On the subject of wanting to stay alive.

 

I was the WH Ebola Response Coordinator in 2014-15. We never told @CDCgov or @NIH what they could say, or ever censored their medical statements. If the WH is doing that now, it is a danger to public health. https://t.co/uVikNASztD

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) February 27, 2020

^ Just a smidgen off topic, but I hope anyone here over 65 will consider getting a pneumonia vaccine and/or encourage your elderly relatives to talk to a doctor about it.  From what I've read a lot of the corona deaths are in the elderly who are developing pneumonia.

Meanwhile, panic over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic caused the biggest single-day drop in Dow history, as stocks fell close to 1200 points.

 

Spring can't come fast enough, huh, Mr. President?

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/27/stock-market-dow-coronavirus/

 

You know, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but why do I get the feeling the Trump administration won't do much (if anything) about what has turned into a global health crisis, in the hopes that coronavirus will depress and suppress votes even further in the next election?

Edited February 27, 20205 yr by Khan

The theory that the virus will dissipate in warmer weather is just that for now, a theory based on previous flu epidemics and SARS, which is from a similar strain as the coronavirus. It has yet to be proven that the spread with diminish by April, but we hope.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

You know, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but why do I get the feeling the Trump administration won't do much (if anything) about what has turned into a global health crisis, in the hopes that coronavirus will depress and suppress votes even further in the next election?

 

I think that would be true if it wasn't for the effect on the stock market. Donald is fixated on the thought that the stock market is the key to his success.

3 hours ago, Juliajms said:

^ Just a smidgen off topic, but I hope anyone here over 65 will consider getting a pneumonia vaccine and/or encourage your elderly relatives to talk to a doctor about it.  From what I've read a lot of the corona deaths are in the elderly who are developing pneumonia.

 

I got the pneumonia vaccine even though I'm under 65 cosign due to my asthma. It might be time for me to look into a booster.

1 hour ago, marceline said:

 

I think that would be true if it wasn't for the effect on the stock market. Donald is fixated on the thought that the stock market is the key to his success.

 

I got the pneumonia vaccine even though I'm under 65 cosign due to my asthma. It might be time for me to look into a booster.

Yes. I was also thinking of your mom.

Even such a life-and-death issues is subject to secrecy and to conspiracy theories from some of those Trump is likely to listen to most. The far right are making it out that this is just another "Deep State" scheme from Rod Rosenstein.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/26/trump-backers-coronavirus-conspiracy-117781

 

The sad thing is many will believe this.

 

I naively tried to hope that when Trump was elected, someone somewhere would still be in place to put the brakes on this type of insanity taking hold of all forms of government, but it's clear now those days are long gone. 

^ The combination of incompetence and tendency toward authoritarianism is truly frightening.  We are lucky that the disease itself doesn't seem to be "the big one".

U.S. is on track to become Japan in 5-4-3-2...

 

“We are running out of people to fuel the economic growth,” Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged at a private event that immigrants are critical to expanding the United States’ labor pool https://t.co/gAMo0A6fUS

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) February 27, 2020

This might sound racist, but it's true: legal or not, immigrants to this country will often work the jobs that most people who were born here won't; and contrary to what the current administration keeps telling everyone, they'll do the work, and they'll do it w/o asking for handouts (again, unlike America's own, home-grown, self-entitled citizens).

 

Instead of doing everything in its' power to remove immigrants from this country, the GOP should've been courting them in order to expand their voting base.  They could've made it impossible for the Democrats even to gain a toehold again if, instead of "Build! That! Wall!," they had encouraged immigrants to cross our borders, become citizens and join the Republican party with all sorts of rah-rah, "the American Dream is Alive and Well!" ads and speeches.  IJS.

Edited February 28, 20205 yr by Khan

That's not racist at all. Agricultural and domestic work is mostly done by immigrants now. And before immigrants, it was black people who were mostly doing that work. There as a bill that as passed in Alabama that was supposed to curb illegal immigration and free up agriculture jobs. Well once it was in place there were some legal citizens who signed up, but most of them didn't show up for work and lots of produce ended up rotting on the vine.

6 minutes ago, ReddFoxx said:

There as a bill that as passed in Alabama that was supposed to curb illegal immigration and free up agriculture jobs. Well once it was in place there were some legal citizens who signed up, but most of them didn't show up for work and lots of produce ended up rotting on the vine.

 

Exactly.  Hardly anyone who was born here would sign up for that kind of work, under any circumstances, because they consider it "beneath them" and know they could make just as much (if not more) panhandling or living off the government dole.  That's the result of generations being raised with the mindset that America is the greatest country on earth, with its' citizens being far superior to anyone else's.

56 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Exactly.  Hardly anyone who was born here would sign up for that kind of work, under any circumstances, because they consider it "beneath them" and know they could make just as much (if not more) panhandling or living off the government dole.  That's the result of generations being raised with the mindset that America is the greatest country on earth, with its' citizens being far superior to anyone else's.

This article from the 1965 program says it all.

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers

1 hour ago, Khan said:

 

Exactly.  Hardly anyone who was born here would sign up for that kind of work, under any circumstances, because they consider it "beneath them" and know they could make just as much (if not more) panhandling or living off the government dole.  That's the result of generations being raised with the mindset that America is the greatest country on earth, with its' citizens being far superior to anyone else's.

It's also body destroying and leaves people in pain for a life time.  I hate that anyone has to do this kind of work.  I fully admit that I wouldn't (and frankly couldn't). I guess the good news is that legal immigrants move away from this work very quickly. Almost anyone with papers can get an easier job, thank god.  It's awful to think the undocumented are being exploited. There has to be a better way. Maybe a guest worker program with rights (breaks, slower work pace) and benefits. Of course, that is a dream under this admin.

17 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I naively tried to hope that when Trump was elected, someone somewhere would still be in place to put the brakes on this type of insanity taking hold of all forms of government, but it's clear now those days are long gone. 

 

They all quit and decided to write books.