I still think that, if we could respond coherently, the economic effects could be mild even if we chose a response that involves a very large death toll. It's just that I don't see us being coherent about anything.

if anything, donald's mistake in promising that anybody who needs testing could get it was that it was too plausible to easily dismiss.

Yes, sir... along with the added nuisance of this being a lie that literally affects life and death... living and dying.

Without a vaccine, routine testing, tracing, and isolating are the only way to save people's lives and the economy simultaneously. Testing people with and without symptoms, tracing their contacts and testing them and their contacts, and isolating those with or without symptoms who test positive is what it's going to take to contain the pandemic... to the extent a virus can be controlled.

So to recap: You want control over the economy? Control the virus to the extent you can. What Trump seems to have failed to realize is that the same kind of testing, tracing, and isolating that they're doing daily at the White House is exactly what needs to be done on a nationwide scale. It's not rocket science, but it is definitely science, and it will most assuredly trump Donald's exercises in magical thinking every day of the week.

thank you kick.

Easy as pie. ;)

what really clicked for me in the article is the context of donald's statement about anybody who needs a test getting a test. two things actually.

the second thing that occurred to me is it sounds a lot like obama's statement about anybody who likes their insurance keeping their insurance - a statement politifact rated "lie of the year" (now isn't that quaint?)

Noticed that too, did you? That's one of the many reasons we did "call it" already as PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year" for 2020 with three quarters still left to play... and Lord help all of us if there's a bigger lie coming, but we definitely already know the mouth from whence it will spew.

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2020/03/30/why-is-california-doing-so-well/#comment-156790

the first thing that occurred to me is how much of a throw-away statement it must have been for donald. he makes grand promises as a matter of routine, never intending to keep any of them - and in the media it's been normalized, desensitized.

Yes, sir. Trump "plays" to simply "win the day." There is no continuity of thought involved just the repetitive bullshit spewing where nothing is not fungible or easily replaced with more meaningless words. He takes every side of every issue... meaning he takes no sides at all because he has no moral compass, just flings meaningless shit daily and tomorrow is another day to spew and fling.

now nobody even blinks when donald promises to donate a million dollars to one cause or another, and anyone who points out that he didn't follow through comes off as nitpicking.

Another good point, but it's really only nitpicking to the Trump cultists and right-wing hypocrite types so you have to snap them back to some reality they can relate to. So for those who spent many multiple years whining and fundraising off "Benghazi," "four dead Americans," etc. yet who shrug off Trump's mishandling of the current pandemic, they must be brought back to reality with their own spew. So "do the math" every day and remind the Trump cultists and hypocrite types who blamed Obama, the Obama administration, and/or Hillary Clinton for the "four dead Americans" regarding the day's Pandemic Benghazi Count.

Example: Donald's mishandling of the pandemic will easily exceed 100,000 dead Americans, and that's 25,000 Benghazis and a whole lot of blood on Trump's tiny little hands.

we're almost expected to ignore any statement he makes as "part of the show," rather than hold him to account for any of it.

Like P.T. Barnum, wouldn't you say? Because that's exactly who Trump is and has always been. So do the pandemic Benghazi math and try to reason with the hypocrites and sycophants, and vote on November 3rd like it's the 2018 midterms.

" ... is more like pissing in the wind and expecting not to get pissed on. "

LOL! Best thing I have heard in a while! Bravo!

I didn't know there was a pay wall on that FT piece - how the heck did I get to read it?? I'll look into it ...

... saying that Rick Bright is being a tad apocalyptic.
I hope they're saying he's wrong about it.

Yes, they (political commentators, the ones on CNN, anyway) are saying that he's being a bit apocalyptic when he says that the US is in for the darkest winter in modern history if it doesn't take advantage of a narrowing window to improve its COVID-19 response. The commentators don't seem to like people using that kind of language.

I happen to think he's quite right to warn about it. And, the narrow window is closing fast. The WHO agrees that the window is closing. He's trying to light a fire under the feet of people who might actually be able to force a change in course. I remain less than optimistic about that.

"taking a knee when the bell rings."

Demanding small donor candidates is not like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

I agree with Don on this one. Demanding Don's definition of "small donor candidates" is more like pissing in the wind and expecting not to get pissed on.

NOT demanding small donor candidates is like not showing up for the fight at all.

Wrong. But refusing to vote for anyone who doesn't meet your ridiculous purity definition of "small donor candidates" is definitely like not voting because no one with a pulse meets the definition.

It is taking a knee when the bell rings to start the round.

Wrong. But a self-professed "average" person with "no degrees, no years of running a successful business and no experience in political campaigns or activism" who keeps trolling everyone else with his "idea" is the living embodiment of "talking a knee when the bell rings."

Getting paid 9.50 an hour is better than getting paid 9.00 dollars an hour, but it is still nowhere near getting paid enough to live on.

The minimum wage in New Jersey is currently $11 an hour for most workers and currently scheduled to increase $1 per hour every January 1 until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024... operative word there being "currently."

If you're not a waiter or one of those "most workers" but getting paid less than legally required, you might want to:

* Sue your employer.
* Improve your skills via education.
* Stop blaming the politicians of either Party unless you are one of them.

You are right when you say I ignored what CW said about me posting my opinion.

You are correct that I am "right." Thank you for your confession that you've ignored the author of the blog.

I ignored it because I don't think posting my opinion should be limited to trying to out-loyal everyone else in agreeing with CW's opinion which in my opinion is tolerating quackery.

