Mar 102020
 


James F. Gibson Tent of A. Foulke, sutler, 1st Brigade, Horse Artillery. Brandy Station, Virginia 1864

 

Thread: Intensivist/A&E Consultant Currently In Northern Italy (Twitter)
Italy Not Europe’s Coronavirus Hotbed, Just First Country That Snapped (RT)
Trump Has Not Been Tested For Coronavirus – White House (R.)
Seattle-Area Nursing Home Unable To Test 65 Workers With COVID-19 Symptoms (R.)
Coronavirus Symptoms Usually Take 5 Days To Appear – Study (CNN)
Bail Out The People First, Before Companies, In Coronavirus Crisis (Ghitis)
China’s Hubei Province May Allow Residents To Travel (R.)
Singapore Charges Visitors For Coronavirus Treatment (R.)
No Coronavirus Risk From Holy Communion, Says Greek Holy Synod (K.)
Smartphone Sales In China Were Halved In February (ZH)
Boeing Shares Plunge On Coronavirus, 737 MAX Wiring Bundle Setback (R.)
In Brussels, Erdogan Asks NATO For ‘Assistance’ On Syria And Migrants (RT)
Prince Andrew Won’t Voluntarily Cooperate In Epstein Inquiry – Prosecutor (G.)
Court Case Against Alleged CIA Vault 7 Whistleblower Ends In Mistrial (WSWS)
Democrats Were The FIrst To Discuss Biden’s Cognitive Fitness (Greenwald)
Russia ‘Hired Network Of Britons To Go After Enemies Of Putin’ (G.)

 

Cases 114,614 (+ 4,007 from yesterday’s 110,607)

Deaths 4030 (+ 199 from yesterday’s 3,831)

 

Italy’s the story. 100 deaths a day. Germany finally has (acknowledged) its first two deaths. Spain gets very ugly. Lots of clocks ticking.

Lombardy’s world-class health care system has basically collapsed. You’re looking at your future, unless you’re very very lucky.

It’s not about the number or percentage of deaths and cases, it’s about the capacity of the system, and the speed with which countries react. Both fall very short.

From Worldometer yesterday evening (before their day’s close)

 

 

And the suspects for Wave 2 continue to rise.

From SCMP:

 

 

From Worldometer:

 

 

From COVID2019.app:

 

 

 

 

Most poignant news today. A Twitter thread that describes an American emergency doctor working in Lombrady, Italy. The system’s collapsed.

Thread: Intensivist/A&E Consultant Currently In Northern Italy (Twitter)

1/ ‘I feel the pressure to give you a quick personal update about what is happening in Italy, and also give some quick direct advice about what you should do.

2/ Lumbardy is the most developed region in Italy and it has a extraordinary good healthcare, I have worked in Italy, UK and Aus and don’t make the mistake to think that what is happening is happening in a 3rd world country.

3/ The current situation is difficult to imagine and numbers do not explain things at all. Our hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19, they are running 200% capacity

4/ We’ve stopped all routine, all ORs have been converted to ITUs and they are now diverting or not treating all other emergencies like trauma or strokes. There are hundreds of pts with severe resp failure and many of them do not have access to anything above a reservoir mask.

5/ Patients above 65 or younger with comorbidities are not even assessed by ITU, I am not saying not tubed, I’m saying not assessed and no ITU staff attends when they arrest. Staff are working as much as they can but they are starting to get sick and are emotionally overwhelmed.

6/ My friends call me in tears because they see people dying in front of them and they can only offer some oxygen. Ortho and pathologists are being given a leaflet and sent to see patients on NIV. (Noninvasive ventilation)

Read more …

This may be true, but Italy did screw up badly multiple times. Thing is, at least other countries will, too.

Italy Not Europe’s Coronavirus Hotbed, Just First Country That Snapped (RT)

With the entirety of Italy put under quarantine, the Mediterranean nation has been seen as the hardest-hit by the coronavirus in Europe. Italian journalist Evgeny Utkin believes, however, that it’s just the most tested one.
Utkin, a journalist based in Italy and an expert on economics and politics, told RT that he believes the situation with the coronavirus as reported in the press – namely, that it is ravaging Italy and yet somehow affecting its neighbors, such as Switzerland and Germany, on a far smaller scale – does not represent the reality on the ground. The catch, he said, is that while in some countries the number of those infected might be underreported, in Italy – at least at the beginning of the outbreak – there was an overreaction instead.

“Italy was the first country whose nerves snapped,” Utkin said. “They started testing absolutely everyone.” Such rigorous testing sent the number of confirmed cases skyrocketing, Utkin believes, with the alarming statistics soon driving panic and scoring international headlines. Over that past weekend, northern Italy, where the outbreak erupted, was put on lockdown, which was further extended to the whole of the country on Monday. At least 463 died of COVID-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus – across Italy as of Monday, and the total number of cases stands at over 9,000. While the spread of the outbreak is a legitimate reason for concern, Utkin said he does not believe that Italy will bear the brunt of the newest virus scourge in the Old World.

“I don’t’ believe that Italy is the European hotbed of coronavirus. It’s more or less the same everywhere. If you take the percentage [of tests], it’ll turn out, I think, that other countries have had it worse, even.” With Italy’s hospitals filled to the brim with coronavirus patients, suspected and confirmed, authorities have scaled back their zeal for testing, and are now screening only those who display particular symptoms or are considered to be at risk of complications. Italy will be reeling from the economic damage caused by the outbreak for the years to come, the expert told RT, predicting the country’s GDP might plummet as much as 10 percent in the first quarter of 2020.

“It would be a colossal slump, I don’t know how it will recover,” Utkin said, adding that the outbreak has completely “killed” the country’s burgeoning tourism and restaurant industries. Utkin is convinced that Italy will ask for financial assistance from the international community, but noted it will hardly be enough to offset the losses its economy has already suffered. “Italy has never fallen so deeply. I have not seen a crisis like this, in terms of economy as well as privacy.”

Read more …

Don’t think they thought this through. Trump and Pence are seen together all the time. If both fall gravely ill, Pelosi takes over. Is that what they want? No-go for the same reason they can’t travel together. President must be tested, VP too.

Trump Has Not Been Tested For Coronavirus – White House (R.)

U.S. President Donald Trump has not been tested for the coronavirus, the White House said on Monday, though at least two lawmakers with whom he has recently come into contact have announced they were self-quarantining after attending a conference with a person who had tested positive for the virus. “The President has not received COVID-19 testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms. President Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him,” White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, referring to the acronym describing the virus.

