caulfield12

Give Me Liberty — And Give Me Death Why Trump’s Plan to Reopen the Economy is Going to Fail https://eand.co/give-me-liberty-and-give-me-death-80f145090326 Whatever the numbers are, it really doesn’t matter at this point, because every single aspect of this is so politicized. What I would like to see, though, is someone explain how the 60-80% of Americans struggling from paycheck to paycheck...the majority working for small businesses, are going to get through this, because no matter what happens in the coming months, the majority of Americans are going to dramatically change their spending/consumption habits. And the way this is predictably working out so far is that we’re simply strengthening the power of oligopolies over the daily lives of every American, regardless of whichever side of the partisan divide they occupy.

In all honesty, it seems like one of those “well, I’m a lifetime Democrat/Republican but this election I’m finally so fed up with XYZ that I’m going to vote...” It must be 30% of the calls at C-Span these days. If you look at most articles from various publications that are being republished at other sites, there’s almost always a string of comments over the last 2-3 weeks exactly like this one: “Scare tactics to say the least probably motivated by political ideology. I live and have lived in a metro area of more than one million residents. I know of no one who has contracted coronavirus, I know of no friends or friends of friends who have the virus. A good friend is a doctor at a major hospital here and said there are only 8 patients hospitalized for covid19 in his hospital. Why hasn't the homeless population been more affected, why haven’t our grocery workers or mail carriers been more affected? Sure it spreads fast and can be deadly, but we are all in hyper panic as a result of news media reports and doomsayers? Life is a gamble, nothing for sure, take necessary precautions and live life.” Seems that 1/3rd the country won’t even believe this is actually real until a close friend or relative contracts it and is hospitalized.

A security guard is shot and killed after telling customer to put on a face mask (Family Dollar in Flint, MI) https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/michigan-security-guard-mask-killing-trnd/index.html Pulitzer-prize winning science journalist who predicted pandemic and has been all over this story since January, Laurie Garrett (from New York Times) https://www.yahoo.com/news/she-predicted-coronavirus-does-she-185553863.html “I’ve been telling everybody that my event horizon is about 36 months, and that’s my best-case scenario,” she said. ..... If America enters the next wave of coronavirus infections “with the wealthy having gotten somehow wealthier off this pandemic by hedging, by shorting, by doing all the nasty things that they do, and we come out of our rabbit holes and realize, ‘Oh, my God, it’s not just that everyone I love is unemployed or underemployed and can’t make their maintenance or their mortgage payments or their rent payments, but now all of a sudden those jerks that were flying around in private helicopters are now flying on private personal jets, and they own an island that they go to, and they don’t care whether or not our streets are safe,’ then I think we could have massive political disruption. “Just as we come out of our holes and see what 25% unemployment looks like,” she said, “we may also see what collective rage looks like.” ..... Referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and its analogues abroad, she told me, “I’ve heard from every CDC in the world — the European CDC, the African CDC, China CDC — and they say, ‘Normally, our first call is to Atlanta, but we ain’t hearing back.’ There’s nothing going on down there. They’ve gutted that place. They’ve gagged that place. I can’t get calls returned anymore. Nobody down there is feeling like it’s safe to talk. Have you even seen anything important and vital coming out of the CDC?”

WTH??? Some label their expected second civil war “the boogaloo,” and experts have tracked a spike in interest in the term on social media, plus a proliferation of advice on how to prepare. The name is a pop culture reference derived from a 1984 movie flop that became a cult classic called “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.” It went through various mutations and emerged sometimes as the “Big Igloo” or the “Big Luau.” That is why adherents sometimes wear Hawaiian shirts, say those who track them. Many such shirts were in evidence when armed protesters stormed the state capital in Lansing, Michigan, on Thursday; and they have appeared in rallies across the country. Enthusiasts riff on the name, calling themselves “boojihadeen” or “the boog.” Not all those in the “boogaloo” movement are white supremacists, but groups who track hate culture find some overlap in terms of Nazi iconography and other extremist symbols. There are some 125 such groups on Facebook, more than 60% created this year, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project of the Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group. Facebook, which had previously said it wrestled with the term because it is also the name of a popular music genre, issued a statement Friday saying it would remove posts that link the term to violence. https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-becomes-battle-cry-u-120054248.html

“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job!” That Hurricane Katrina quote turned out to be even more damaging...

For that, he received a tongue lashing asking where President Bush was during the impeachment hearings...

