down its spread are an overreaction. What that implies is that the only concern we should have about the disease is the number of people who die from it.

    Similarly, when Texas Attorney General Dan Patrick justifies reopening that state’s economy by saying that “there are more important things than living,” he is suggesting that the only concern we should consider is whether contracting COVID-19 will kills us.

    All of this focus on death rates has skewed our thinking about this pandemic by completely ignoring the possibility that COVID-19 could also have long-term health effects for those who survive. The truth is that, because this virus is so new, we don’t know a lot about how it will effect those who recover. But it is still worth considering what we know so far.

    Julia Ries points to the first thing we need to keep in mind.

    [When the body is exposed to an infection like COVID-19, it mounts an inflammatory response, in which the immune system pumps out cells to fight the virus. With COVID-19, some people’s bodies are producing way too much of an inflammatory response that’s harming critical organs like the lungs, kidneys, and heart, according to Khalilah Gates, a pulmonologist and assistant professor of pulmonary, critical care and medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.]

    For people with moderate to severe reactions to the virus, it is the overproduction of an inflammatory response that causes their symptoms. The most common concern is that the response can cause irreversible scarring (fibrosis) in the lungs, resulting in a lack of lung capacity. Similar issues can occur in the heart.

    [COVID-19 is also putting extreme stress on people’s hearts. Harvard University specialists called it “one big stress test for the heart,” stating that the inflammation and high fevers brought on by the coronavirus weaken the heart and increase the risk for cardiac abnormalities like blood clotting.]

    There are also concerns about potential liver or kidney damage, along with indications that the virus attacks T-cells in a way that is similar to HIV.

    My purpose in highlighting all of that isn’t to be a “Debbie Downer.” But we have approached this pandemic with a familiar bifurcated either/or assumption: if you contract COVID-19, you either die, or survive and live happily ever after. That won’t be the case for some people. They will be struggling with the long-term effects of this virus for the rest of their lives.

  7. Princess Leia April 22, 2020 11:05 am

    Steve Kornacki showed about the testing this morning. The US is way behind Europe in how much testing we’ve done in the country overall and the Southern and Midwestern states are way behind the Northeastern and Pacific states in how much testing they’ve done.

  8. Pragmatic Progressive April 22, 2020 11:42 am

    Exactly, Leia! Testing needs to be ramped up before anyone considers reopening. It’s too dangerous to be reopening right now.

  9. Rational Lefty April 22, 2020 1:48 pm

    Even when the lockdowns are lifted, I suspect that most Americans are still going to be rather cautious until we get either some treatments or a vaccine.

  10. Jeffrey G Moebus April 22, 2020 4:29 pm

    RF: “Jeffrey, you do not consider 45,500 Americans this morning dead to be equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11? Only more than 6 times higher than both events combined, and those on just two days, and 2,800 yesterday, equivalent of either event?”

    First of all, Dr Feinman, and like i asked: How many Americans have died of those 10 Leading Causes of Death in the US over that same period of time?

    Second of all, now that i think about it, Professor, You are correct: The COVID-19 Event is indeed just like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. But not from the standpoint of American casualties.

    My working hypothesis at this point is that the COVID-19 Event [C-19] is a global psychological warfare operation [or psyop], and that the Real Question is: OK. So, then, Whose psyop is it?

    One clue is to look at C-19’s immediate predecessors.

    Part of my hypothesis is that C-19 is a psyop just like the most recent “crisis” Event that America and the World have weathered ~ the financial “¢ri$i$” of 2008 ~ was a psyop. Just like its predecessor ~ The Terror Event of September 11, 2001 ~ was a psyop. Just like Los Angeles, Memphis, and Dallas were psyops. And ~ based on what we know about what FDR knew and when he knew it ~ just like Pearl Harbor was a psyop.

    So there You have it, Doc. That’s why the COVID-19 Event is indeed a “new Pearl Harbor” and a “new 9/11”: they all are psyops. It has nothing to do with how many Americans got or have been killed: it has to do with what these “Events” actually, really were and are: psychological warfare operations crafted and choreographed by somebody to accomplish something. So again, the Real Question is WHOSE?

