Virus thread, the political one.

[jclay]

Democrats said much the same things about another Republican president , Abraham Lincoln . Democrats tried to turn the public against him, tried to turn Republicans against Lincoln ,tried everything they could to oust him from office, revolted and started the Civil War , all because of their hatred of him and what he stood for. And when Democrats consistently lost , a Democrat and well known elite anti-Lincoln actor snuck up behind Lincoln and killed him. He fled and was sheltered by Democrats until he was finally caught.

What??? Is that a serious comment??

You need to read up on the history of the two parties...big time. The Republican Party was the more progressive party of that era. The Democratic Party was the lifeboat for southern racists ,and remained that way until Johnson's support of the Civil Rights movement. You think that the Slavery South would have supported the party of Northern Oppression? It took Johnson's decision to support the Civil Right's Movement to galvanize Southern Racists to abandon the Democratic Party and hop into the only lifeboat available.

Jeepers. To compare the Party of Trump to the Party of Lincoln is ludicrous.

[COVRTDESIGN]

Democrats said much the same things about another Republican president , Abraham Lincoln . Democrats tried to turn the public against him, tried to turn Republicans against Lincoln ,tried everything they could to oust him from office, revolted and started the Civil War , all because of their hatred of him and what he stood for. And when Democrats consistently lost , a Democrat and well known elite anti-Lincoln actor snuck up behind Lincoln and killed him. He fled and was sheltered by Democrats until he was finally caught.

WOW. Not even Glenn Beck would have said that back in his day. Let me guess, you are a Q guy aren't you?

[zachateseverything]

Are Bruce Day and Blue Jay the same person?

[jclay]

92359474_10217043047481970_6205774773994127360_n.jpg

[COVRTDESIGN]

Are Bruce Day and Blue Jay the same person?

HAS TO BE. It's just like Donald Trump=John Barron.

[caleb]

Are Bruce Day and Blue Jay the same person?

@Bruce Day has been around the cycling community a long time. He's not a troll.

[COVRTDESIGN]

@Bruce Day has been around the cycling community a long time. He's not a troll.

Blue Jay isn't a troll either, just a joke from earlier in this thread.

[Clean39T]

"The coronavirus, like other plagues before it, could shift the balance between rich and poor."

There's a balance between rich and poor? Must be one heck of a long lever ..and a well-placed fulcrum.....

[Chik]

Did someone mention Lincoln?

[Chik]

Scums:

A New York investment firm pitched wealthy investors in recent days on a way to make returns of 22% to 175% using U.S. government programs designed to help Americans keep their jobs and boost the coronavirus-stricken economy, according to a marketing document seen by Reuters.

On a happier note, I'm pleased BoJo is out of intensive care. I'm not a fan of BoJo, but I am pleased he seems to be on the mend.

[jclay]

Scums:

A New York investment firm pitched wealthy investors in recent days on a way to make returns of 22% to 175% using U.S. government programs designed to help Americans keep their jobs and boost the coronavirus-stricken economy, according to a marketing document seen by Reuters.

On a happier note, I'm pleased BoJo is out of intensive care. I'm not a fan of BoJo, but I am pleased he seems to be on the mend.

I find sympathy, for those who would undermine the NHS or oppose efforts to improve the US health care system so that nobody's lack of wealth is an impediment to seeking care, or attempt profiteering in situations such as these, difficult.

[guido]

Trump Keeps Talking. Some Republicans Don’t Like What They’re Hearing. - The New York Times

How do we keep him from listening to his advisors?

[guido]

Opinion | America Will Struggle After Coronavirus. These Charts Show Why. - The New York Times

"Inequality didn’t cause the coronavirus crisis. But it is making the crisis much worse, having created an economy in which many Americans are struggling to get by, and are vulnerable to any interruption of work or income and any illness. "

[guido]

The Coronavirus and How the U.S. Ended Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags | The New Yorker

"On Saturday, March 21st, while Donald Trump was tweeting about the “Chinese virus” and circulating praise for the “great job we’ve done,” Eric Ries received a phone call from another Silicon Valley C.E.O. His friend Jeff Lawson, of the firm Twilio, told Ries that, to deal with the rapidly escalating coronavirus crisis, the White House was recruiting tech executives to help. Ries—the founder and C.E.O. of a new company, the Long-Term Stock Exchange, and the author of a best-selling book, “The Lean Startup,” which had made him a well-known figure in the Valley—was an obvious choice for someone looking to stand up a high-tech solution to the disaster quickly. He had long preached the virtues of going to market as fast as possible with what he called M.V.P.: minimum viable product.

America was watching, shocked, as doctors and nurses pleaded for protective gear and medical equipment such as ventilators. Ries was asked to help start a Web site that would match hospitals and suppliers. Sure, Ries said, he could have something up and running by Monday. What followed over the next two weeks was an inside glimpse of the dysfunction emanating from Trump’s Washington in the midst of the pandemic, a crash course in the breakdown that has led to nurses in one of the wealthiest countries in the world wearing garbage bags to protect themselves from a virus whose outbreak the President downplayed until it was too late to prepare for its consequences."

