Virus thread, the political one.

[zachateseverything]

They're protected by the shield of faith. (or so I hear)

I sure hope that isn't a recent picture.

it's from Columbus, OH this week.

[Mabouya]

it's from Columbus, OH this week.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

At least some of them will pay for that.

Even Trump now acknowledges that this is a big deal. Do they not believe him? Crazy stuff.

[BBB]

Those red hat wallies are really dumb f*cks. Are the hats still made in China?

[ides1056]

Raging lunatic red hatters. Breathing all over each other then heading back home to wherever. See y'all in church.

This looks like Simon Pegg's movie, Worlds End.

Bunch of zombies trying to get into the bar.

[Mark Kelly]

This looks like Simon Pegg's movie, Worlds End.

"Shaun of the Dead"?

[Sbti]

I sure hope that isn't a recent picture.

it's from Columbus, OH this week.

I did an image search "Lansing, Michigan protests." No hope for them. Shit..... swastika/trump pence signs. "Heil Whitmer." FFS
There's probably a super spreader amongst some of those clowns. As the king says, 'We'll see what happens."

[guido]

Opinion | Why Some Republicans Are Blocking New Coronavirus Relief - The New York Times

"So Donald Trump’s name will, in a break with all previous practice, appear on the checks that will slightly mitigate the Donald Trump depression caused by the Donald Trump pandemic. Hey, we’re supposed to put his name on everything, right?

The operative word, however, is “slightly.” Those $1,200 checks, it turns out, are only a small fraction of the rescue package Congress passed a few weeks ago. And the CARES Act, in turn, fell far short of meeting the nation’s needs.

Given the scale of the economic carnage — 22 million jobs lost in four weeks — we need another huge relief program, both to limit financial hardship and to avoid economic damage that will persist even when the pandemic fades.

But we may not get the program we need, because anti-government ideologues, who briefly got quiet as the magnitude of the Covid-19 shock became apparent, are back to their usual tricks."

[guido]

Bill Gates, at Odds With Trump on Virus, Becomes a Right-Wing Target - The New York Times

"The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist has been attacked with falsehoods that he created the coronavirus and wants to profit from it.

In a 2015 speech, Bill Gates warned that the greatest risk to humanity was not nuclear war but an infectious virus that could threaten the lives of millions of people.

That speech has resurfaced in recent weeks with 25 million new views on YouTube — but not in the way that Mr. Gates probably intended. Anti-vaccinators, members of the conspiracy group QAnon and right-wing pundits have instead seized on the video as evidence that one of the world’s richest men planned to use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health system."

[guido]

We Won’t Know the Exact Moment When Democracy Dies | The New Yorker

"n the early days of the Trump Presidency, there was a lot of speculation about when, if, and how we would pass the point of no return, when we would know that American democracy had been destroyed. That conversation faded after a while, drowned out by the din of Trumpian news. The coronavirus pandemic has brought it back. Will Trump use the virus to establish autocracy? Is American democracy dead? Just in the past few days, Trump has asserted that the Presidency gives him “total” authority, made sure that his name will appear on the stimulus checks that Americans will receive, and threatened to adjourn Congress in order to fill Administration vacancies without waiting for Senate confirmation. Is this the definitive end of American democracy? No, but only because when a democracy dies there is rarely a definitive time of death. Democracy is never pronounced dead at the scene.

Trump walked back his “total authority” claim after a day. The design of the stimulus checks will, it seems, be the result of some negotiation: Trump’s name will not appear at the top or on the signature line but, rather, in the “memo” line. (Some Republicans, such as Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, think that this is in line with tradition.) The threat to adjourn Congress may not be as radical as it sounded at first: Trump certainly didn’t invent the “recess appointment,” and in fact it was the Obama Administration that fought for the right to make such appointments during a pro-forma session (although the Supreme Court declared this an overreach of powers). At the end of the day, like at the end of so many days, all of Trump’s threats and claims can be normalized or chalked up to so much authoritarian hot air. This is exactly how autocracy works: it creeps in, staking one claim after another, but it does not firmly and finally announce its own arrival."

[ides1056]

"Shaun of the Dead"?

I am mixing up zombie movies. Yes.

[guido]

Trump vs. the media: How he’s using his war on the press to deny his coronavirus failings - Vox

"Americans don’t trust the government, and they don’t trust the media. That trend has been evident for years, but the Trump era has accelerated it.

Now we can see the worst-case scenario that trend could create, playing out in front of our eyes: Confronted with a paralyzing coronavirus pandemic, there’s deep confusion about the steps the country should be taking to respond.

