[spdrun]

Trump actively fed red meat to the anti-maskers through the summer and did not lead by example, by wearing a mask. He held an event in the Rose Garden a month ago where only a small proportion of people were wearing a mask, and attendees were packed like sardines. If one wanted to design an outdoor superspreader event, this was almost a perfect design:

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106730479-1601921243575-gettyimages-1276846547-cs024803_2020092650850117.jpeg?v=1602644953&w=678&h=381

Trump blocked implementation of a national testing program. Running PCR in a day was never technically impossible. COVID test results are still taking multiple days to return in many states, unless exigent circumstances (hospital admission) are involved. Rapid, free testing could be implemented on a national level. Slovakia is testing their ENTIRE POPULATION in a weekend:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-slovakia/million-line-up-as-slovakia-launches-unique-nationwide-covid-19-test-idUSKBN27G0GZ

(Yes, I realize that Slovakia has a smaller population, but we could easily do this state by state.)

NY *state* reopening successfully, even in areas that didn’t get hit particularly hard. Yeah, NYC got hit hard initially. Had there been Federal/CDC guidance on mask use and travel quarantine back in February, this would have been less of an issue. It didn’t help that the administration gave people 2-3 days in March to return from hotspots in Europe. The lines for immigration and customs at Kennedy in mid-March were likely a major infection source — many of the worst-hit areas were areas near airports where workers tended to live, not more densely-populated parts of the city like Manhattan:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8098819/Americans-arriving-JFK-Milan-say-SHOCKED-no-screening-coronavirus.html
https://www.adn.com/opinions/national-opinions/2020/03/25/we-were-screened-for-coronavirus-upon-landing-in-pakistan-nobody-checked-when-we-returned-to-jfk/

Israel is not our problem. Nor is Saudi, nor Iraq, nor Kuwait, nor anywhere else in the Middle East. Let them fight to exhaustion, why is it worth our money to save people who don’t want to be saved? There’s really one product that we need from the Middle East, and with local oil production, local natural gas production, nuclear power, and renewables, we really don’t need it as an energy source long term.

I get it … some people may think that Trump did a good job and vote for him, but this perception is not grounded in objective reality or actual science. There’s also more to being a “liberal” than jobs and the economy.

What about environmental policy? Trump doesn’t have a stellar record there. He has a history of denying established scientific knowledge.

What about infrastructure and public transit? Trump’s budget proposals have heavily favored roads and air travel, not over forms of transit.

What about education? Trump is known for his snipes and railing against university-educated elites, and his hiring of people who don’t have the best scientific and intellectual qualifications.

What about healthcare? Trump rails against “Obamacare” without a workable plan to replace it with something better.

[spdrun]

Except that Trump sabotaged the two things that would have made reopening schools and businesses possible IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY — namely (1) a national policy requiring mask use indoors, enforced by states and local authorities and (2) a nationwide rapid ( < 1 day return time) testing and contact-tracing program. If a mask policy was impossible, at the very least, he could have requested that good citizens wear masks -- instead, he turned mask use into a partisan political fucktoy of an issue. "Liberal" jurisdictions like NYC that are slowly but steadily reopening have not had to lock down again, whereas places that reopened too quickly have had to reimpose restrictions and even curfews (e.g. El Paso, TX). New York has been able to loosen restrictions on a state level, only reimposing fairly mild restrictions on problem areas. We also just did something great -- we imposed an out-of-area incoming travel ban unless you have a negative COVID test no more than 72 hours prior to arrival. Hopefully, airlines will be bullied into enforcing this and it goes national. Re: the riots -- the riots are occurring nationally under his Presidency. Shouldn't he have to own the riots themselves? He's a vocal supporter of police brutality -- the riots are a reaction to the US's long and sordid history of police brutality. As far as Israel, Fundie Christians in the US have an unhealthy fetish for the country, while often being anti-Semitic as well. Israel shouldn't be an issue in US politics at all -- we should focus on domestic policy and not make the Middle East our problem. Israel vs Iran is more of a fundie/conservative worry than a liberal one ... true liberals are more focused on domestic policy. BTW- Hispanic support for Trump has always existed. There are surprisingly many Latinos who drink the prosperity-gospel evangelical Christian Koolaid. He's somehow managed to convince people that he's a god fearin' baby savin' righteous man of the Lord.

[spdrun]

You could have the best of both worlds … walls are 4″ to 6″ thick — recess a cabinet inside a wall.

[spdrun]

In a lot of ways, it comes down to Pennsylvania and Florida – as it usually does. And those two races are really close.

Texas is within a point in either direction and could decide this race. Remember, Trump shafted a lot of border cities and towns by building his wall and tightening the border. They used to profit from day-crossers buying goods that are cheaper in the US.