[Sbti]

"We’re doing very… Looks like we’re at the lower end of the curb in terms of death, which is a terrible word, a terrible dark word that we’ve experienced like nobody’s ever seen before in this country. We have numbers that are terrible. But when you look at the lower prediction levels of a 100,000 to 120,000 to 220,000, or if we did nothing up to 2.2 million people, we’re looking at a much lower level than the level of, I hope, than the level of 100,000. So we’re going to see."

[Mark Kelly]

Turns out 45 knows just as much about pharmacology as could be expected: A small trial finds that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for treating coronavirus

[Paul Jacobs]

Turns out 45 knows just as much about pharmacology as could be expected: A small trial finds that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for treating coronavirus

This article makes the useful point that prescribing hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus may mean that it becomes unavailable to treat conditions for which it has proven efficacy. It also mentions the consequences of drug side effects and raising false hope. Taking an ineffective treatment rarely has a neutral outcome.

[vertical_doug]

Scums:

A New York investment firm pitched wealthy investors in recent days on a way to make returns of 22% to 175% using U.S. government programs designed to help Americans keep their jobs and boost the coronavirus-stricken economy, according to a marketing document seen by Reuters.

On a happier note, I'm pleased BoJo is out of intensive care. I'm not a fan of BoJo, but I am pleased he seems to be on the mend.

You misunderstand the program, this is not a bug, this is the design feature.
Borrow from FED at X Lend at X+Y choose Y

I think the program is put on hold because the details did not quite work out the way they initially envisioned for the ppp.
The second program TALF definitely works, and it is definitely sent up to allow investors to contribute 1 dollar and lever 7x borrowing cheaply from FED to buy certain Asset-backed securities. This program was used in 2009, and provided many investors great profits. I can guarantee you there are 100s of proposals floating around the street and some already applying for funds.

The irony here is many investors think it is their right to make the profit and get mad if the Treasury profits too much. A case in point is the PROFIT SWEEP of Fannie and Freddie. The Treasury saved the companies by injecting huge amounts of preference shares to keep it afloat. Afterwards, instead of letting the companies pay-off the Prefs, the Treasury just decided to keep the position and sweep all excess profits to Treasury. This position alone has probably made all the 2008/2009 programs swing to net profit for the Government. However, Wall Street views this as illegal taking of their profits, and there are several lawsuits against the government regarding Fannie/Freddie.

[vertical_doug]

Democrats said much the same things about another Republican president , Abraham Lincoln . Democrats tried to turn the public against him, tried to turn Republicans against Lincoln ,tried everything they could to oust him from office, revolted and started the Civil War , all because of their hatred of him and what he stood for. And when Democrats consistently lost , a Democrat and well known elite anti-Lincoln actor snuck up behind Lincoln and killed him. He fled and was sheltered by Democrats until he was finally caught.

As other people have pointed out, the democrats and republican parties of 1860 are basically 180 degree polar opposites. Another case in point is Republican Teddy Roosevelt- A famous progressive and anti-trust President. Can you imagine current Republicans attacking the billionaires like Teddy did with the Sherman Act? Or how about Teddy's support for Conservation and National Parks in the United States? Again 180 degrees different from current republican positions. And let's not forget he loved to prosecute misconduct even in his own administration and went after Indian Bureau agents amongst others. And his best- support of a federal income tax and an inheritance tax..... Essentially current Republican Platforms want to undo every republican platform from earlier days in America.

Oh, and Teddy did not allow photographers to take his picture playing Tennis because tennis was viewed as a rich man's past time.... Imagine Trump not allowing photographers on his golf course. . . .

And as long as I am on a roll, how about resigning your post to actually fight in a war? I don't think Trump is willing to ride a horse to lead a charge up Kettle Hill. . .


Yeap, Teddy and Abe both on Rushmore and both progressives.

PBS is currently showing Ken Bern's 'The Roosevelts' its awesome if you have never seen it. . .

[Sbti]

It’s true!! The Democrat party viciously hated Lincoln. Here is an account:

Coming back from an address in Gettysburg, the train stopped at Hanover Junction. Lincoln spoke from the back of the train to a muster of supporters. Some wearing stovepipe hats with the letters MAHDA. “Make America Hunkey Dorey Again.” “Now the Democrats are politicizing smallpox, the African plague ,” Lincoln said. “This is their new hoax. Democrats will always say horrible things. Democrats want us to fail so badly.”

Lincoln in the past has drawn a misleading comparison between smallpox and tuberculosis, telling his supporters that 5000 people on average each year die from tuberculosis, “that's a lot of people. You want to talk about death. I just came from a place where over 7000 people died.”

“So far we have lost very few to smallpox ," Lincoln said, suggesting the growing global panic was due to the balderdash press being in a "hysteria mode.”

“And many people are saying that Darby’s Prophylactic Fluid, a well known cure for malarial fever, may alleviate smallpox. I am not a man of medicine or an apothecary, but I ask you. What do you have to lose? In addition, my friends, once the warm winds of April blow, this scourge will absquatulate. It will be like a miracle."

"I must depart now but I implore you to look at my ratings in Harper’s Weekly? The best!”