Read more …

US health care is already overwhelmed.

Seattle-Area Nursing Home Unable To Test 65 Workers With COVID-19 Symptoms (R.)

The Seattle-area nursing home at the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak said on Monday it had no kits to test 65 employees showing symptoms of the virus that has killed at least 13 patients at the long-term care center. The staffers, representing more than a third of the Life Care Center’s 180 employees, are out sick with symptoms resembling the coronavirus and a federal strike team of nurses and doctors is helping care for 53 patients remaining in the center. With the Kirkland, Washington, home accounting for over half of all coronavirus deaths in the United States, and all its patients tested, it was unclear why it had not been given kits for staff even as the University of Washington offered to process tests.

“We would like more kits to test employees,” Life Care Center spokesman Tim Killian told reporters, adding he did not know why they had not been forthcoming. “We’ve been asking the various government agencies that have been supplying us with test kits.” Twenty-six of the nursing home’s 120 patients have died since Feb. 19, with 13 of 15 autopsies carried out so far showing that the coronavirus was the cause. Twenty-one of the center’s residents, including those now in hospitals, have tested positive for the virus. The outbreak has shown how quickly the coronavirus spreads through elderly residents with weak immune systems and underlying health conditions living in close quarters.

“We’ve had patients who, within an hour’s time, show no symptoms to going to acute symptoms and being transferred to the hospital,” Killian told a news conference on Sunday. “And we’ve had patients die relatively quickly under those circumstances.”

Read more …

This will tempt people to party on day 6. Smart?

Coronavirus Symptoms Usually Take 5 Days To Appear – Study (CNN)

People infected by the novel coronavirus tend to develop symptoms about five days after exposure, and almost always within two weeks, according to a study released Monday. That incubation period is consistent with previous estimates from public health officials, and the findings suggest that 14 days of quarantine are appropriate for people potentially exposed to the coronavirus. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has used that standard during the current pandemic — recommending, for example, that people self-quarantine for two weeks after traveling to countries with widespread coronavirus transmission, such as Italy or South Korea.

When it comes to those quarantines, the incubation period “tells us how long it’s reasonable to do that,” said Justin Lessler, an author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, also suggests that symptomatic screening for the virus — such as temperature checks at an airport — may be missing recently infected people. “If somebody is in their incubation period, that is the window when somebody who’s already been infected can walk into the country and not be detected by symptom-based surveillance” said Lessler. That could explain why the CDC’s efforts to screen more than 46,000 fliers for “fever, cough, and shortness of breath” have resulted in just one positive coronavirus case, according to the CDC’s most recent screening data, which was released at the end of February.

[..] To estimate the incubation period, researchers scoured more than 180 reports of coronavirus in places without widespread transmission of the virus — areas, in other words, where infection was likely due to outside travel. Because the study was conducted early in the coronavirus epidemic, community transmission at the time was limited to Wuhan, China. That allowed researchers to estimate the “time of exposure” to the coronavirus by determining when a person was in Wuhan — the only plausible source of infection. By comparing travel to Wuhan with the emergence of symptoms, researchers could then estimate an incubation period for the virus: usually about 5 days, and rarely more than 12. “We have sort of a narrow window at the beginning of the epidemic to really tease out what’s going,” said Lessler. “If it’s everywhere, you don’t know where people got infected.”


Read more …

Smart comment. On CNN no less.

Bail Out The People First, Before Companies, In Coronavirus Crisis (Ghitis)

Unlike during the 2008 Great Recession, when the government leaped to assist financial institutions, the first priority this time should be helping individuals in need. Only then should we help businesses caught in this storm. By now, Trump should be wishing that the Federal Reserve Bank had ignored his pressure to lower interest rates. If rates were higher, the Fed would have much more powerful ammunition: it would be able to aggressively lower rates, which is the strongest weapon in its arsenal. But that arsenal is much depleted. In 2008, the government distributed hundreds of billions of dollars, mostly to bail out banks and large corporations. (GM was the main manufacturer rescued by the Obama administration.) While most banks survived, close to 10 million homeowners lost their houses to foreclosure; millions of people lost their jobs.


That overwhelming tilt in favor of helping struggling businesses instead of suffering individuals is, in my view, one of the reasons populism gained strength, as demonstrated by elections throughout western democracies in the 2010s. This time, the source of the problem is not a breakdown in the financial system. This is very different. We now face a major health assault. The pandemic is not only causing illnesses and straining health care resources, it is attacking the economy from a multitude of angles. Manufacturers are facing supply chain disruption, shortages are developing and demand is collapsing. [..] The obvious first order of business is clear: Everyone should have access to health care right now. It’s not only the humane thing to do, it’s the smartest way to slow the contagion. People who become infected should not fear bankruptcy if they go to the doctor. If they do, the epidemic will continue to spread.

Read more …

Chinese roulette?! Is this just so you can make a few extra iPhones?

China’s Hubei Province May Allow Residents To Travel (R.)

China’s Hubei province is studying plans to allow people in areas at a medium- or low-risk of contracting the coronavirus to start traveling, state media reported on Tuesday, citing a meeting chaired by the province’s party chief Ying Yong. The meeting, reported by the official Hubei Daily, said that they may allow people to start traveling by using a “health code”, a mobile-based monitoring system that has been rolled out by many local authorities in China in recent weeks. Hubei province and its capital Wuhan are at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Read more …

Oh, get a life.

Singapore Charges Visitors For Coronavirus Treatment (R.)

Singapore has started charging visitors for coronavirus treatment, the city-state said as it reported three new imported infections, two of which involved Indonesians. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, reported its first virus case earlier this month and officially has just 19 infections compared to 160 in Singapore. Disease experts have questioned how many cases go undiagnosed in Indonesia. Singapore’s new measures announced late Monday came into effect on March 7, when authorities said two symptomatic Indonesian travelers arrived in Singapore. Both had reported coronavirus symptoms in Indonesia before arriving in Singapore. One had previously sought treatment at a hospital in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.


Another case involved a Singaporean who had visited her sister in Indonesia who had pneumonia. Declaring its new stance on payment for treatment, the health ministry did not mention these specific cases. “In view of the rising number of COVID-19 infections globally, and the expected rise in the number of confirmed cases in Singapore, we will need to prioritise the resources at our public hospitals,” the health ministry said in a statement. Foreigners who are short-term visit pass holders who seek treatment for COVID-19 in Singapore need to pay but testing for the virus remains free. Treatment of severe respiratory infections in Singapore public hospitals typically cost between S$6,000 – S$8,000 ($4,300-5,800), according to the Ministry of Health’s website.