    RF: “I stand by what I said, and honestly, you are taxing my tolerance for your BS!”

    Heh. Well, Professor, why not just consider it a true test of Your claim that You would never censor Your blog; that You believe in the freedom of thought, speech, expression, and so forth?

    And it is interesting and curious ~ but no at all surprising ~ that You can so cavalierly dismiss my presentation of Facts as “BS!” But, as one of Your favorite Republicans once put it: “Facts are such stupid, er stubborn, er silly, er inconvenient things.”

    RF: “You sound like someone evading the truth of science, and willing to ignore health and medicine!”

    If that’s what i sound like to You, Doctor, then You aren’t listening.

    What i am trying to do here is to sort out exactly whose “truth” of whose “science” is separate and distinct from real “Truth” as determined by real “Science.”

    Real “Truth” that is not determined by political and/or economic and/or socio-cultural agendas, but by the methods, mechanisms, and ways and means of examination, analysis, and evaluation of facts that constitute Real “Science.”

    Another way of Science is the Experiment. And the anti-lockdown protests and planned openings of some of some parts of some of the States have provided us with a marvelous opportunity to have just such an experiment.

    First: Let’s see how many new C-19 Cases and Deaths occur over the next several weeks in those places among the people who participated in those protests; or among those folks who gathered for Easter services, etc. And then let’s count them and compare those numbers to everyplace else in America that stayed home.

    Second: Let’s see what happens in those States that are opening What, and When, and How they see fit, as opposed to any “guidance” from Swampland or the outraged indignation of those who demand that everybody stay home just because their government told them to. For example: Let’s see how the folks who visited the Jacksonville Beach [aka the #FloridaMorons] are faring a couple of weeks from now.

    With things opening up all over certain places, there is what the folks in the close tactical artillery, air, and naval gunfire support business would call “a target-rich environment” for real world ~ as opposed to laboratory or drug test or medical trials ~ experiments so as to what see happens when people get together during a “Pandemic.”

    i wonder if Vegas would set any odds on how that experiment would turn out. i know how a lot of Americans would like for it to turn out: That C-19 Cases and Deaths skyrocket in those areas and among those folks.

    Then, if nothing else, those folk could have their deepest and darkest in their heart of hearts, gut, and gonads “Nya-Nya-na-na-Nah!!! ~ I Told You SO; Serves You Right, Right ~ Moment.”

    …….

    In conclusion: Thank You, Professor Feinman. First of all: Thank You for providing ~ however inadvertently ~ that Link between COVID-19, 9/11, and Pearl Harbor. That was ~ for my hypothesis ~ the veritable “missing link”: the Psyop Connection.

    Second of all: As i explained once before, my participation in “The Progressive Professor” is part of the gathering of material for a section of a book i’m writing with the working title: “Conversations With The American Left In A Time of Chaos and Collapse.”

    The book is tentatively termed HOMAGE TO TRUMPALONIA; or, Chronicles From The Age of Trump.

    You will be in good company, as it will include blog comment and e-mail exchanges with such heavy hitters of America’s Peace and Social Justice Warrior ruling elite as Noam Chomsky, Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, and that ilk.

    So, Thanks for that as well, and enjoy Earth and Holocaust Days.

  11. Pragmatic Progressive April 22, 2020 5:47 pm

    What would it look like to reopen the economy safely? First, listen to workers.

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/22/1939205/-What-would-it-look-like-to-reopen-the-economy-safely-First-listen-to-workers

    At some point, some way, businesses and other parts of the economy will reopen. Donald Trump wants that to happen within weeks, quickly and without regard for public health. But while we need to insist on listening to public health experts about when to reopen, there are also questions about what it should look like when that happens. Workers need a voice in that, the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S., said in a new working people’s plan for reopening the economy the right way.