The problem is that it definitely wasn’t addressed to workers or first responders, but directly to Governor JB Pritzker. There were also “Heil, Pritzker” signs with Nazi swastikas (see link). https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2020/05/heil-pritzker-right-wing-anti-quarantine-protestors-in-illinois-carry-nazi-signs-against-the-jewish-governor/ “The expression comes from the title of an 1873 novel by German philologist Lorenz Diefenbach, Arbeit macht frei: Erzählung von Lorenz Diefenbach, in which gamblers and fraudsters find the path to virtue through labour.[2][3] The phrase was also used in French (le travail rend libre!) by Auguste Forel, a Swiss entomologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist, in his Fourmis de la Suisse (English: "Ants of Switzerland") (1920).[4] In 1922, the Deutsche Schulverein of Vienna, an ethnic nationalist "protective" organization of Germans within the Austrian empire, printed membership stamps with the phrase Arbeit macht frei. According to visitcracow.com: “In the 1930s, they (Nazis) promoted programs against unemployment through this sentence.” The phrase is also evocative of the medieval German principle of Stadtluft macht frei ("urban air makes you free"), according to which serfs were liberated after being a city resident for one year and one day.[5] source: wikipedia

At least for MI, these are the places where you can’t legally bring a gun. A depository financial institution or a subsidiary or affiliate of a depository financial institution, including a bank, out-of-state bank, national bank, foreign bank branch, association, savings bank, or credit union Property owned by a church or other house of religious worship, without permission Courts and court offices Theaters with 2,500 or more seats Sports arenas Day care centers, child care agencies, and child placing agencies Hospitals Bars, taverns, or other establishments where the primary source of income is selling alcohol by the glass for consumption on premises. These locations should have a sign indicating that concealed weapons are prohibited Casinos Correctional facilities College or university dormitories or classrooms https://baronedefensefirm.com/michigan-gun-lawyer/prohibited-places-for-firearms/

This is the problem with the Michigan Militia...and the intimidation factor in OK causing officials there to quickly cave on masks. The guy who brandished a gun, the people who used threats and intimidation are today’s right wing heroes and martyrs. They certainly weren’t arrested. Let’s not forget what happened a quarter century ago with Ruby Ridge, Waco and McVeigh’s bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in OKC...which later tied into Columbine as well. Joyce (Stillwater mayor) further explained, according to the News Press, the order to wear masks did not violate constitutional law -- one of the primary arguments of those objecting to wearing them. "No law or court supports this view," Joyce said. "In fact, a Federal lawsuit against Guthrie's face covering order was fully dismissed by the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma." In a long Twitter thread Friday evening, Joyce expanded on what happened. "I knew there would be some objections, but I did not expect physical confrontations with employees and threatening phone calls to city hall. I hate that our businesses and their employees had to deal with abuse today, and I apologize for putting them in that position." https://oklahoman.com/article/5661461/stillwater-business-employees-threatened-over-mask-requirement It’s not too much of a leap to think you might see the same tactics if they get away with it now...threatening those who are not voting for Trump in November (especially if we’re still going through a fall/winter lockdown period with seasonal flu and Covid hitting simultaneously.) I mean, let’s not pretend that the most influential person in Stillwater isn’t OSU FB coach Mike Gundy, after all. https://www.si.com/college/2020/04/08/mike-gundy-coronavirus-economy-comments-dangerous

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/auschwitz-condemns-nazi-coronavirus-protest-sign https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/auschwitz-museum-denounces-woman-holding-nazi-sign-illinois-protest-n1198961 https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-arbeit-macht-frei-nazi-slogans-at-illinois-rally-against-coronovirus-lockdown-1.8815257 https://www.yahoo.com/gma/nazi-slogan-sign-displayed-open-illinois-rally-ripped-201723587--abc-news-topstories.html

Then it all comes down to suppressing or discrediting the Democratic mail-in vote. You can probably add some type of fake emergency with the US Postal Service... Ensure low turnout: With the majority of the country still in lockdown, many states are trying to ramp up voting by mail to promote voter turnout during the pandemic and help keep voters safe. The President, however, has resisted these efforts. Despite studies that show voter fraud is extremely rare, Trump called voting by mail "corrupt" and said it is "very dangerous for this country because of cheaters." Republicans understand that low turnout has historically benefited their party. There is a long-documented history of Republicans pursuing measures that discourage voter participation. These tactics often affect low-income and marginalized people — groups that tend to vote Democratic. Given the way this virus has hit Democratic electorates particularly hard, the lack of mail-in voting could tip the election in Trump's favor. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/opinions/president-trumps-reelection-strategy-is-taking-shape-zelizer/index.html

Saw KU on a list of public universities that could have their debt/bond ratings downgraded if this continues into next academic year.