Read more …

Sure, funny at first. But not very long.

No Coronavirus Risk From Holy Communion, Says Greek Holy Synod (K.)

Amid fears of a broader coronavirus contagion across the country, the Holy Synod, the ruling body of the Greek Orthodox Church, on Monday issued a statement saying that the disease does not transmit through the distribution of holy communion by the chalice. “For the members of the Church, attending the Holy Eucharist… certainly cannot be a cause of disease transmission,” the Holy Synod said. “Faithful of all ages know that coming to receive the holy communion, even in the midst of a pandemic, is both a practical affirmation of self-surrender to the Living God and a potent manifestation of love,” it said. The Geek federation of hospital doctors has stressed that no exception “for religious, sacramental or metaphysical reasons” should be made to state health warnings to please the Church. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Greece stands at 73.

Read more …

The worst effect of the virus, I’m sure.

Smartphone Sales In China Were Halved In February (ZH)

Update (2015ET): Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives called the decline of iPhone sales in China a “doomsday type” like decline. Ives said the fall was an “unprecedented” drop and was “not surprising given the essential lockdown that most of China saw” in February. Wedbush expects Chinese demand to come back online in the second half of the year. [..] Alternative data first showed us the incoming economic crash developing in early February, only to be confirmed weeks later. Twin shocks plague the Chinese economy, which is a supply shock with manufacturers operating at less than full capacity, along with a demand shock, where consumers have been confined to their homes in forced quarantine, unable to spend.


So, on Monday morning, when new data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) reveals Apple smartphone sales in China were halved in February, this really shouldn’t surprise ZeroHedge readers, considering they’ve been well informed about what would happen next. And it wasn’t just Apple with plunging activity, all mobile phone brands operating in China saw shipments halved over the month. CAICT said 6.34 million devices were shipped last month, down 54.7% from 14 million in the same month the previous year. This was the lowest level of February shipments since 2012, when the CAICT data first became available. Android brands, including Huawei and Xiaomi, accounted for most of the drop, collectively saw shipments at 5.85 million units for the month, compared to 12.72 million units last year. Apple shipped 494,000 last month, down from 1.27 million in February 2019.

Read more …

Even if they got permission to fly the 737Max, there’d be no passengers on them.

Boeing Shares Plunge On Coronavirus, 737 MAX Wiring Bundle Setback (R.)

Shares of Boeing dropped more than 12% on Monday amid a broader market plunge as pressure mounted on global aviation from the spread of the coronavirus and U.S. regulators said they disagreed with Boeing’s argument about the safety of wiring bundles on the grounded 737 MAX jet. Underscoring the global risks for America’s largest exporter, Ethiopian investigators singled out faulty 737 MAX systems in a new interim report on last year’s crash, the second of two fatal accidents that plunged Boeing into its worst-ever crisis. Industry sources said airlines, facing a sharp drop in travel demand due to rising coronavirus outbreaks, were starting to request deferring aircraft deliveries and cash downpayments to Boeing and European rival Airbus.

Boeing shares were down at $229.12 in afternoon trading, a level not seen since 2017. Adding to a sense of mounting anxiety, Boeing’s new Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun was forced to apologize to senior staff after a rare attack on his predecessor and company leadership, which sources say provoked criticism from within the senior ranks of the company as well as the rank-and file. Calhoun, who took over as CEO in January after serving about a decade on Boeing’s board, told senior staff by email on Friday he was “both embarrassed and regretful” over his comments in a New York Times interview earlier in the week. “It suggests I broke my promise to former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, the executive team and our people that I would have their back when it counted most,” Calhoun said.

“I want to reassure you that my promise remains intact.” Calhoun’s email came as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Boeing on Friday it did not agree with the planemaker’s argument that its 737 MAX wiring bundles meet safety standards. Nonetheless, the FAA said it was now up to Boeing to decide how to proceed. [..] Boeing in February said it did not believe it was required to separate or move wiring bundles on its grounded 737 MAX jetliner that regulators had warned could cause a short circuit on the 737 MAX, and lead to a crash if pilots did not react soon enough. There are more than a dozen different spots on the 737 MAX where wiring bundles may be too close together. Most of the locations are under the cockpit in an electrical bay.

Read more …

“Erdogan is in Brussels, demanding help from NATO with both the conflict on his southern border and the migrants he tried to unleash on the West, now that neither situation is going according to plan.”

In Brussels, Erdogan Asks NATO For ‘Assistance’ On Syria And Migrants (RT)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Brussels, demanding help from NATO with both the conflict on his southern border and the migrants he tried to unleash on the West, now that neither situation is going according to plan. After meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday, the Turkish leader said he requested “additional assistance” from the alliance, for the “defense” of the Turkish border with Syria and “in connection with the migration challenge.” “We expect concrete support from all our allies to this struggle,” Erdogan added, urging the allies to support Turkey “without discrimination and with no political preconditions.” Stoltenberg praised Turkey as an “important” ally which has “contributed to our shared security in many ways,” and said the alliance is “prepared to continue to support Turkey and we are exploring what more we may be able to do.”


It is unclear what those platitudes may amount to in practice, however. Ankara did not bother coordinating with its NATO allies when it sent troops into Syria’s Idlib province last month – or back in October 2019, causing some strain within the bloc. Though it seemed for a moment that Turkish and Russian troops in Syria might come to blows, the crisis was averted when Erdogan went to Moscow and agreed to a ceasefire last week. The main focus of Erdogan’s trip to Brussels is Greece’s refusal to open its border to a wave of migrants that the Turkish president unleashed amid the recent fighting in Syria. Tens of thousands of migrants – only a few actual refugees from the Syrian conflict among them, apparently – heard the borders were open and surged towards Greece, only to be halted at the border fence.

Read more …

International arrest warrant?

Prince Andrew Won’t Voluntarily Cooperate In Epstein Inquiry – Prosecutor (G.)

Prince Andrew has “completely shut the door” on cooperating with US investigators in the Jeffrey Epstein case and they are now “considering” further options, a New York prosecutor said on Monday. Andrew was a friend of Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender whose death in custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York last year was ruled a suicide. Andrew denies all claims of sexual misconduct relating to the Epstein case but has stepped back from public duties as a result of his connection to it. Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Manhattan US attorney Geoffrey Berman said: “Contrary to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to cooperate with our investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation and our office is considering its options.”