[spdrun]

All religions have their nutball sects, even Buddhists … there’s quite a bit of history of Buddhist pogroms against Muslims in South Asia.

[spdrun]

Yep, a lot of fundie Christians and Ultra-Orthodox Jews losing their plots.

[spdrun]

Who is censoring what you can read, write, speak, and hear?

-Who wants to limit what the press can write about?

No one — we have more diversity of news (real and fake) and access to media than we did 20 years ago.

-Who wants to control where you can go, with whom you can go, when you can go, and under what conditions you can go?

-Who wants to take away your ability to worship when, where, and with whom you want to worship?

No one, outside of temporary pandemic restrictions that also existed in 1918-20.

-Who wants to impose a technocratic surveillance state, where everything you do or say or read or write or buy is monitored and recorded?

Bankster scum, who tend to lean conservative, are pushing cashlessness. Laws demanding that stores accept good, old-fashioned, privacy-friendly cash are being pushed in liberal cities by justice liberals. Breaking up tech firms, limiting police camera surveillance, banning facial recognition use, again, coming from the left.

-Who demands that you take a knee, or prostrate yourself at their feet?

-Who demands that you raise a fist for their cause, like a closed-fisted Nazi salute, or risk bodily or other harm if you refuse?

Nobody … they choose to protest that way, they don’t demand that you do the same.

-Who believes that violence is an acceptable means of forcing decent, law-abiding people to obey their commands?

The man who said “punch them in the face,” “rough them up a bit,” and “I can shoot a man on Fifth Avenue” maybe?

-Ask yourself who wants to have the power to shut down your business and control your ability to provide for yourself and your family. Who advocates for policies and movements that put small businesses out of business, once again centralizing power and forcing people to transact only with a handful of large companies who work hand-in-hand with these authoritarian rulers?

Giuliani’s policies turned large swathes of Manhattan into Disneyland. Which party and ideology did he represent?

-Who wants to force people out of their cars and limit their ability to freely transport themselves when and where they want (FTR, I like mass transit, but not if it’s the only option available)?

No one … some people just want mass transit as an option and to move towards cleaner/electric car use.

[spdrun]

Electric vehicle companies.

Renewable energy companies.

Nuclear energy companies.

Gun companies … people will freak out and panic-buy firearms.

Muni bonds assuming a Federal bailout.

[spdrun]

File two flats onto the end, apply penetrating oil, heat it with a torch, cool with ice, repeat several times, apply large vicegrips.

[spdrun]

^^^

Who gives a rodent’s orifice? Is creating growth at the price of stability and resilience to the unforeseen really worth it? It’s roughly like partying for a week straight on meth, then passing out and being mugged by a 10-year-old.

[spdrun]

Also, why is “growth” so important … isn’t a stable society that’s well-educated, happy, and healthy more important than selling more Chinese tchotchkes to replace ones that are a few years old?

I’d rather live in a society that can deal with a pandemic or other emergency without falling apart than a society where everyone has a new iGadget.

[spdrun]

^^^

Trump’s supposed economic progress (if it wasn’t just an extension of Obama’s run up) came at the cost of gutting the institutions that were designed to protect us from difficulties like COVID. He created an extremely fragile economic situation … I flew coast-to-coast in late January, and about 10% of people on the flight were masked up. There was enough public concern about COVID about a month and a half before it exploded to warrant a government reaction.

How about if the CDC had done its job in Jan-Feb? Ramped up production of tests, recommended masks for everyone, ramped up mask production, backstopped the hospital system with temporary hospitals, recommended milder (but still effective) physical distancing measures and work-from-home for those who could, paid for quarantine for people coming from abroad.

The plans were written in case of a 1918-type flu epidemic, so we did have plans in place for a contagious airborne virus. We just chose to ignore it on the Federal level (Trump didn’t want a “scary” situation on his hands) and not even provide guidance to states.

Working class idol? The jobs worst hit by the COVID epidemic were working-class jobs that couldn’t be “remoted out.”

[spdrun]

It’s quite useful — there’s no reason to have an HOA in a home that doesn’t share walls or a roof with other homes. Hope whoever made the decision to be full-on fascist about something as trifling as trim colors gets COVID and ends up suffering like Boris Johnson.

[spdrun]

(1) Don’t live in an HOA-infested area if you don’t like dumb fuck rules

(2) See #1

[spdrun]

We should have a one-child policy here in the US, enforced through lack of any tax breaks beyond child #1. Enough to satisfy people’s psychological needs, but also doing our part to depopulate the planet to sustainable levels. Georgia Guidestones are right … goal should be 500 million.

[Author]

Posts