    That’s the first and most important part of the plan: Workers’ voices need to be heard at every level, from the individual workplace up to the federal government. But that’s not the only important principle to uphold in making sure that workers are safe as their workplaces reopen. Workers need adequate personal protective equipment on the job—and training to use it correctly—and they need widespread testing, reporting and tracking, and contact tracing to prevent workplace-based outbreaks.

    PPE is needed once workers are back on the job. But how will we know it’s time for that to happen? “The primary criterion for deciding whether it is safe for working people to return to work is worker safety, assessed on the basis of sound science rather than politics or profits,” the AFL-CIO plan says. That means the government agencies that are supposed to protect worker safety have to use their expertise and enforcement powers—which already hadn’t been happening under Trump.

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration “must issue an emergency temporary standard for infectious diseases that requires all employers—including public employers in states without an approved OSHA state plan—that are currently open, or will reopen, to develop and implement an infection control plan, with requirements for hazard assessment, engineering controls, work practice and administrative controls, provision of personal protective equipment, training, medical surveillance, and medical removal protections,” the AFL-CIO argues. “Federal and state safety agencies must conduct worksite inspections to enforce existing standards and the infectious disease standard, and issue clear enforcement directives to ensure that employers are protecting workers in every sector.”

    Workers also have to be protected from retaliation if they refuse to work when working means exposure to the virus or if they blow the whistle about unsafe working conditions, among other possibilities.

    Trump wants none of this, of course. He’s looking for ways to make the economy more abusive and less safe during and in the eventual wake of the coronavirus pandemic. But this is part of what it would look like to do right by workers. Democrats in Congress and in the states and running for president should be paying attention.

  12. Jeffrey G Moebus April 22, 2020 6:16 pm

    Trump is “bored”?!?!?!?! [As Dr Ron might put it.]

    He’s never had so much Fun in his whole life.

    Finally…. He can make this happen:

    ON THE REAL MEANING OF “MAGA”
     
    [Editor’s Note:  Anyone who is in the least surprised by what has happened over these past three years as we move into THE AGE OF TRUMP: Year IV, obviously missed this interview with then-President-Elect Trump by al-Jazeera, back in mid-December, 2016.]
     
    President-Elect Trump On “Making America Great Again”
    [from the al-Jazeera Interview, mid-December, 2016]
     
    1.  What, exactly, do You mean, Mr Trump, actually, really mean by “Great”?
    2.  When, exactly, did America become “Great”? 
    3.  Exactly How and Why did it become “Great”?
    4.  When, exactly, did America stop being “Great”? 
    5.  Exactly How and Why did it stop being “Great”?
    6.  How, exactly, will the American people and the world know that America is “Great Again”?
    7.  And What, exactly, will a “Great Again America” actually, really Be, for Americans; and for the world?
     
    When posed these questions during a recent exclusive interview with a reporter from al-Jazeera [the Muslim-owned and -operated, Doha, Qatar-based, global news network], President-Elect Trump responded as follows:
     
    Trump:  “‘What is… ?’  ‘When did…?’  ‘How did… ?’;  Jeeezus… .  That has to qualify as one of the, if not the, lamest… no, make that the stupidest and most irrelevant set of questions any soon-to-be-ex-reporter has ever asked the next President of the United States.  Ever.
     
    “Anybody who could even think up such a dumb bunch of questions like that wouldn’t, because they couldn’t, understand my answer, anyway.  But, because I like Muslims…, no…, I really do.  Because I like you folks, I’ll try and answer you.
     
    “The question is not what ‘Great’ is; or when America got or stopped being ‘Great’; or even what it will be like when it’s ‘Great Again.’  Americans, real Americans i mean, don’t care about all that stuff.  And neither should you Muslims, or anybody else in the world.  The real question is, ‘When will America be Great Again?’  
     
    Because, mark my podium-pounding words:  It Will Be.  And that’s so easy to answer that even you folks might understand it.
     
    “America will be Great Again when I am President.  When I am President, America will be Great Again because I, its President, am Great.  Is that clear?  Now, you may ask: ‘How do I know that?’
     