In November, Andrew said he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required”. Berman made a similar claim in January, which former sex crimes prosecutors told the Guardian was most likely a move designed to win political support for the investigation. Buckingham Palace said then it would not comment and the matter was being dealt with by the prince’s legal team. Contacted on Monday, a Palace spokeswoman said: “The issue is being dealt with by the Duke of York’s legal team.” Buckingham Palace has consistently refused to reveal any details of Andrew’s legal team but the Duke has reportedly hired Clare Montgomery, a senior barrister at Matrix Chambers, whose clients have included Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s former dictator [..] She also prosecuted the Metropolitan police over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead in a failed anti-terror operation.

Read more …

A new element: Assange could face death penalty after all. The UK cannot extradite if it’s in play.

Court Case Against Alleged CIA Vault 7 Whistleblower Ends In Mistrial (WSWS)

The federal proceedings against Joshua Schulte, a former employee of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who was accused by the American government of providing WikiLeaks with a trove of documents exposing illegal spying operations, have ended in a mistrial. After a week of deliberations, the jury returned on Monday to state that it could not reach an agreement on the most serious charges facing Schulte. The divided opinion centred on eight counts under the Espionage Act, including illegally gathering and transmitting national defence information. The jury had only agreed to convict Schulte on the lesser counts of contempt of court and making false statements to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Schulte will remain imprisoned and likely faces a retrial.

The failure of the prosecution to convict Schulte of the charges relating to WikiLeaks’ 2017 Vault 7 publication, which consisted of leaked documents from within the CIA, is significant. It may mark a hurdle in the campaign of the US government against WikiLeaks and its publisher Julian Assange, who faces extradition from Britain to the US and prosecution under Espionage Act charges over separate 2010 and 2011 releases. It is clear that if he is extradited, Assange could face additional US charges, possibly related to Vault 7. Three days after closing arguments in the Schulte trial, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials confirmed that it was possible that Assange would face additional counts carrying the death penalty if he was dispatched to the US.

The timing of their statements, which contradict the previous claims of US allies, could indicate that there is much at stake for Assange in the attempted US prosecution of Schulte. [..] The publication of Vault 7 in early 2017 was the trigger for a major escalation in the US government vendetta against Assange, culminating in his illegal expulsion from Ecuador’s London embassy last year, his arrest by the British police and imprisonment in a maximum-security prison. Schulte’s trial, moreover, coincided with the first week of the British extradition hearing against Assange, which underscored the similarities in the lawless treatment of the WikiLeaks publisher and his alleged CIA source. Prosecutors have described the Vault 7 leak, which they accuse Schulte of being responsible for, as the largest in the entire history of the CIA.

Read more …

[..] establishment Democrats were the ones who first spread insinuations and even explicit accusations about Biden’s cognitive decline when they thought doing so could help them defeat him and/or because it genuinely concerned them regarding his ability to defeat Trump.

Democrats Were The FIrst To Discuss Biden’s Cognitive Fitness (Greenwald)

it is visible to the naked eye that the 77-year-old six-term Senator and two-term Vice President is in serious cognitive decline. That is a grave matter not just because the establishment wing of the Democratic Party wants to put him in charge of the world’s most dangerous nuclear arsenal, a large chunk of the planet’s health, and the welfare of hundreds of millions of people, but also because it directly pertains to whether he can sustain the rigors and spotlight of a General Election against the incumbent President. And multiple incidents over the past couple weeks — from Biden’s forgetting the words of the most iconic and memorized passage of the Declaration of Independence to confusing his wife for his sister to spouting sentences that make no sense — have only intensified those worries.

But, as the Democratic establishment has united with creepy speed and obedience behind Biden in order to stop the Sanders candidacy, those who now raise these concerns instantly come under a withering assault of insults and attacks from Democratic Party operatives along with their crucial media allies: thinly disguised pro-Biden reporters who continue to insist on wearing the unconvincing and fraudulent costume of neutrality. They are invoking the classic Orwellian formulation from the novel 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

CNN’s Democratic Party consultant Karen Finney condemned the discussion of Biden’s cognitive capabilities as “truly a disgusting low blow,” demanding that former Democratic presidential candidates Julian Castro and Cory Booker — both of whom themselves had commented upon Biden’s cognitive failures (on camera!) — announce (falsely) that their prior comments about Biden had been distorted. Castro’s Communication’s Director, Sawyer Hackett, dutifully accused those who were raising these concerns of “push[ing] Trump messaging about Biden”; he also denied that Castro (or Booker) had ever themselves questioned Biden’s cognitive competence, warning those who are raising the issue: “don’t try to throw Julián and Cory in front of you when you do.”

Meanwhile, Politico and CNN reporter Ryan Lizza, more devoted to defending Biden than even DNC functionaries, spent all weekend conspiratorially insinuating that journalists who were raising concerns over Biden’s cognitive fitness were part of a joint “coordinated” attack from the Sanders and Trump campaigns. Lizza and others like him promoted various outraged articles from Democratic Party-loyal sites expressing all kinds of indignation — after four years of open season of musing casually about Trump’s dementia — that anyone would even dare discuss Biden’s cognitive fitness to occupy the most powerful political position in the world. They all insisted that this was some sort of very recent invention on the part of the Sanders and Trump world to stop the Biden juggernaut: a last-minute act of desperation from the Far Right and the Far Left as Biden ascends to his rightful place in the Oval Office.

The problem with all of this? Aside from the fact that Biden’s cognitive decline is visible to the naked eye and it is incredibly reckless and repressive to demand that it be supressed, these concerns were first raised not by Trump operatives nor by Sanders supporters, nor were they first raised within the last several weeks. Quite the opposite is true: they were raised repeatedly over the last year principally by Democratic Party officials and their most loyal allies in the media.

Read more …

The day the stupid MH17 trial starts, which will take years, The Guardian runs this by Luke Harding. And if there’s anyone to rival Harding in the lying sack-of-shit department, it’s Bill Browder. So that’s who Harding writes about.

Russia ‘Hired Network Of Britons To Go After Enemies Of Putin’ (G.)

Russia has been accused of hiring a network of British politicians and consultants to help advance its criminal interests and to “go after” Vladimir Putin’s enemies in London, MPs who drew up the Russia report suppressed by Boris Johnson were told. In secret evidence submitted to parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC), the campaigner and financier Bill Browder claimed Moscow had been able to “infiltrate” UK society by using well-paid British intermediaries. Some had “reason to know exactly what they are doing and for whom”, Browder told the committee. Others “work unwittingly for Russian state interests”, he said.