Don’t expect it to get better, says journalism critic Jay Rosen. That’s in large part because the Trump administration uses confusion as one of its primary political tools. Right now, it is employing it to create cover for the president, who wants to argue that he shouldn’t be blamed for a litany of missteps as the virus moved from China to the US and exploded across the country. "

[ides1056]

We Won’t Know the Exact Moment When Democracy Dies | The New Yorker

"n the early days of the Trump Presidency, there was a lot of speculation about when, if, and how we would pass the point of no return, when we would know that American democracy had been destroyed. That conversation faded after a while, drowned out by the din of Trumpian news. The coronavirus pandemic has brought it back. Will Trump use the virus to establish autocracy? Is American democracy dead? Just in the past few days, Trump has asserted that the Presidency gives him “total” authority, made sure that his name will appear on the stimulus checks that Americans will receive, and threatened to adjourn Congress in order to fill Administration vacancies without waiting for Senate confirmation. Is this the definitive end of American democracy? No, but only because when a democracy dies there is rarely a definitive time of death. Democracy is never pronounced dead at the scene.

Trump walked back his “total authority” claim after a day. The design of the stimulus checks will, it seems, be the result of some negotiation: Trump’s name will not appear at the top or on the signature line but, rather, in the “memo” line. (Some Republicans, such as Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, think that this is in line with tradition.) The threat to adjourn Congress may not be as radical as it sounded at first: Trump certainly didn’t invent the “recess appointment,” and in fact it was the Obama Administration that fought for the right to make such appointments during a pro-forma session (although the Supreme Court declared this an overreach of powers). At the end of the day, like at the end of so many days, all of Trump’s threats and claims can be normalized or chalked up to so much authoritarian hot air. This is exactly how autocracy works: it creeps in, staking one claim after another, but it does not firmly and finally announce its own arrival."

It's how a boa constrictor works: they don't squeeze, just contract as you breathe and so wrap tighter and tighter.

[j44ke]

In this era, you cannot look at comments under any sort of social media post Or news article and assume they represent real people, regardless of the views expressed. There are just too many mechanical (for lack of a better word) sources of these comments created for the purpose of sewing disorder.

[Mark Kelly]

Appropos of Shaun of the Dead:

[giordana93]

meanwhile it seems that Senator Burr had a pretty middling track record of small stock trades before his big, profitable move ahead of the mini-crash

North Carolina Senator Richard Burr's Stock Sales Before Pandemic Were Unusual : NPR

not to mention selling a house that wasn't for sale to lobbyists with business before the powerful committee he chairs (a few years ago but still)

Senator Richard Burr Sold D.C. Townhouse to Donor at a… — ProPublica

[vertical_doug]

meanwhile it seems that Senator Burr had a pretty middling track record of small stock trades before his big, profitable move ahead of the mini-crash

North Carolina Senator Richard Burr's Stock Sales Before Pandemic Were Unusual : NPR

not to mention selling a house that wasn't for sale to lobbyists with business before the powerful committee he chairs (a few years ago but still)

Senator Richard Burr Sold D.C. Townhouse to Donor at a… — ProPublica

The other Senator Kelly Loeffler who sold even more, has a finance background and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is head of the NYSE. I think Jeffrey loses his role as head of NYSE when this settles down.

[gregl]

The other Senator Kelly Loeffler who sold even more, has a finance background and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is head of the NYSE. I think Jeffrey loses his role as head of NYSE when this settles down.

I wish I shared your optimism. I suspect that all the politicians who benefited from the early, insider information will have no penalties assessed as their potential crimes get buried and forgotten in the ongoing new cycle.

Greg

[etcetera]

meanwhile it seems that Senator Burr had a pretty middling track record of small stock trades before his big, profitable move ahead of the mini-crash

North Carolina Senator Richard Burr's Stock Sales Before Pandemic Were Unusual : NPR

not to mention selling a house that wasn't for sale to lobbyists with business before the powerful committee he chairs (a few years ago but still)

Senator Richard Burr Sold D.C. Townhouse to Donor at a… — ProPublica

He wasn't the only one..

Feinstein, a California Democrat, sold $500,001 to $1 million worth of stock in a company called Allogene Therapeutics on Jan. 31, less than a month before panic about the virus caused markets to plunge, Senate records show. Her husband sold $1,000,001 to $5 million worth of Allogene shares on Feb. 18, according to financial disclosures.

[j44ke]

How easy is this to prosecute though? It can be pursued through an ethics investigation I suppose, where Congress says "Yeah, okay this one is a bit too close for comfort. 40 rhetorical lashes for you." But in terms of getting some kind of secret information that wasn't available to other investors at the time and trading based on that information - that's much more difficult to prove, isn't it?

Looking back through our financial movements, we've made changes in & around February almost every year. And that's just because that's when my wife gets her earnings statements and our financial advisor meets with us. Just routine calendar based pattern.

Would Trump's statements as President that no one could have seen this coming provide cover for these trades as lucky decisions? If so, I guess the growing evidence of administration communications warning about a possible pandemic as early as January might then also make it more difficult to say these were just lucky - if those missives were shared with members of Congress.

[ides1056]

He wasn't the only one..

Feinstein, a California Democrat, sold $500,001 to $1 million worth of stock in a company called Allogene Therapeutics on Jan. 31, less than a month before panic about the virus caused markets to plunge, Senate records show. Her husband sold $1,000,001 to $5 million worth of Allogene shares on Feb. 18, according to financial disclosures.

A horse of a different color:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Sold a Biotech Stock Near Its 22 Low - Barron's