Well, they’re no different than university presidents. Open too soon, you risk hundreds if not thousands of lawsuits if it spreads across an entire campus. Wait too long, at least you can argue you were doing everything possible to protect students’ health. In which situation are administrators more likely to be fired?

The virus is going to spread whether the universities, and businesses, reopen or not. It will continue to spread until herd immunity is reached, which means about 60% of the population has been infected and recovered. If it were not for the lockdowns, this point would have been reached around April 20, and the pandemic would have been over already. At the current lockdown rate, the pandemic will not be over until about February 2022. 99.6% of the people who get infected will recover, and about 70% of those that won't are over the age of 65. It is inevitable that a majority of the people will contract the virus. Therefore it is futile, and counterproductive economically, to try to stop it. Let the younger people, such as college students, get sick and be that majority that obtain immunity in order to protect the minority older people for which the disease is much more serious. Have seen this particular argument popping up all over the internet recently, on various message boards. The problem is that it relies on a 0.4% mortality rate, instead of 2.0% (all populations) or the much more alarming 4.5% (adults worldwide). We can couch it in ways that make it seem almost appropriate if not patriotic for older Americans to sacrifice themselves. But this particular approach means killing 3-5 million Americans and possibly even more...because we simply don’t have a clue what will happen when hospitals are actually overrun, grocery stores run out of meat, and everyone starts turning on each other with life or death consequences. Right now, we’re at the level of shaming and political disagreement...but that 1/3rd minority pushing to open up nearly everything is going to become increasingly confrontational in their methods when even reopened businesses don’t guarantee profitability with the other 2/3rds still remaining at home. Not to mention the tremendous pressure on mostly GOP governors in those states not to reverse course and go into a second prolonged shutdown. Mississippi is one thing. But Texas and Florida would have impacts that ripple across every aspect of the national economy.

I’m willing to wager a significant amount of money she has never been to Auschwitz. It’s just another version of the “your fears, our freedom” argument. If you’re a genuine patriotic American, you will go back to work, no matter what the ultimate costs to families in terms of lives lost. Everyone who disagrees is basically a soft, socialist lefty who wants to take everyone’s guns away, shutter churches...trampling the 1st Amendment. Meanwhile, this entire entire time, no governor has even argued against the right to protest, if you do it safely, wear a mask, social distance, and don’t block off streets preventing emergency vehicles from getting through. It would almost be understandable...if any of their bosses, managers or CEO suits were out there with them. It’s not shared sacrifice, it’s about sacrificing those who are considered “expendable” by corporate elites to keep the profits flowing, the coffers filled. Feel sorry so many who aren’t even aware they’re being manipulated behind the scenes by all these fronts for what is essentially Wall Street and the most ideologically-extreme right wing political action committees. And no amount of jackbooted thugs will ever succeed in forcing consumers back out onto the streets to spend...in fact, for that 75% of Americans who think signs like these are reprehensible...it just makes it more likely they’ll stay inside longer to protect themselves from idiots like these.

It’s pretty clear the play is going to be to obscure or confuse the death numbers without doing anything to ramp up testing in Florida, Georgia and Texas. Of course, muddling through it means you’re just reinvigorating the spread to places like Gallup, NM, that lack the public health infrastructure to contain an outbreak...the weakest chains in the system; prisons, nursing homes, Native American populations, repetitively getting exploited. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/05/02/tarrant-county-reports-115-positive-coronavirus-cases-2-deaths/ Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins noted that the higher case counts came without a significant increase in testing capacity. Jenkins said the daily average of new cases jumped from 84 last week to 141 this week. There was also a 38% increase in deaths from this week compared to last, he said.

No. They’re businessmen first and foremost. They will trust scientific analysis over political pronouncements. Heck, they will trust insurance brokers that issue their organization-wide policies over politicians as well.

Other elements of the data raised eyebrows. One nursing home in the Panhandle, the 210-bed Southern Oaks Care Center, was reported to have had three resident deaths — though recent data from health administrators showed 94 residents of the Pensacola home had been infected. That would mean that 3 percent of the home’s residents who contracted the disease succumbed to it. Based on previous data, 40 percent to 50 percent of long-term care residents infected with the virus die. ..... One nursing home, the Coquina Center in Ormond Beach, has nine resident deaths listed. The home did not appear on the most recent list, released by the state, of facilities with positive tests. But a prior list of coronavirus cases in long-term care facilities said 15 residents had COVID-19, 11 others with positive tests had been transferred out, and that nine staffers were infected. Those numbers were supposed to be current as of this past Monday. Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article242446331.html#storylink=cpy

Well, that was due to the Flight Attendants’ union, which was also pushing for an end to leisure/touristic travel...how that would have been enforceable or practicable, no idea. Without customers, many more would be out of a job. But it’s also easy to understand the increasing fear of closed space, recirculating air flows (cruise ships and US Navy)...my wife calls them “virus resources.”