The alleged intermediaries include politicians from both Labour and the Conservative parties, former intelligence officers and diplomats, and leading public relations firms. Collectively, they form what Browder calls a “western buffer network”. There is no suggestion in Browder’s testimony that British citizens broke the law. The regime in Moscow uses these professionals to mask its “entangled” state and criminal interests, he alleged. It deploys them to attack Putin critics, “enhance Russian propaganda and disinformation” and to “facilitate and conceal massive money-laundering operations”, he said. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Browder’s claims false and “totally groundless”. Questions about corruption at the heart of the Russian state were “a perfect example of a maniac-style Russophobia”, Peskov said.

[..] Browder was one of several expert witnesses invited to give evidence to MPs and peers. In September 2018 he submitted a 14-page statement, which included a number of recommendations. They include setting up a US-style register of individuals working for foreign state interests, as well as extra resources for regulators, investigators, police and prosecutors. He calls on Companies House in London to review filings made by firms linked to Russian money-laundering scandals. Speaking to the Guardian, Browder said: “Yes, there are members of the Russian security services working out of the Russian embassy under diplomatic cover. [..] “There are Russian oligarchs who have a much greater impact on the security of this country. What’s most shocking is that the Russian government is indirectly hiring British nationals to assist them in its intelligence operations.”

Read more …

 

Do it yourself face mask

 


 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 10 2020

Viewing 31 posts - 1 through 31 (of 31 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #55063

    James F. Gibson Tent of A. Foulke, sutler, 1st Brigade, Horse Artillery. Brandy Station, Virginia 1864   • Thread: Intensivist/A&E Consultant
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 10 2020]

    #55064
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    James F. Gibson Tent of A. Foulke, sutler, 1st Brigade, Horse Artillery. Brandy Station, Virginia 1864

    Great photograph; it’s interesting to look around at that scene; there is a lot going on there…

    #55065

    All of a sudden Switzerland reports 123 new cases; their total was 374 till now.

    #55066
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Looking more and more like the real deal; get the facts, and deal accordingly…
    There is no road map for this…

    #55067
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    Wow, Raul, you work your tail off! And am not just noticing that suddenly, (will hit patreon right away) thank you.

    In a small town hosting a big University and everyone’s talking about: “What happens when the students come back from spring break (after mainly going home to DC, NJ, Maryland..)?

    Yeah, what happens?

    Was thinking about the Art of the Deal… It seems the President’s methods of jaw-boning and self-promoting, running the other down, bullying, and bribing are ineffective against this type of adversary.

    Sort of reminds me of a near altercation a neighbor recently had with two aggressive “bullying” guys. So neighbor, he picked up a shovel, to even things out. One of the aggressive bullies said, “I ain’t afraid of no shovel!” to which neighbor replied, “Hey dipshit, this shovel doesn’t care if you’re scared or not when it hits you upside the head!”

    I think the virus (whatever it’s name today) is the same. It clearly won’t be talked-to-death, bullied or bribed.

    #55068
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Is there any better example of the fascistic, authoritarian madness than Pence and Trump touting
    the CEOs of hospitals and healthcare companies with whom they are going to meet as the leadership source to lead us out of
    this mess?

    Ain’t no self-respecting doctor waiting to be told what do.

    Use to be doctors functioned independent of this leadership cult/madness, but to do so now just results in the state Medical Boards labeling that physician a disruptive employee suitable or summary dismissal by the Compensation Committee which just approved a 7-figure package for the nonphysician CEO

    #55069
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Success! Sentiment, which was 99% Bull positive last month is now +90% Bear negative. Okay! Shorts are in! Rocket is fueled and ready for launch. And here I thought we’d have to get under 20k and into April 1st. Silly billy. Not with computers and markets that are unrelated to anything real at all! Then it’s just bits and emotions. Almost like Crypto!

    Over the 20% bear market level to lure the technical traders in, all systems go.

    In other news, they detonated the last girders underpinning the petrodollar, as long-staged. I wondered why we played ball with MbS and Saudi arms, and now I know. I may not approve, but I understand why they played quid pro quo for this time when Cheeto would call the favor and hit the last oil mooring hard, freeing the dollar and the financial reset. Probably didn’t have Wuhan in mind when they planned it though.

    “I have worked in Italy, UK and Aus” and America.

    Huh? What credentials could he possibly have to make this legally possible? He’s an administrator, right?

    Anyway, every death is a tragedy for someone, what’s the death rate? Are you taking the year’s average flu death rate and packing it into one month with one flu variety? We don’t know. If so, we’re like 100,000 deaths short.

    “the outbreak has completely “killed” the country’s burgeoning tourism”

    Yes, but then the Germans and Brits will be spending that money back home instead. You’re just adjusting the same economy in different directions that otherwise would be fine, but happening too fast. But I have an answer! Fascism! Central Planning! We will MAKE people keep having holidays in Italy by FORCE. You will go, Comrade, whether you enjoy it or not. I’m sure just like China’s totalitarian central planning shock force, this will totally work and contain both the virus and the economy. No? I thought violently ordering people around to maintain the status quo was the answer to all problems.

    “Trump should be wishing that the Federal Reserve Bank had ignored his pressure to lower interest rates.”

    Whisky Tango Foxtrot. He wishes we had higher rates so we could lower rates? Because the ALREADY lower rates aren’t lower rates? By this logic, we should wish we have 100,000 masks in warehouses so we don’t have them in hospitals. Then we could RELEASE them to hospitals and be MUCH safer.

    Here’s an idea: if the economy is ALREADY hotter because of rates, wouldn’t that make it ALREADY stronger against headwinds? #AntiLogic.

    The pandemic is not only causing illnesses and straining health care resources”

    Really? Where? Now bait-and-switch conflate world problems with U.S. problems, in classic CNN #AntiNews.

    “Everyone should have access to health care right now” “It’s … only the humane thing to do,”

    Thankfully the laws of physics have been suspended now and we don’t have to worry about who will pay for it and how it will work. And it’s lucky it’s humane, because, Mr. Ghitis, we ALREADY all have access to EXCELLENT health care. Just walk in. Especially if you’re bankrupt, illegal, or in prison, for only then can you get the BEST care. How much better can it possibly be? …We just don’t have an answer to how to pay for it. Which we don’t have now, didn’t have before, and have never had in human history. NHS is failing, Finland, Sweden failing, France, riots from raising taxes from failing, Canada, even shipping their surgeries here, still failing, China, communist system, failing. But it won’t fail this time! ‘Cause I thought in in my head and said it with my mouth. Laws of physics are voluntary, subject to my will. Speak my will to power, and lo! Gravity obeys! There was a certain Angel who said this, and next he had to move out.