    “I know that because I always have been, am now, and will always be Great.  And further, because everything I have ever done, am doing, and always will do has always been, is now, and always will be Great.  And finally, because anything and everybody, and anybody and everything that has ever had, now has, or ever will ever have anything to do with me has always been, now is, and always will be Great, as well. For example, my empire of skyscrapers, golf courses, super-malls and condos, strip malls and slum flats; my casinos, University, and donations to veterans; my trophy wives; and, of course, my reality-tv shows [in one of which You are a role-playing, bit-extra right now, even as we speak].  Hell… come to think of it, even my bankruptcies have been, are, and will be great; especially for the stiffs…. heh…. .
     
    “All Great.  All Great, just like me.  And do you want to know Why they were, are, and will be Great?  Because they are mine.  All mine.  I made them; I created them.  All of them.  All in my own image.  And That’s exactly why they’re Great.
     
    “And when I move my corporate headquarters from the Trump Towers down to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [‘and the White House up to New York ~ or over to Mar-a-Lago ~ for the weekends,’ he added, parenthetically], America will be Great Again.  Because it will be mine.  To create, or in this case, re-create in my own image. 
     
    “Does that answer your question?”
     
    al-Jazeera:   “Almost.  Can you give us at least some examples of what America will be like when it is ‘Great Again'”?
     
    Trump:  “Sure.  When America is Great Again, anybody that I, The President, don’t like or don’t want in my country will either be thrown out, or won’t be allowed to get in here in the first place.  Sort of like Obama killing anybody he doesn’t like with drones; or Bush torturing anybody who crossed him.  Only better because truly preemptive, and much less costly, in both blood or treasure.
     
    “When America is Great Again, all our financial, fiscal, monetary, and budgetary problems will be over after I screw all those losers who have bought, paid for, and invested in our nation’s public debts at all levels: federal, state, and local.  I have lots of real-world ~ and not just some Harvard Business School jerk-…, classroom ~ experience with that sort of thing, and know how to ‘Get ‘er Done,’ as they say in the parlance.
     
    “When America is Great Again, all them punks in Beijing, Bonn, Brussels, and Basel, and Elsewhere, and all them prevert Muslim jihadist terrorists and their mullahs, ayatollahs, and sheikhs of Arabi, and anybody else with an attitude, will come face-to-face with the reality that you don’t fu~…, mess with The Donald.  Or His country.  Or his embassies or flag.  Anywhere.  Anytime.  For any reason.
     
    “When America is Great Again, we will put OurSelves, the U S of A, Number One again, and get rid of all those bull~…, bullshit rules and regulations that say that and what we can and can’t do to whatever we want to do to the land, the water, and the air, anywhere, anytime.  Or for that matter, to people, too. 
     
    We may only be, what is it, 4 percent of the world’s population; but, as Great Again Americans, we need, want, demand, and, by God, have and will take our God-given Right to consume more than just our fair share of, what is it, 20 percent of the world’s resources, or to create 25 or 30 percent of its garbage and pollution. 
     
    “You’ll know that America is Great Again when I build a 3-hole golf course on the White House grounds, and open it up to the public, for a modest greens fee, of course.    The plan is to have it ready to go in time for spring, when the weather breaks.  I’m also exploring putting in an 18-hole PGA Championship course and lodge out at Camp David.
     
    “Does that help you any?”
     
    al-Jazeera:  “It certainly does, Mr Trump.  One other follow-up question before moving on to our other subjects:  how soon do you think it will be before you’re on Mount Rushmore?”
     
    Trump:  “How’d you know about that? … Well, the plan is to unveil it just in time for my re-election Inaugural Ball in 2021.”
     
    al-Jazeera:  “Ahhhh.  Thank you, Mr Trump.  Now…, what about Russia?”