I am still waiting for Greg to morph into Ranchoddas 'Rancho' Shyamaldas Chanchad from 3 Idiots, one of my all-time favorite movies. Having lived a decade in Kansas City, it’s easier to “get” him. We all have a little Devil’s Advocate side lurking within us...the frustrating part is I’m not sure if he is unwilling to do the research on a subject sometimes, or he simply delights in playing the board jester just to get a rise out of everyone. He called the Democratic governor of his own state conservative the other day, yet she’s not one of those governors quick to insert herself into the news cycle, and is moving to reopen restaurants soon...you can’t be too far to the left to win in a state like Kansas with almost as many religious conservatives outside Johnson County and Lawrence as you’d find in Iowa. And for some reason I don’t see Greg as a big drinker (his South Side of Chicago Catholic side)...and, it’s going to beer if he does, not hard alcohol. He’s too attuned to inflated major league concession prices and aligning himself with the plight of the common man, which means my guess is Coors. He always posts late at night in the US, so he could be a 2nd shift worker...but every once in a while pride in the higher education of his family members breaks through that blue collar persona.

Didn’t they take out an SBA loan? Glad to see it’s being reinvested in such brilliant guerrilla marketing. What next, Texas ten gallon hats filled with Corona?

How is it that your hair grows like a Chia pet while you manage to simultaneously talk in 3rd person like Bob Dole...Kansas’ most famous senator. You might want to forward that information on to follicle-challenged Trump. And reassure him there have been zero incidences of contracting the virus due to having Beatles’ or Beatnik hair, at least not yet.

Now Trump is claiming he’s seen evidence the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Of course, he won’t dare provide it. President Trump on Thursday claimed he’d seen evidence linking the coronavirus to a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan — but didn’t offer up any details. “Yes, I have,” Trump told White House reporters when asked whether he’s seen proof that would suggest the virus originated in the lab. When pressed on what gave him that confidence, he said: “I can’t tell you that. I am not allowed to tell you that.” Earlier Thursday, the US intelligence community said it agreed with the scientific consensus that the novel coronavirus was not “manmade or genetically modified.” The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of VirologyAFP via Getty Images But it confirmed that it was looking into “whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” https://nypost.com/2020/04/30/trump-claims-he-has-seen-evidence-linking-coronavirus-to-chinese-lab/

Yes, I am married to Sinead O’Connor. Shirley Manson, Dolores O’Riordan, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes were all unavailable. Flights to KCI, Topeka and Wichita unavailable.

Really went out for the first time today. Had wife shave off all hair with the electric trimmer we bought for our son when he was just one or two. Had a robot serve our food inside the restaurant...while playing Canon in D of all songs. That was kind of cool. They use/used them in hospitals to deliver food or medicine, protecting staff. Also in quarantine centers...to deliver food to hotel rooms. Temperature checks going into shopping areas, but not most individual stores. Everyone wearing a mask...just slip it down around the neck to eat or drink. Didn’t like feeling at first because it’s already getting really hot here...but got used to it. Just a regular surgical mask, not N95. Saw one goofball dressed in a hazmat suit with improvised gas mask in mall...more fashion statement or way of being anonymous than genuine fear IMO. Are supposed to sit just three on 5-6 person subway seat, but many are ignoring that and just sitting down. Subway was the emptiest I have ever seen it except 1030-1100 pm at night. Was stopped in subway for not having work permit...but wife quickly explained situation and I was able to go everywhere with green QR pass code on my cell phone. Didn’t see a single foreigner besides myself all day long. Our neighborhood is completely blocked in by massive metal gates...it will take me an extra 5-10 minutes to get to work now, meaning 40-50 minutes each way...especially with all the phone and document checks, temp checks, etc. Everything overall was about 30-40% back to normal...for the first day of May holidays (kind of like Memorial Day feeling), normally there would be tens of thousands outside instead of hundreds. Restaurants at about 10-20% capacity. Keep in mind, this is three full weeks after the city started opening, and one week after pretty much everyone came back this past Sunday.