This happened.
NEWS: Trump declares a national emergency in the face of the #coronavirus.
"Two very big words." pic.twitter.com/ciWFezx1zO
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) March 13, 2020
Dear god. Suddenly we’re five years old, sitting on the tiny chairs.… Read the rest
Someone else has noticed the endless repetition of slogans in place of actual thought.
… Read the restIt sure is interesting how many apparently “progressive” men are ready to jump on any opportunity to harass, threaten and wish violence and death upon women when they are given permission to do it.
The same is true of the word “TERF” (“Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist”). On IWD it’s all over the place, reminding women that if they dare to question the rhetoric of trans activists then they’ll be branded with that modern equivalent of the scarlet letter and leftist men given the green light to hurl misogynistic abuse at them. Even women who subscribe to gender ideology are uncomfortable with this ( I know because
A GLASGOW couple have expressed their shock over how they were treated in a Marks & Spencer store while buying a suit for a relative’s funeral.
Both men, who we are not naming, say they were subjected to inappropriate comments while trying on a pair of trousers in a changing room situated within the Glasgow Fort store earlier this month.
Sounds a bit weird, two people trying on one pair of trousers – is that what the inappropriate comments were about? Was someone explaining that a pair of trousers has room for only two legs, not four?
… Read the restOne of the men wanted to try on trousers to wear to his gran’s funeral and on approaching
God damn that festering piece of dung
Despite mounting pleas from California and other states, the Trump administration isn’t allowing states to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the coronavirus crisis by expanding medical services.
In previous emergencies, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the H1N1 flu outbreak, both Republican and Democratic administrations loosened Medicaid rules to empower states to meet surging needs.
But not Attila the Trump.
… Read the restBut months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven’t taken the necessary steps to give states simple pathways to fully leverage the mammoth safety net program to prevent a wider epidemic.
That’s making it harder for states
Peter Wehner at the Atlantic says Trump’s presidency is over.
… Read the restTaken together, this is a massive failure in leadership that stems from a massive defect in character. Trump is such a habitual liar that he is incapable of being honest, even when being honest would serve his interests. He is so impulsive, shortsighted, and undisciplined that he is unable to plan or even think beyond the moment. He is such a divisive and polarizing figure that he long ago lost the ability to unite the nation under any circumstances and for any cause. And he is so narcissistic and unreflective that he is completely incapable of learning from his mistakes. The president’s disordered personality makes him as ill-equipped to
So, we learn that the Trump admin could have used the WHO test for the virus but decided not to.
On Saturday Jan. 11 — a month and a half before the first Covid-19 case not linked to travel was diagnosed in the United States — Chinese scientists posted the genome of the mysterious new virus, and within a week virologists in Berlin had produced the first diagnostic test for the disease.
Soon after, researchers in other nations rolled out their own tests, too, sometimes with different genetic targets. By the end of February, the World Health Organization had shipped tests to nearly 60 countries.
But we were not one of the 60.
… Read the restWhy the United States declined to use
Trump flailing and spitting poison:
…. Their response to H1N1 Swine Flu was a full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now. The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2020
No.
… Read the restTrump is trying to blame the CDC and Obama for his own epic failure to adequately respond to the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, Trump has still not declared a national emergency that would allow FEMA to be activated to help with the response needed to fight the coronavirus.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) March 13,
When Trump attempted to Address the Nation:
In the most scripted of presidential settings, a prime-time televised address to the nation, President Trump decided to ad-lib — and his errors triggered a market meltdown, panicked travelers overseas and crystallized for his critics just how dangerously he has fumbled his management of the coronavirus.
He always does decide to ad-lib. I guess that’s because no words written by mere Someone Else can ever match the divine elixir of what spills out of his golden head.
… Read the restEven Trump — a man practically allergic to admitting mistakes — knew he’d screwed up by declaring Wednesday night that his ban on travel from Europe would include cargo and trade, and acknowledged as much
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the latest in a string of high-profile individuals to become infected with the potentially deadly pathogen.
The issue isn’t “high profile” so much as “head of state or spouse thereof.”
On Thursday, the prime minister spoke by telephone with President Trump and the two leaders discussed efforts to respond to the pandemic, with nearly 135,000 known cases globally and nearly 5,000 deaths from the virus.
That is, one of them did that and the other babbled incoherently.
… Read the restIn a readout of the call, the prime minister’s office said: “The two leaders discussed the steps they are
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who met with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, has tested positive for the 2019 novel coronavirus, Brazilian news outlet Jornal O Dia and Fox News reported Friday.
Bolsonaro was tested Thursday after his press secretary Fabio Wajngarten, who also met with Trump, tested positive for the virus. Wajngarten’s diagnosis was confirmed by the president’s office.
So Trump has had contact with at least two people who have tested + for the virus. If nothing else we can be confident he is not happy. I want him to be not happy.