  13. Former Republican April 22, 2020 7:32 pm

    They could set up some mini-golf on the WH lawn. I am surprised it hasn’t happened already. Plus, it would occupy his time designing the holes: maybe one where the ball bounces off Obama’s forehead to fall in the cup, another with Stormy’s legs opening and closing obscuring the hole, etc. But all done in gold and shiny stuff to give the aura of “superior taste”.

  14. Pragmatic Progressive April 22, 2020 7:39 pm

    He is perfectly free to go play golf. Nobody is stopping him. The country would be better off if he played golf instead of having his daily rally for the stupid.

  15. Princess Leia April 22, 2020 7:42 pm

    Sorry, Trump, I ain’t goin’ to sacrifice my life and the lives of those I care about just so you can go play golf or have your bigoted rallies.

  16. Pragmatic Progressive April 22, 2020 8:54 pm

    Leia – The rest of us second that.

  17. Rational Lefty April 23, 2020 11:50 am

    We had an increase in 700+ cases between yesterday and today in VA. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be over 11,000 cases. It sounds like we’re hitting the surge.

  18. Southern Liberal April 23, 2020 1:35 pm

    I suspect that the more sensible business owners in Georgia are going to keep their businesses closed anyway.

  19. Former Republican April 23, 2020 4:56 pm

    The World Weeps Over Trump’s Villainy
    If the country doesn’t get new leadership next January, all is lost.

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/04/23/the-europeans-arent-the-only-ones-desperately-sad-about-america/

    “Desperate sadness” pretty well describes the mood that has predominated for me from the moment Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Most of the time, this percolates below the surface, mainly because I put my hardhat on every day and go to work to do what I can to rectify the situation. This usually staves off the sense of helplessness, but not always. These days, I have other things to be desperate and sad about, but it always comes back to the president. The condition I find my country in today is not an anomaly. It’s more like the physical manifestation of the spiritual rot that I’ve observed every day for almost four years. I can’t say it was inevitable, because who knows when a novel virus will emerge? But it is the unavoidable consequence of putting a man like Trump in charge and of letting people like Mitch McConnell control the U.S. Senate. What we’re witnessing is merely the implicit becoming visible so that even foreigners can witness it.

    [As images of America’s overwhelmed hospital wards and snaking jobless lines have flickered across the world, people on the European side of the Atlantic are looking at the richest and most powerful nation in the world with disbelief.
    “When people see these pictures of New York City they say, ‘How can this happen? How is this possible?’” said Henrik Enderlein, president of the Berlin-based Hertie School, a university focused on public policy. “We are all stunned. Look at the jobless lines. Twenty-two million,” he added.
    “I feel a desperate sadness,” said Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European history at Oxford University and a lifelong and ardent Atlanticist.]

    American football is an exceptional sport, admired if not always appreciated around the world. And the National Football League is a well-oiled machine and moneymaker. In this, the sport is a good analogy for the country as a whole. But if you take some out-of-shape sociopath off the street and ask him to quarterback the New York Jets, the New York Jets are not just going to do badly… they’re going to do exceptionally badly.

    [“America has not done badly, it has done exceptionally badly,” said Dominique Moïsi, a political scientist and senior adviser at the Paris-based Institut Montaigne.]

    This isn’t complicated, or it shouldn’t be. Electing Trump was the entire nation deciding to stop doing whatever it was doing and stop being whatever it was, and instead just start punching itself in the face all day, every day, in perpetuity, until somehow it ends.

    If we were the Ancient Greeks, we would have long ago concluded that this decision had earned the wrath of the gods. Perhaps Trump killed his father and married his mother. Perhaps he fell in love with his own reflection, like Narcissus. Yet, somehow, when the time came to remove Trump from power, the country couldn’t manage to get the job done. His impeachment acquittal in the Senate was followed immediately by the pandemic, almost as if the gods were exasperated by our decision.

    [“There is not only no global leadership, there is no national and no federal leadership in the United States,” said Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Growth Lab at Harvard’s Center for International Development. “In some sense this is the failure of leadership of the U.S. in the U.S.”]

    The only thing holding me up now is the prospect of getting new leadership next January. If that doesn’t happen, all is lost.

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