Just bloggage today, I think.
I think it was Mary who posted the story that Shouting Michigan Man, the guy screaming in that photo from last week, was actually a known white supremacist from California, i.e., an outside agitator . I looked up pictures of the other guy and thought there was only a vague resemblance, but that the truth will out.
And it did. Shouting Michigan Man is not a Californian, but as I suspected, just another constantly stoned dude from Oakland County. A flooring installer, Brian Cash. One look at the guy and I know everything about him: Probably drives a full-size pickup with an InfoWars bumper sticker. Doesn’t trust the government, etc. And then I read it, and yep:
Other details about Cash: He is not concerned about the virus (“Not at all”); he doesn’t believe masks protect people and won’t wear one (“Ever”); he doesn’t agree with the stay home order because people are still going to stores, pharmacies and gas stations anyway (“So what is the point of staying at home?”); he believes the virus was intentionally released by the Chinese government, and he said he had never voted before the 2016 election (“Because f*ck the government, you know?”).
Cash, who expressed dislike for both the Democratic and Republican parties, said he voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary, and then Donald Trump in the general election.
He also is a marijuana advocate and said he was high during the interview with the Free Press. “If I’m awake, I’m high,” Cash said. “But I’m not high; I’m normal.”
Guys like this are as common as whitetail deer around here. He sees no cognitive dissonance between believing the virus was bred by Chinese Commies but also nothing to worry about, or between Sanders and Trump. He wants to fuck shit up. And that he has.
I’m not in agreement with those who seem to believe the major offense here was yelling in a cop’s face. It’s the violence in his face that bugs me. But that’s me.
Moving on, I want to amplify a piece that Sherri posted in yesterday’s comments. Caitlin Flanagan is dying. Yes, aren’t we all, but maybe a little faster. She’s at Stage IV, and now, well:
Now here I am—here we all are—with our health in the hands of Donald Trump, M.D. When the coronavirus appeared on the horizon, he did not get closer to the science. He mocked science. He said the panic around the virus and the criticism of his response were a big hoax; he said the outbreak would end with warmer weather in April; he said the virus was no more serious than the common flu; he said there would be a vaccine soon; he said the virus would suddenly disappear “like a miracle”; he said there were plenty of “beautiful” tests and anyone who wanted one could have one; he said the number of U.S. infections was going “substantially down, not up.” He said an antimalarial drug cured COVID-19 and the FDA had approved it for use by prescription. He said there were only 15 patients with COVID-19 in the U.S. and the number, “within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero.”
He said, “That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
Finally, a few have noted the story of the editor of the Bloomington Herald-Times who was fired from the job and then evicted from the company-provided apartment in the same building. He’s now “a homeless blogger,” but I can’t get past how weird it is that he’d live in on-site, something I’ve never heard of before. Man, has journalism fallen. What’s next, company scrip?
Later. Slept badly last night and can’t wait to see my pillow again.
Deborah said on May 5, 2020 at 9:18 pm
That Cash guy is a creep, the now famous photo made him look especially evil, the expression on his face was demented. The other photo that has become famous, the protesters outside a door, you can see their snarling faces through the glass, those people look horrendously demonic. Other photos of white men with weapons confronting scrub and mask clad healthcare workers seems like bad optics to me, but the Trump base eats it up. What is wrong with people?
Slept badly last night too. Almost every night now. I awaken at 2 or 3, sometimes I go back to sleep at 5 or 5:30 and then I have strange dreams that I remember when I wake up at 7. I need to get more exercise so I’m worn out, I take walks but not long ones anymore.
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David C said on May 5, 2020 at 9:34 pm
All this mess has reacquainted me with Trofim Lysenko and Lysenkoism. I hadn’t heard of that since Russian history in College. Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist and Friend of Stalin. He was inept and probably starved millions of people and set back Soviet plant genetics for fifty years because apparently Gregor Mendel was a capitalist running dog or something. But if there’s any difference between Republican science and Soviet science, I can’t see it. Any science has to fit the political frame first. This it’s we’ll see what happens.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786/
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Charlotte said on May 5, 2020 at 9:50 pm
Oh — the Caitlin Flannagan piece made me cry. And I don’t even like her work much. But I’ve known people who didn’t make it to the graduations, so …
Montana is having a terrifying “staged opening” — which apparently people interpret as “hey! it’s over!” So I’m here in the backyard, rebuilding the raised beds, finishing grading for my students who, god love them, really want to hear what I think of their work when I’m so so so tired from working 2 jobs, keeping my mom from going out from afar, and well, you know, international emergency.