… Read the restBolsonaro and Wajngarten were part of a delegation who traveled to
Julian Borger spells out why Trump is – as we already know – the worst possible person to be in charge during a pandemic.
Trump in a time of coronavirus is a lethal combination. Everything about the president – his reliance on his gut instincts in place of expertise, his overwhelming selfishness, and his unfailing tendency to lash out at others when things go wrong – make him the worst person imaginable to hold the world’s most powerful job in the face of pandemic.
Also his ravenous ego, his sadistic bullying, his frivolity, his stupidity, his recklessness, his indifference to anything and anyone but himself, his conceit, his ignorance, his fucking stubbornness…it’s hard to draw up a complete list.… Read the rest
More responses to Billy Bragg’s attempt to tell women what to do:
Of course 'trans rights are human rights'! But you seem to be suggesting it's a human right to force others to comply with a doctrine that claims we have 'gendered souls/essences'. Many of us, unsurprisingly, disagree.
— Lily Maynard (@LilyLilyMaynard) March 12, 2020
There are no special classes of males. There are males and females. Females have single sex space for a reason. Any male who demands non-consensual access into female single sex spaces, regardless of how that male identifies, is showing sexist male entitlement.
— Amy E. Sousa (@KnownHeretic) March 12, 2020
And from the other direction…
… Read the restThank you Billy, trans women are women, trans men
Truth.
https://twitter.com/benjaminwittes/status/1238176912725377029… Read the restIt would be blasphemous to think that Holy Communion could spread viruses, but people were free to choose whether they want to receive it, the Church of Cyprus said on Wednesday.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Holy Synod argued that receiving Holy Communion from the same spoon as hundreds of others was safe for believers.
“It would be blasphemous to think that the body and blood of the Christ could transmit any disease or virus,” it said.
Well maybe so but it isn’t the body and blood of Jesus so……………..
“Christianity’s centuries-old experience has no single incident of such transmission to display.”
As if he could possibly know that. … Read the rest
The news outlets are reporting it now. CNN:
Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, two sources have told CNN. Bolsonaro’s health is being monitored.
It comes just days after Wajngarten met US President Donald Trump in Florida.
Bolsonaro’s aide posted an image of himself standing with Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
Trump is calm.
Trump said he was aware of the aide’s diagnosis during remarks in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“We did nothing very unusual, we sat next to each other for a period of time,” he added, referring to Bolsonaro.
Well, yes, and that’s one way the virus can … Read the rest
On Wednesday night, President Trump implored the nation’s political leadership to “stop the partisanship” and come together to confront the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday morning, he woke up and immediately issued partisan attacks on Democratic congressional leaders.
You’re thinking that’s inconsistent, aren’t you. Nah. He told other people to stop the partisanship. He’s not other people.
Mr. Trump’s call for a suspension of partisanship lasted just nine hours, at least some of which he was presumably asleep. While some of Mr. Trump’s allies and advisers have urged him to stop fighting and assert more national leadership, the president made clear that it does not suit him.
He made clear that rules are for other … Read the rest
With the stock market tanking, Trump has now resorted to touting falling gas prices as akin to “a tax cut” for consumers pic.twitter.com/yAtKntxS7R
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2020
Hmmyes definitely, because gasoline is most people’s main expense, right? It takes a far bigger bite than housing, food, health insurance – everything, in fact, apart from taxes. No question.… Read the rest
Interesting.
Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has tested positive for coronavirus, two sources tell CNN. He was at dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, took a photo with him and later attended Kimberly Guilfoyle’s birthday party.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 12, 2020
So that’s twice we know of that Trump has been in the vicinity of the virus – at CPAC and at his Florida golf resort.
Which will now have to be closed for some weeks, right?
Updating to add:
… Read the restThe guy standing to Trump’s left just tested positive for coronavirus, according to Brazilian media. Fabio Wajngarten posted this photo, taken during meetings at Mar-a-Lago, five days ago. pic.twitter.com/qioU4qIlxl
— Gabriel Stargardter
… Read the restAt 9.02pm, Trump began as presidents so often do: “My fellow Americans.” But in the next breath, he reverted to his familiar us-versus-them nationalism, referring to the coronavirus outbreak “that started in China” and is now spreading throughout the world. “This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.” Not just a virus. A foreign virus.
The president touted his own sweeping travel restrictions on China and, far from expressing sympathy and solidarity with allies, argued the European Union “failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were
Judd Legum of Popular Information reminds us of the backstory.
… Read the restIn 2018, the Trump administration ousted Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, who served as the Senior Director of Global Health Security. Ziemer was a member of the National Security Council, where he was responsible for coordinating “responses to global health emergencies and potential pandemics.” Ziemer was lauded as “one of the most quietly effective leaders in public health.” His work on Malaria during the Obama administration helped save 6 million lives.
“Admiral Ziemer’s departure is deeply alarming,” Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA) said in May 2018. “Expertise like his is critical in avoiding large outbreaks.” Beth Cameron, who served on the National Security Council in the Obama
