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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[facilitatorn]

http://crooksandliars.com/2020/04/republican-party-has-become-death-cult

[bodiddley]

There's been talk that after testing ramps up you'd need something like 300K contact tracers nationwide in order to re-open the economy safely.  Well, there are millions newly unemployed, and between being hired as temp contact tracers for a few months and US census workers, the US can employ these folks doing useful work.  Then when the economy gets back on its feet, many will be rehired at their previous jobs.

[barton]

Flight as milestone of modernity?  For overall effect on everyone's life,  and for shrinking distances in the world,  I'd nominate the telegraph,  ca.  1840.  (just an aside,  re Josh's mention of flight,  and bros Montgolfier)

Here's a country that probably won't embrace vigorous contact tracing:

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/18/837933706/nicaragua-not-backing-down-despite-criticism-over-lax-measures-during-pandemic

Not only has the government failed to issue stay-at-home or social distancing orders, the 74-year old Ortega dropped out of public view for more than a month. He finally reappeared Wednesday to give a live speech broadcast to the nation. Surrounded by top officials, Ortega decried the pandemic as a sign from God and said the U.S. should spend less on atomic bombs and more on hospitals.   

When Marxists grow old,  they sometimes slip into the God talk.   "Opium of the people."

[barton]

https://wapo.st/3bmtn95?fbclid=IwAR3ohUveSrKykkoNVnAMAO8Ii6nkXs24toaJLjj60LYBGi-tzNbET75warM

#FloridaMorons trends after people flock to reopened Florida beaches
On the same day as Florida's highest daily coronavirus death toll, DeSantis told reporters that it’s essential Floridians get exercise outdoors

DeSantis is the biggest Florida Dolt, by far.

What's also needed (besides more gray matter upstairs) is research on the viability of viral particles in open sunlit air.   If people are spread out on beaches, with plentiful UV rays pouring down,  and a sea breeze,  there might not be transmission.   I don't see solid data on this.   The problem is that basic ethical one of conducting an experiment with the beach as the laboratory and the public as unwitting subjects.   People going to the beach are going to assume they're safe... and that could lead to false confidence and breaches in social distance.   

[barton]

Sorry to triple post,  I know this decreases chances of reading this last one,  but believe me this last is the one to read (written by Andrew Marantz, a nephew of former NYT forumite Gary Marantz) so I hope eyes are not glazing over....

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/studying-fascist-propaganda-by-day-watching-trumps-coronavirus-updates-by-night

When he insinuates that Trump is a fascist—and you don’t have to be a philosopher of language to catch the insinuation—he means that Trump talks like a fascist, not necessarily that he governs like one. Still, many passages in Stanley’s book begin with a discussion of Germany in the nineteen-thirties, or Rwanda in the nineteen-nineties, before pivoting to a depiction of the contemporary United States. “Ever since my book came out, I’ve been fighting with critics who go, ‘You’re overreacting, you’re exaggerating, it’s irresponsible to call this fascism or that fascism,’ ” Stanley said. “I’ll point to a step Trump has taken—he’s using ICE to round up children, he’s surrounding himself with loyalists and generals, he’s using the apparatus of government to dig up dirt on a political rival—and the response is always ‘Sure, that’s bad, but it’s not a big enough step to justify the F-word.’ I’m starting to feel like the it’s-not-a-big-enough-step people won’t be happy until they’re in concentration camps.”    

Noah Kopf, a junior at Yale College, spoke from his childhood bedroom, in Newton, Massachusetts. “Arendt talks about how fascist movements create their own shadow organizations that mimic the structure and function of the state bureaucracy, but they’re incompetent at it,” he said. Even as Trump belittled public servants and starved their agencies of resources, he continued to benefit from their competence; at the same time, “he’s assembling another bureaucracy on top of it that’s totally inept, that’s run by loyalists. Ultimately, that’s going to be a source of long-term damage.”   

  Stanley listed a few of Trump’s more outrageous recent decisions—each of which seemed to be quickly forgotten, buried under an even fresher outrage. Doga Unlu, a first-year undergraduate speaking from her home in Istanbul, said, “Something like firing the inspector generals—I would expect something like that to happen in Turkey, if I’m being honest, not in the U.S.” Under normal circumstances, Ascheim noted, you could vote, or take to the streets in protest. “In a democracy, one of the only things you can always do is show up,” she said. “Right now, you literally cannot do that, because you’re not supposed to leave your house.”

[bodiddley]

Calling out angry mobs to protest an harass state gov't leaders I've seen compared to Mussolini's black shirts.  Sure, it's not at that level of beating political opponents up in the streets as Mussolini and Hitler's Nazis did.  But it's a step in that direction, and pretty irresponsible when all these Dem Guvs are trying to do is keep citizens alive during an emergency.

