The Trump Pandemic

[Sean Hayden]

It's all just a distraction, isn't it Tero? The WHO will get their funding, and some of the pressure will be taken off Trump.

[Tero]

Well the pandemic will last till election. Trump gets coronavirus and dies a few days after election. Pence becomes president because he never shook hands with women and did not get the virus.

Melania marries Arnold Schwarzenegger and moves to California.

[Sean Hayden]

[NineBerry]

[JimC]

From the Melbourne Age today:

President Donald Trump did not hold a press conference over the weekend after his disastrous briefing on Thursday (Friday AEST) when he mused about the possibility of injecting coronavirus patients with disinfectant or exposing them to high levels of ultra-violet rays.

Before now, Trump's daily White House briefings have been rambling and full of dubious claims.

Often stretching over two hours, the rambunctious affairs have shown Trump jousting with reporters, bragging about his administration's response, hyping unproven treatments and attacking his Democratic rivals.

The briefings have also stood out for the lack of time spent empathising with the 50,000-plus Americans who have died from the virus.

A Washington Post analysis of the past three weeks' briefings found Trump spent just four-and-a-half minutes expressing condolences for victims compared to two hours attacking his enemies and 45 minutes praising his administration.

[NineBerry]

Well, the people that died were losers. Why else did they die?

[Tero]

Brad Pitt as Fauci
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lDStqb7BD0A

[Brian Peacock]

... the rambunctious affairs ...

BTW: Isn't it time we stopped being surprised by what comes out of Trump's mouth?

I was listening to the Mark & Carrie podcast from the Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs yesterday and Mark Blythe made this interesting observation: When the HIV/AIDs epidemic arrived the world looked to the CDC to coordinate and direct the response - it took a massive international effort of course, but the CDC was seen as the natural administrative focal point. Same with SARS, and MERS - the CDC had a primary roll liaising with governments and coordinating action. The CDC's response to Ebola was weakened by Republican machinations because there was a black man in the White House, but in the face of Covid-19 it seems to have just imploded all together because political concerns now clearly override absolutely everything else at both the international and the a federal level in the US. About the only thing keeping the US in focus at the moment is the fact that the US$ is the world's reserve currency. Apart from that everything the administration says or does about the pandemic appears increasingly irrelevant to the circumstances people are actually finding themselves in.

[Seabass]

Yes, yes, but the Democrats are equally to blame because... reasons.

[Sean Hayden]

How a Democrat Killed Welfare

But the optimism surrounding Clinton’s election — and favorable assessments of his time in office since — ignore the destruction his administration brought to poor and working people, especially African Americans, and mask not only the continuation but intensification of anti-poor policies. Rather than offering a reprieve from punitive austerity, Clinton took the Reagan-Bush agenda a step further. If his administration was a turning point, it turned us in the wrong direction.

In 1994, Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the largest crime bill in history, which allocated $10 billion for prison construction, expanded the death penalty, and eliminated federal funding for inmate education. The act intensified police surveillance and racial profiling, and locked up millions for nonviolent offenses such as drug possession. It helped usher in the era of mass incarceration that devastated communities of color (for which Clinton himself has recently apologized).

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/welf ... verty-dlc/

What community has been hardest hit?

--//--

[Hermit]

BTW: Isn't it time we stopped being surprised by what comes out of Trump's mouth?
[snip]

Yes, yes, but the Democrats...

How a Democrat Killed Welfare

But the optimism surrounding Clinton’s election — and favorable assessments of his time in office since — ignore the destruction his administration brought to poor and working people, especially African Americans, and mask not only the continuation but intensification of anti-poor policies. Rather than offering a reprieve from punitive austerity, Clinton took the Reagan-Bush agenda a step further. If his administration was a turning point, it turned us in the wrong direction.

In 1994, Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the largest crime bill in history, which allocated $10 billion for prison construction, expanded the death penalty, and eliminated federal funding for inmate education. The act intensified police surveillance and racial profiling, and locked up millions for nonviolent offenses such as drug possession. It helped usher in the era of mass incarceration that devastated communities of color (for which Clinton himself has recently apologized).

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/welf ... verty-dlc/

What community has been hardest hit?

Onya, Sean. Right on queue.

[Sean Hayden]

You left off the bit where Seabass feigned ignorance as to possible reasons Democrats might share some blame, or might at times be thought of as "just as bad". What's your point anyway Hermit?

[Hermit]

You left off the bit where Seabass feigned ignorance as to possible reasons Democrats might share some blame, or might at times be thought of as "just as bad".

He did that, did he? Not implying that he did not feign ignorance. It's just that I don't read half of what he writes. It's just too fucking depressing. But yeah, if he feigned ignorance I'll ask him to provide me with a link.

Hey Seabass, would you please provide a link to where you have feigned ignorance as to possible reasons Democrats might share some blame, or might at times be thought of as just as bad? TIA.

What's your point anyway Hermit?

Perhaps you'll comprehend better when assisted by a pitcha?

I can help.

[Sean Hayden]

I understand that Seabass is likely responding to just that attitude, and in that sense it is somewhat unfair to point out in response to him what all the Democrat party has done wrong. But I don't feel that I should limit the scope of the discussion to the Trump bubble. It's simply the case that I don't think Democrats are actually blameless because Trump is so bad.

--//--

To me you still come across as having no point except to be an asshole, a tiresome arsehole.

[JimC]

Always, on Ratz, we have people fighting over whether Trump is Satan incarnate, or merely a minor demon...