That's a very telling admission you've got there... indeed, on multiple levels. If you believe CW's blog or his readers' opinions posted thereunder are "quackery," then you've got to concede that you're the effing moron who has spent year after year scrounging, bumming, and mooching for a purveyor of dishonesty to shill your "two hundred plus dollars is big money" bullshit to his group of like-minded forum followers, and that makes you just a repetitive troll.

And I don't care if CW or anyone else gets upset because my pointing out their ignorance makes them feel ignorant.

As an infinitely observant reader of this forum, allow me to point out some irrefutable facts regarding the unconcerned trolls like yourself on this board: They quite frequently claim to possess knowledge regarding what people "think" and "feel," and they seemingly genuinely believe they're here to perform some kind of service for others. Furthermore, you've made neither the author of the blog nor any of the commenters on the forum look "ignorant," with the obvious exception of this guy:

I have none of the credentials normally listed in a bio. No degrees, no years of running a successful business and no experience in political campaigns or activism. I am simply an average person that has been working and living at survival mode. But I have the only credentials that I believe really matters. I am a citizen and I have an idea that may improve our political system.

~ Don Harris

It's not my fault that people acting ignorant take my pointing out their ignorance as an attack instead of a call to stop acting ignorant.

As I said, the trolls on this forum have a propensity to profess to know how people "feel." If you genuinely believe that any of your rote and repetitive trolling bullshit makes anyone "feel" or look "ignorant," then you should definitely read and re-read your bio (conveniently located above) until your self-reported reality sets in.

So to recap: Don Harris has his finger on the pulse of "quackery" and ignorance that permeates this forum in unceasing and uncaring repetitive fashion; he's just infinitely unaware that it's him.

That should be a good thing, right? That way the peasants get the eggs!!

There were enough people who voted for him, and they got exactly what they voted for.

... saying that Rick Bright is being a tad apocalyptic.

I hope they're saying he's wrong about it.

Trump has been President for 3+ years and cannot convince anyone beyond his 44% base that it's Obama's fault.

To be fair, has Trump really tried to convince anyone that his winning the election was Obama's fault?

Growing stockpiles of gowns, critical care drugs and ventilators is also a short-term priority.

Someone doesn't understand the concept. You stockpile stuff when there isn't a crisis, and then you draw down the stockpile when there is.

what really clicked for me in the article is the context of donald's statement about anybody who needs a test getting a test. two things actually.

the second thing that occurred to me is it sounds a lot like obama's statement about anybody who likes their insurance keeping their insurance - a statement politifact rated "lie of the year" (now isn't that quaint?)

the first thing that occurred to me is how much of a throw-away statement it must have been for donald. he makes grand promises as a matter of routine, never intending to keep any of them - and in the media it's been normalized, desensitized. now nobody even blinks when donald promises to donate a million dollars to one cause or another, and anyone who points out that he didn't follow through comes off as nitpicking. we're almost expected to ignore any statement he makes as "part of the show," rather than hold him to account for any of it.

JL

can't read the british financial times article. paywall. :(

No problem, though:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/his-own-worst-enemy-how-trump-failed-coronavirus-challenge-1.4253533

A couple things.

No matter how badly Trump handles the pandemic the reason he is in position to be handling the pandemic is because the Dems have only offered a false alternative to the Republicans.

I quite agree with this. But name a Democratic primary candidate who would have botched it like Trump. For that matter most of the 2016 GOP primary candidates would have handled it better. It's just not factually accurate to apportion equal blame to the Democrats.

Trying to focus the blame on Trump is no different than Trump trying to pin the blame on Obama.

That's nonsense. Trump has been President for 3+ years and cannot convince anyone beyond his 44% base that it's Obama's fault. Trump's signature alone is all over this preventable disaster.

Trump has a billion dollars behind him. Not to mention the Rooskies et al. Now is not the time to go small doner, it would be like taking a knife to a gunfight.

We'll, our President is not a good President, but he has a lot of people who love him anyways. The other guys will probably make Trump go away, but only if enough of them show up to do this thing called "voting." Some of the other guys may be mad because they didn't get their way. So we have to see if they show up to vote. Otherwise we'll be stuck with our bad President.

Do I need to post that song again!?

Trying to focus the blame on Trump is no different than Trump trying to pin the blame on Obama.

Trying to focus the blame on money is an asinine exercise at this point, and you were told to stop with your "monomania," which you've ignored.

Time to put on your big boy pants and demand the Dems stop the same old nonsense and purge the party of the big money interests.

Time for you to pull up your big boy pants and stop your same old shitting on this forum, you repetitive shit stain.

Wake up. Wise up. Rise up.
GROW up.
Get Real.

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Eff off.
Get lost.

Can somebody please explain to me how Trump gets re-elected … like I'm a six-year-old?

Cheats

"The way to keep your job is to out-loyal everyone else, which means you have to tolerate quackery," says Anthony Scaramucci, an estranged former Trump adviser, who was briefly his White House head of communications. "You have to flatter him in public and flatter him in private. Above all, you must never make him feel ignorant."

You must never make him feel ignorant!? *laughs*

Well, that definitely and without question explains the revolving door of the President Moron Daft Dipshit administration.

Just in case anyone is wondering why the weather of late may be a bit off - like snow in the middle of May in sunny southern Ontario - I wanted to let you know that the reason may be the fact that the Magnetic North is currently caught in a tug-of-war between Canada and Siberia.

See, that explains it.

Can somebody please explain to me how Trump gets re-elected … like I'm a six-year-old?