    The Geek federation of hospital doctors”

    I want to be part of this Geek Federation. Otherwise hired as their copy editor, a mythical beast now long believed extinct.

    “iPhone sales in China a “doomsday type” like decline.”

    It’s almost like they were dummies and the worst, most extractive company in the world and, despite stiff warnings both hyper-verticalized their whole supply chain to a single point of failure AND put in all in one nation, that ran open concentration camps, with a dictator-for-life, who had suicidal slaves work for you. So Progressive! So hip! All the cool kids love slavery, fascist dictators, and ethnic concentration camps for dissidents! Google said so! …These people drive me crazy.

    How about this: Apple is a suck company that deserves to fail and be wiped from the earth for being stupid, stupid, stupid about 20 ways to Sunday to squeeze a fraction of a nickel from the blood of the poorest to the richest, most insider shareholders on earth. Companies that live that far out on the tree get cut off. Bye.

    “Life is hard. But it’s harder if you’re stupid.” –John Wayne

    The publication of Vault 7 in early 2017 was the trigger for a major escalation in the US”

    Again, he was not responsible for Vault 7…exactly…nor some of the other leaks The Guardian put out against his wishes and over his frenetic work. …But then blamed HIM for THEIR laziness and unconcern. Can we arrest The Guardian and give them the death penalty instead? Public service like? (A: sadly, no. They are still the press. Unlike Europe, China, Britain, Canada, Sweden, we still believe in free speech.)

    the establishment wing of the Democratic Party wants to put him in charge”

    Nah, they’re going to have him retire the minute he picks HRC or Michelle as VP. As planned way back. Probably didn’t think it would get this bad, but it only helps their case. So who’ll be VP to the VP? Oh and remember, HRC never collapsed in public on a mild, breezy, 70f day and was bodily hauled off in black SUVs on camera. That was 4 years ago so she’s MUCH healthier now. Nope. Even though you saw it, asking questions is an illegal conspiracy theory. RussiaRussiaRussia. Now that Russian thing, everyone on earth is working for Russia, all 8 Billion of them, is totally true. They shut off my heat in Fargo! Oh wait, that was Wells Fargo, when their fake accounts and fake overdraft fees evicted me from my house. Welp, nothing to see here! Rachael Maddow’s on!

    #55071
    zerosum
    Participant

    USA has the best health system in the world (If you can pay for it)
    • Seattle-Area Nursing Home Unable To Test 65 Workers With COVID-19 Symptoms (R.)
    ——–
    Good new for travelling Americans
    Foreigners who are short-term visit pass holders who seek treatment for COVID-19 in Singapore need to pay but testing for the virus remains free.

    Treatment of severe respiratory infections in Singapore public hospitals typically cost between S$6,000 – S$8,000 ($4,300-5,800), according to the Ministry of Health’s website.
    ——-
    Italy, announced a jubilee/deferral of mortgage payments for those affected by the virus, I wonder what kind of paper trail/maze/challenge that will be needed to receive that help.

    #55072
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Unless you are for anarchy, we need leaders in our society (yes even leaders in hospitals and leaders for doctors to Dr.D Rich). We find ourselves with incredibly corrupt and plain poor leaders, the cadre of which helped put us in the financial mess we find ourselves facing. All that said I see also the benefits of having coordination of activities which involves leadership – roads and hospitals don’t get built without someone directing things. Poor quality leadership does not negate the need for leadership.

    #55073
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Don’t think they thought this through. Trump and Pence are seen together all the time. If both fall gravely ill, Pelosi takes over. Is that what they want? No-go for the same reason they can’t travel together. President must be tested, VP too.”

    Putting aside the possibility they’ve been discretely tested and really are going commando, this speaks to me of their ultimate disconnexion from raw reality. Getting sick is for the riff-raff. If the average bloke thinks he won’t get it, what about extraordinary people like Beltway upper-crusts?

    One assumes this refers to post-use TP. 😉

    When we went to Costoco yesterday, it was just for our usual every-3-months TP purchase, not to, I dunno, use TP to improvise face masks to sell on e-bay.

    The above is brilliant. Add some bat ears and I’m Batman! But srsly, good effective hack. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a time when publicly wearing underwear on your head was both accepted and admired.

    Meanwhile, not every population is as docile as that of China, an uncommonly unified nationality:

    Burning Down the House

    #55074
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    “Leadership”, it’s a mantra. Just repeat it often enough to let some sociopath or malignant narcissist soak up most the credit for other people doing things that the leader could never do even in their wildest dreams. Don’t fall for the seduction by these masters of “acquisitive projective Identification”.
    Btw, telling a doctor what do, isn’t that engaging in the practice of medicine?

    #55075
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Now we begin to get a glimpse of the kinds of craziness we’re in for:

    Cough! You’re Dead!

    What’s so wild about this passage is that it is happening smack on top dead center of the 80-year Fourth Turning cycle. If anything were an argument for the release of this contagion being part of a deliberate globalist/anti-globalist scheme, it’s the timing. But this assumes a degree of competence I do not usually associate with global elites, who only survive by having fat governments to suck for profit. If it is an intentional release, than Dr. Strangelove got incredibly lucky,* cuz fuckers like them can’t find their own genitals with both hands tied to a stack of vintage Playboys.

    *in the short run. In the long run, Dr. Strange is probably gonna get real sick after burying his mother.

    #55076
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Elegant quotes via Market Oracle

    “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

    “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.” – Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

    #55077
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Even dullards are starting to lose faith in the authorities, so a descent into chaos seems imminent.” James Quinn

    #55078
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “A market crash before the November election could lead to a narrow victory by a Sanders or Bloomberg, as an angry populace blames Trump, who has taken full credit for this market bubble. The election of either would just ratchet up the vitriol and dissent roiling across the land. Discontent among the masses would spread around the world, leading politicians to try to distract their people with foreign enemies threatening their freedom. This is when the global war scenario of this Fourth Turning has the highest likelihood of commencing.”

    I agree. I’d rather Trump stay in office at this point. But I think we are going to be surprized this November. I anticipate maximum weirdness.

    #55079

    Italy new cases are down from 1,797 yesterday to 977 today.

    But their deaths are up 168 in just one day, to 631.

    #55080
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    I read that Harvard has asked students not to return after spring break, true?

    My professor friends are talking of teaching “on-line” so this won’t be a big inconvenience. To them. From what I see, these same academics are seeing the world in a very simplistic way: everything just moves along, log on and continue. It seems to me that economic and/or political factors will quickly rise (already have?) in importance. I have laborer friends who have clients telling them: “Sorry. Money market account is down, no work for you”.

