The Trump Pandemic

[Tero]

American with Finnish husband, lived in CA, now hiding in Finland from Covid and fires.

But for Niko and me, it’s been almost-back-to-normal since June. Early in the pandemic, the Finnish government invested in thorough contact tracing, and local authorities track the spread of the disease by testing groundwater — sewage — as well. Finland recently released an app that lets us know if we have encountered someone who tested positive, and it says something about my adopted country that 20% of the population signed up on the first day. Online data show the seven-day average of new cases per million in Finland at about 14; in the U.S., it’s about 130.

We eat out (on terraces), get haircuts, visit museums. We worry about a second wave. But what this country did once to flatten the curve, it will doubtlessly do again if the number of new cases rises markedly.

I devour U.S. news, but now I start the day reading the English-language Helsinki paper, for which I have started to write. I Zoom with friends at home, and listen to U.S. political podcasts, but the United States seems very far away, as if I were looking at it through the wrong end of a telescope. Niko and I had planned to return to San Francisco this month, but as the saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs.” Who would choose to go back now?

When I speak with my friends, I remind them that, although they are barred from Finland until the U.S. has the pandemic under control, they could go to the U.K. or Ireland. After quarantining for two weeks, they would live a safer, saner life there. But none of them are budging. It’s as if they have become inured to a dangerous new reality.

“There’s a bedroom in our apartment with your name on the door,” I tell them. Perhaps a year from now — when these fires at least will have receded, a vaccine is available and, fingers tightly crossed, there’s a decent man in the White House — they can take us up on our offer.

Meanwhile, I try hard to imagine myself in their shoes, in San Francisco or Point Reyes, and sometimes — only sometimes — I succeed.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2 ... 505W2nrRB4

[JimC]

...nanobots Jim, millions of tiny bots swimming inside you, all of them programmed to remind you to buy more vegemite...vegemite sounds good...you love vegemite...I do...

I already like it quite a lot. However, no fucking nanobot will ever over-ride my craving for gin, delicious gin...

[rainbow]

...nanobots Jim, millions of tiny bots swimming inside you, all of them programmed to remind you to buy more vegemite...vegemite sounds good...you love vegemite...I do...

I already like it quite a lot. However, no fucking nanobot will ever over-ride my craving for gin, delicious gin...

I never thought of that. The Illuminati could've just infused the nanobots into gin, instead of creating a fake pandemic and making us all stand in line to get the 'Rona shot.

They really didn't think this one through.

[Brian Peacock]

Trump promised a vaccine by election day, so no need to worry.

[JimC]

Trump promised a vaccine by election day, so no need to worry.

There'll be one, and on election day, it will be being tested on death-row prisoners. And illegal immigrants...

[rainbow]

Projected 240 000 deaths by election day.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-s ... &tab=trend

[JimC]

Somewhere in this sick and sorry world you'd be able to put a bet on those numbers...

[rainbow]

Somewhere in this sick and sorry world you'd be able to put a bet on those numbers...

https://sports.yahoo.com/poker-player-w ... jWnhBDcZwF

[Tero]

(CNN Business)Amazon said Thursday that 19,816 of its front-line US employees at Amazon and Whole Foods have tested positive or been presumed positive for the coronavirus, shedding light for the first time on how its workforce has been impacted by Covid-19.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/01/tech/ama ... index.html

[Svartalf]

Given his age, one can only hope the virus will do mankind a service...

[Brian Peacock]

Do you think Pense would be better?

Would be strange if he'd infected Biden at the debate, and if the virus got them both, and then there'd be an election with them both in a coma, or worse, and we'd be looking at a younger black woman and an older warrior for God for president.

[JimC]

Boris knows how bad this thing can be...

[Scot Dutchy]

Is the sly old cunt going to use the virus as a get out clause? Soaking up the sympathy vote? Doing everything to gain power but failing to win. Has his Russian friends deserted him?

[Brian Peacock]

I suspect his Russian 'friends' are only really interested in causing disruption and choas, so I imagine they're up to their usual tricks regardless.

[Scot Dutchy]

They want to cause maximum chaos by getting him elected. Is the old cunt getting cold feet.