Trump has the instincts of a fascist.  So the only thing left is if he has the follow-through. 

Be very interesting if say the country opens too early, a 2nd wave of infections and deaths occur, causing Trump's ratings to tank and the virus to continue spreading and posing a serious threat into the Fall.  Would Trump then try to derail the national election on emergency/safety grounds and continue on as Prez in an unelected extended term?  

I could see such a situation unfolding and Trump stepping in to try to take advantage.  Who would stop him, especially if Congress is unable to convene due to a Washington outbreak or travel ban, etc.

[oilcan]

Looked at maps.   Turtle Mountain provincial park,  straddles the Canadian border northeast of Minot,  looks like a good crossing point.   Someone with a big backpack wouldn't stick out,  and you could bike from there to Killarney,  Manitoba,  which looks affordable and quiet. 

[josh]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/hospitals-face-a-white-house-blockade-for-coronavirus-ppe.html

[bodiddley]

[bodiddley]

[REDSTATEWARD]

https://wapo.st/3bmtn95?fbclid=IwAR3ohUveSrKykkoNVnAMAO8Ii6nkXs24toaJLjj60LYBGi-tzNbET75warM

#FloridaMorons trends after people flock to reopened Florida beaches
On the same day as Florida's highest daily coronavirus death toll, DeSantis told reporters that it’s essential Floridians get exercise outdoors

DeSantis is the biggest Florida Dolt, by far.

What's also needed (besides more gray matter upstairs) is research on the viability of viral particles in open sunlit air.   If people are spread out on beaches, with plentiful UV rays pouring down,  and a sea breeze,  there might not be transmission.   I don't see solid data on this.   The problem is that basic ethical one of conducting an experiment with the beach as the laboratory and the public as unwitting subjects.   People going to the beach are going to assume they're safe... and that could lead to false confidence and breaches in social distance.

How is walking along a Florida Beach any less safe than walking along the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, or in one of the reopening state parks, or biking on a country lane, or along a city street,  or playing golf ( no more than one to a power cart though- otherwise carry the clubs or use a pull cart).? 
It isn’t.
Social distancing and common sense are still responsibilities that fall to all of us.

[kidcarter8]

Covid-19 task force briefing about to start

Have to tune to Fox, sorry.  CNN and MS not showing it.  But they will comment later, allowing you no frame of reference.

[josh]

Covid-19 task force briefing about to start

Have to tune to Fox, sorry.  CNN and MS not showing it.  But they will comment later, allowing you no frame of reference.

Anybody who wants to watch it later can do so, Kid, to get the frame of reference.

But he lies in the things so much and he uses them to show campaign videos and the like. Why the fuck should any self-respecting station show them in their entirety?!

Honest response, instead of kneejerk, would be appreciated.

Not expected, but hoped for.

[josh]

https://wapo.st/3bmtn95?fbclid=IwAR3ohUveSrKykkoNVnAMAO8Ii6nkXs24toaJLjj60LYBGi-tzNbET75warM

#FloridaMorons trends after people flock to reopened Florida beaches
On the same day as Florida's highest daily coronavirus death toll, DeSantis told reporters that it’s essential Floridians get exercise outdoors

DeSantis is the biggest Florida Dolt, by far.

What's also needed (besides more gray matter upstairs) is research on the viability of viral particles in open sunlit air.   If people are spread out on beaches, with plentiful UV rays pouring down,  and a sea breeze,  there might not be transmission.   I don't see solid data on this.   The problem is that basic ethical one of conducting an experiment with the beach as the laboratory and the public as unwitting subjects.   People going to the beach are going to assume they're safe... and that could lead to false confidence and breaches in social distance.

How is walking along a Florida Beach any less safe than walking along the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, or in one of the reopening state parks, or biking on a country lane, or along a city street,  or playing golf ( no more than one to a power cart though- otherwise carry the clubs or use a pull cart).? 
It isn’t.
Social distancing and common sense are still responsibilities that fall to all of us.

More bodily fluids escaping. More potential for taking them in.

And... if all they do in each of those places is walk, safely apart, then it isn't - but there is a reason bunches of place, like Los Angeles, shut down their walking and hiking trails.

Look at the pictures, Ward.




It doesn't mean that it cannot be done as you suggest, but that betting on it is a dumb idea.


Show me equivalent pictures from Lake Michigan or those state parks, Ward! Go ahead. I looked and did not see them, but maybe you have different sources.

I saw folks violating social distancing in Michigan and Texas, but they weren't at state parks or the shore:


Blocking ambulances seems terribly clever.

[kiidcarter8]

.054768


Latest number of deaths per confirmed case in US

Basically 1 in every 18.3


.06918 is the world number


Quite sadly 54.38% of the US deaths have been in NY/NJ