    One thing that’s crossed my mind is ALL the entities that have political influence, approaching the powers-that-be in prostration, asking to be (financially) “saved”, and arguing why they are more important than the other. What kinds of numbers could we be talking about? Mind-numbing…

    #55081
    zerosum
    Participant

    The USA “management” of the virus causes the following results ….
    Being self quarantined is too late.
    Impossible and a waste of time to try to find “patient zero”
    The health system will be unable to cope.
    The weak and old will be affected the most.
    etc.
    Lets call this the americanvirus.

    #55082
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I dunno. If you’ve ever worked in any business or industry or tried to get anything useful done, ever (naturally that excludes government), you could shoot every “leader” and no one would notice at all. Things would probably improve.

    Since government is nothing BUT ordering people around, exclusively to do things that shouldn’t be done, like robbing some people to pay for killing others, then I suppose you would need leaders. But remember: THEY don’t do…anything. If they did any work, they’d be “Laborers”. You know, doctors, machinists, carpenters, toilet cleaners, drug dealers: honest work. They have the only job in the whole nation that we exclusively, by definition, don’t need. Even stockbrokers like Gordon Gekko are more useful: they put weak, stupid businesses out of their misery.

    Ah, but as our founders said, anarchy or democracy (but I repeat myself) is no solution, so government we have. Somehow there must be a structure to pay the courts, be public liaisons with the military, and run the post office and patent office, at a loss, extremely badly. Other than that, I couldn’t be happier to hear every one of them has coronavirus. If they stayed home with hot orange juice we might save 500 bombs and 5,000 lives a week.
    https://www.cfr.org/blog/how-many-bombs-did-united-states-drop-2016

    Of course if everyone didn’t love it — and them — as icons and our very gods to worship, WE would stay home and cut off their taxes, and save those 26,000 bombs/year while taking a well-earned vacation. …Then go back to working having fired them all with a 30% pay raise.

    In any case, “Leader” is clearly synonym for “doesn’t do work”, “stole my paycheck”, “doesn’t know jack” and “doesn’t make good decisions” in every year of my experience. Congress is rated below “bedbugs” but edged out “ebola” for reason. My heroes.

    Here’s the deal in America: I’M the leader. I’M the boss. The people are the boss of congress, not the employees. We don’t need you. You need us.

    #55083
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    This Seems Apt

    I nominate it for the Anti-Logos Oscars, but it started wityh me wondering what boilingfrog’s scenario:

    “ALL the entities that have political influence, approaching the powers-that-be in prostration, asking to be (financially) “saved”, and arguing why they are more important than the other.”

    And I kept hearing Dr. Smith wailing in despair was was his usual want between bouts of thoughtless greedheadf scheming. Which produced a green sex goddess in the windshield, and who can gainsay that?

    #55084
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “I dunno. If you’ve ever worked in any business or industry or tried to get anything useful done, ever (naturally that excludes government), you could shoot every “leader” and no one would notice at all. Things would probably improve.”

    DOc, you say some amazingly brilliant things that you thoughtfully balance with total klunkers. The above is such. In the entire order of biological nature, hierarchy manifests itself either intra-specially or inter-specially. The function of leader runs throughout life.

    Humans put a label on it, put a uniform on it, givwe it a title and a badge if only a nametag that says manager, and thereby distorts our view of and involvement in this function of focusing group activity through a central point (like a harness rigging horses to a wagon).

    Give people full anarchy and they’ll elect a boss in a week. People would definitekly notice the absence.

    Much more critical is the idea of submission. In nature, critters fight for dominance and submit only provisionally after some struggle. Civilized humanity, raised on a series of brain-entrainments all based on Do What You’re Told and Don’t Do What Is Forbidden, has taken the fundamentally cybernetically logical concept of Leader and turned it into something one should really only see in absurd dreams, but alas, they spilled out and colored our world.

    #55086
    WES
    Participant

    Dr. D:. Leadership is kind of a strange thing to define.

    We often think leadership means making a lot of noise in front of a group of people.

    However most leadership really comes from quiet determined individuals just going about their daily lives. These kinds of people lead by simply putting their thoughts into action. If they are not there, then nothing happens. For these types of people you can safely shoot their leaders and nothing will happen!

    Some of these quiet leaders are socially shy. They don’t say much. They just quietly convert their thoughts into reality. However try to divert them from their tasks, you will only succeed temporarily, because as soon as you stop pushing them, they will revert right back to doing what they perceive to be their first priority.

    Sometimes when trying to push them against their will, they will suddenly and unexpectedly react in a manner you don’t expect. Then you have discovered too late, that they won’t jump off the cliff as you were expecting them too!

    I call these types crocodiles! Push them too hard and they will quietly lure you into deeper and deeper water, before suddenly turning on you and drowning you!

    Crocodiles are leaders too!

    #55087
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Just for shitzies, I’ll put my marker down now that the DNC, despite its stunning best efforts to lose, will end up with the White House. Things are just that crazy and that bad. Wish we could keep Trump but I think the terms of engagement are moving beyond the art of his deal. Ron Paul is simply too decent to be elected POTUS and the GOP has no real young rock stars. (Today’s GOP: the All-Male All-White Old Guys Mens Choir.)

    Don’t ask me how, but I’m coming to genuinely fear a DNC win. The bar has been lowered so much by both parties, and the times so demandingly turbulent, it almost demands something that insane to happen. Last time I made an impulsive prediction like that was around ’13 when I called Cruz for ’16, not knowing that even wilder maniacs would seek the office. It’s logical to call for a Bernie win but that’s too plausible. And Tulsi’s so honest she better have half the SEAL corps guarding her if she grows real numbers. Maybe it will be in the form of Nancy Pelosi as the only player left un-coughing come election time?

    The likelihood of an election contested not just partisanly but populistically cranks up the weirdness. One recalls the very successful recent gun rally in Virginia. Grass roots, real grass roots, can form ranks and move quickly these days. Gun rights, babies for better water, you name it.

    “Trump will be reelected in a landslide,” says an evangelical fellow I know who follows this stuff closer than most but with that evangelical, you know… zeal. He don’t say it but somehow you know he thinks Trump is, like, Chosen, you know? Which is cool. God loves a fool and Trump is one crazy fool. Gotta love him. (Rod Stegier from Dr. Zhivago hollering “Clayyyy!!!! Clayyyy!!!!”