So tonight, like Nancy, I’m off to bed at maybe 8:30.
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Bitter Scribe said on May 5, 2020 at 9:57 pm
It’s no wonder Trump loves the poorly educated.
Gadzooks, that story about the newspaper guy was depressing. That could easily have been me.
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jcburns said on May 5, 2020 at 10:35 pm
You wouldn’t want to hear (and feel!) the roar of the presses under your bed at 1 am, and…? Ah, they probably printed out in suburban Bloomington somewhere.
I’m continuing to pick fights. G’night!
http://positivelyatlantaga.com/2020/05/05/oddsmakers/
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LAMary said on May 5, 2020 at 10:53 pm
I saw that thing about Cash today too. He’s just an asshole who likes to stay stoned. Most of the constantly stoned people I’ve met have been quietly assholes, not screaming at cops types.
So today, looking for my daily dose of stupid comments, I saw one about contact tracing, a woman, telling everyone that contact tracers will call you and if you say you were around someone who tested positive they will have you locked up. She said she saw that, in black and white. It’s true. Someone chimed in saying she worked for a public health department and they they’ve been doing contact tracing for years for TB, measles, STDs, and no one is getting locked up. The PHD person told her it was to keep communicable diseases from spreading. That contact tracers will advise people to see a doctor etc. Nope. Not buying it. There is so much stupid out there.
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beb said on May 6, 2020 at 12:46 am
I see that the police have arrested people in connection of the murder of a store security guard in Flint. He had asked a woman to put on a mask. She left and apparently her husband and another man came back, because the guard had disrespected the woman and shot him. The DA is asking for 1st degree murder. They deserve it.
Then there is the old man in Holly who wiped his nose on a clerks’ shirt after she asked him to wear a mask. He;s been arrested for misdemeanor assault and battery.
And Sean Hannity is worried that the open-carry of assault rifles in the Michigan Capital building might send the wrong message to legislators. Dah! There’s nothing like having a gun shoved in your face to make one regret the second amendment.
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Sherri said on May 6, 2020 at 1:12 am
So the council member who wanted to pull my reappointment from the consent agenda and vote no on me didn’t do it. He did pull all the reappointments off the consent agenda so he could have the it explained to him why they were on the consent agenda (as they had been every other year he’s been on council, but he never does his homework, so he still doesn’t understand anything!), but he didn’t call me out and he did vote yes.
I do have a screen capture of where he said he wanted to vote no on me specifically on the council’s questions matrix, though. He probably also doesn’t realize it’s a public record, and if I wanted, I could do a public records request for it.
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Heather said on May 6, 2020 at 10:01 am
Here in Chicago, the police are trying to avoid arrests. Apparently they suggest residents shoot people on their property if they really have a problem: https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-police-wouldnt-arrest-his-machete-wielding-neighbor-they-gave-him-advice-on-shooting-instead/2732ba63-9ddc-414d-a8c4-08d11ebe8aa6
I went to pick up some food at a restaurant last night as it was not too bad out and I could use the bike ride. No one in the restaurant was wearing a mask, and while I was paying for my meal a guy came in behind me, also no mask. Sigh.
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Randy said on May 6, 2020 at 10:19 am
We’re in Day Three of eased restrictions here in Manitoba. Restaurant/Bars can re-open their patios, but not their dining spaces – that’s coming June 1 if COVID numbers don’t spike, not clear what spiking would be, no numbers provided by Public Health. Most patios chose not to re-open, the cost/benefit ratio is not encouraging. People are asking a valid question – I can meet my friends for a beer at Bar X, but I can’t invite my neighbor over for a beer on my porch?
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Suzanne said on May 6, 2020 at 10:21 am
This is very good
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/05/so-your-state-is-opening-up-dont-let-down-your-guard/
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LAMary said on May 6, 2020 at 10:47 am
I think it’s amazing that people refuse to wear face coverings. My older son is staying at his girlfriend’s house and when he stops by here he wears a mask and so do I. We meet outside. He brought us those sandwiches and left them inside my gate for me to pick up. His girlfriend has some respiratory issues and her mother recently had surgery so we’re being care to take care of each other. Both sons were doing yard work yesterday and keeping away from each other. Are we overdoing it? I don’t think so.