    I said the same thing two months ago, I replied. But things like mutant viruses, a global geopolitical tailspin in full swing, and an economy shuddering downward as the result (well in progress), change that.

    I saw the look on Pence’s face when Trump made him the Kung Flu Boss. Fall guy. But it won’t work.

    Voters are fickle. Jimmy C was everyone’s darling until he wasn’t. Jimmy wemt in to drain the swamp and they fought him too.

    That said, new things could turn in Trump’s favor. But he’s up against real, not political nor digital banking, reality. Reality, especially biological reality, wins against guys like Trump, easily. Man in the Wilderness he is not. No combovers wanted. (note to self: human hair probably makes great firestarter)

    I wish it was still political reality that prevailed, cuz his loose cannonism was perfect for this transition, imo. But now it’s physical reality. You can’t bankrupt your way out of that.

    I feel sorry for whomever gets the job, though. Unless it’s Jesus His Own Almighty Ass, history will not be kind to them.

    “This will pass. Trump will have several bombs to drop on the DNC before the election. This is an all out media blitz to take him down. Every 4 years there is an “outbreak” about to destroy humanity, that is, until the election is over,” he replied, catching my attention. It worried him a bit, I could tell.

    Oh, this outbreak ain’t gonna destroy humanity blah blah…., I replied, but it is already pincering a way over-extended just-in-time supply chain and already has ample momentum (like how a mere 6-foot tsunami can go way inland and wreak havoc) to create a major reset, which tsunami wave Trump will have great difficulty surfing to his political advantage. Unless miracles occur soon to reverse the economic hemorrhage, enormous social discomfort will create disruption without large death statistics.

    It’s not Trump versus the DNC, as I see it. It’s Trump versus a major economic collapse along with the usual blase’ horrors, from smoky Australia to drowning Tennessee, or… all of which is ongoing hemorrhage too.

    I don’t fear the DNC winning because I see it offering anything superior. I don’t. Many would say Bernie is but I’ve tracked him too long not to know he sucks Pentagon schnizzel like the rest of them, which is one reason why he might end up in the White house. The Praetorian guard will ignore its wealthy benefactors for awhile and back the “crazy socialist” if it’s what keeps the nation together and their defense contracts going. (I think of the Pentagon as the Catholic church but with better taste in whom to rape.)

    But I don’t think it will be Bernie (which is more reason to think that’s who it will be;) ). I think fate will sweep aside Trump’s poll charisma at a very bad time and then, somehow, some ungodly Hillary Reagan beast will appear fully formed from Pelosi’s cleavage like Maggie Thatcher in a JFKennedy wig.

    All I’m actually saying is that the potential for real crazy evil lurks in my gut spidey-jammies about this in an icky way of late.

    There will be a period this year of many missed weeks of work, even months, for far too many people, accompanied by various shortages on the market shelves, some important, many not, but none good because every void indicates a string of jobs also now vacant. That changes a plebiscite’s mood real fast. So I’ll hold to my irrational bet on the party determined to lose so it can continue bullying Trump from the Congressional pulpit so it can avoid real disclosure about real criminal activities by most of its many — especially dominant — members.

    I don’t think the DNC wants to win (I didn’t think Trump wanted the job and still think so, altho he’s learned to enjoy the ride for awhile) but will find itself somehow forced to. Like maybe the debbil will make em do it.

    All that said, what makes what I suggest even entertainable as a notion is an environment so volatile it could easily turn around in a way that carries Trump to a record win. More or less equally likely. But my guts isn’t scared of Trump winning; they smell stink approaching the other direction. And if a man can’t poetically empower his wily intuitions, what fun is it?

    Something Wicked…

    #55088
    WES
    Participant

    The DNC’s election theatre is doing a good job of creating lots of drama these days!

    Now that the hired cast, earier voted off the stage, have all rallied around brain dead Joe, the next scene has the DNC hiding Joe!

    Obviously the side of beef directing the DNC’s theatre isn’t willing to take any chances that old Joe might steal her nominatiion!

    #55089
    zerosum
    Participant

    The new president will be who is left standing after the virus eliminate those running that are over 65 yr. old?

    #55090
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    I am inclined to agree with bosco.

    The last time I voted in an election (and the last time I probably ever will vote) was to vote to Obama for his first term. My vote was not so much a vote for Obama as it was a vote to repudiate Dubya. Similarly, I think a lot of people voted for Trump as a repudiation of Hilary and the DNC. Although the DNC is still worthy of repudiation, I think the country’s mood will change significantly between now and November. I expect that the populace will be ready to repudiate Trump for his incompetence and total failure to take the necessary steps to contain this when it was still possible. Then again, I would not be surprised if the election is canceled and the US is under martial law by that time.

    #55091
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Thailand’s economy is primarily tourism based, followed by manufacturing and exports.
    One of our neighbors is a very good seamstress who, for the last couple of years, has been contracting to make window curtains for new tourist buses; she hasn’t has any work from them for 4 days now.
    It’s becoming obvious the CV-19 is affecting economies/people, across the board; and in ways never previously considered by this one.
    What’s especially concerning is the fact this thing is just starting…
    I think few of us have considered the depth of the ramifications yet to come…

    #55092
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Now that we have a big cluster in Seoul, it looks like it is only a matter of days before I am working from home. Although this has all been a sudden change, I have to admit that I have been able to catch up on my sleep over the last few weeks. And I suddenly have time to read some books that have been on my “to read” list — though I have not had the time or energy until now. My wife is not an instinctive prepper. It has been a battle to convince her to stock up on things. She is used to the Korean way, where 85% of grocery shopping here is now online. Every day we get at least half a dozen boxes delivered, usually more than that.

    #55093

    So I asked him: isn’t there anywhere where you got something you loved and it was not a reward for something you had done?
    He insisted there was not.
    I looked at him and asked, “what about us?”
    Do you recognize there are things that cascade over us that we had no hand in, and these are the things that shape our lives?

    #55107
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    My son works in a major downtown hotel in Seattle. Been there a year or more.

    His hours are down to helium squeak. Hotel capacity 20%. All his roommates work in hospitality. His ex-girlfriend, who rooms with his roommate’s girlfriend, work in hospitality.

    #55109
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Hmmm…. brain dead Joe. Just realized this clown could any day utter in public very dark private secrets involving him and other Dems. I would think they seek to muzzle him. He’s too gonezo to realize he’s already lost. Talk about a loose cannon… you know, a debate between Biden and Trump would be fascinating: intentional lying vs unintentional lying. On both sides. What a show.

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