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4dbirds said on May 6, 2020 at 11:13 am
I don’t trust ‘most’ people anymore and will not change my ways going forward. I will be the weird woman who still wears her mask in November, I will still wash my hands too often and I will not be going and sitting in restaurants and I LOVE sitting in restaurants drinking a good wine and eating good food. I have already contacted my doctor to ask her to give me a telework exception once our OIG says we have to go back. I have three strikes against me, I’m 65, a diabetic and recently recovered from sepsis. The doc has no problem with it and since my agency has not only people who telework but people who actually have no office and are domiciled so I don’t expect to get turned down. I want a few more years before I retire but if I am forced to by work, I will. I guess I’m an awful person (I actually don’t want anyone to get sick and/or die), part of me is train wreak anticipating what going to happen in cities like Boise, Midland, Tucson, Tampa etc in three to four weeks when the shit hits the fan. I know there are many people who think they are immune because they’re white and under 50. We will see.
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LAMary said on May 6, 2020 at 11:50 am
I’m right there with you 4DB. I think I mentioned here that I got a call about a job with a hospital chain and they were very interested in my experience etc, but would not consider letting me work remotely. They pay and benefits also sucked, but mostly I did not want to go to a hospital, one with a somewhat sketchy inspection history. What I do is a perfect remote working job. If I’ve got a phone and a laptop I’m set. I think that company does not trust people to work from home because they don’t trust anyone to actually work when they’re at home. When I have worked from home I’ve actually put in more hours than I did at an office.
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Icarus said on May 6, 2020 at 11:56 am
JC would really love a way to subscribe to your blog (via email) and perhaps even comment.
I’ve hardly left the house since Shelter at Home began. when I’m sitting on my front porch, no mask but I’m always six feet or more away from anyone walking by.
On Saturday I went for my first run in over a month. I have this neck gater thing that extends over my nose for cold weather running and I would place it over my nose when approaching someone and then take it off after I passed. I’d say for every person I saw wearing a mask on Saturday, I saw two that weren’t.
two friends from high school, who are even closer to one another than to me, have unfriended over the mask issue. Strange because they are pretty politically aligned but the one’s husband just got out of the hospital after a week of non-COVID but still scary observation (don’t remember the issue) and she’s not having other friend’s concerns about wearing masks. She feels it suffocates her, she had issues as a child, bleah, bleah, bleah and of course the slippery slope of the government taking away her rights.
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Mark P said on May 6, 2020 at 11:56 am
A lot of people are still thinking of Covid-19 as something like the flu. It’s not. Sure, there are receptors in the upper respiratory tract, and down deep in the lungs. Those can give flu-like symptoms. But there are also receptors in the intestinal tract, the heart, the brain, and other organs. Inflammation of those organs can kill or cause permanent damage. People are coming out of their infections with what appears to be permanent damage to their lungs. I don’t understand why people don’t understand.
If we could count on the idiots being the only ones to be infected I wouldn’t care so much.
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FlowerGirl said on May 6, 2020 at 12:18 pm
Testing to see if I can comment anonymously using my other email address.
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nancy said on May 6, 2020 at 12:27 pm
Masks have really emerged as the tipping point around here. The M*ichiganders Against Exc*ssive Qu*rantine Facebook group is full of mask-related bitching: I hate them, I can’t breathe, I hate how they look, they’re “silly,” etc.
More to the point, we had the Family Dollar shooting in Flint over the weekend. There was also a woman who assaulted a grocery worker who told her she had to mask up or leave. But the worst of all was a guy — again, up in northern Oakland County — who got into a fight with a dollar-store employee and then, get this, grabbed the guy’s arm and wiped his nose on the employee’s sleeve.
Ew.
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Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2020 at 12:34 pm
The video of the nose wiper played on our news and eww is a mild response.
I don’t like wearing a mask either; especially because I wear glasses I have a lot of trouble with them. The glasses get all fogged up and give me fit issues. I tweaked my design again to make it tighter, and this morning I started getting lightheaded. Nurses I know say the N95s are even worse, and the thought of working all day with one of those on only makes my admiration for them grow.
But it’s not about me. It’s about keeping others safe. The end.
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Suzanne said on May 6, 2020 at 12:42 pm
Mask wearing & voting by mail have both become idiotically politically charged. For people that claim to love the free market, they sure to whine when the market says “We don’t want to go to a store that doesn’t protect its customers by asking everyone to wear masks.”
I don’t even pretend to understand the objections to voting by mail.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 6, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Just by way of some good news, and I know there are a number of Athens alumns here, my son just got his last formal grades from Ohio University and is technically a magna cum laude graduate in music education . . . except his student teaching (aka professional internship) was to be this coming fall, and everyone is saying “let’s not do band yet” so he’s got some Plan B-ing to work on. If there had been commencement, he would have walked last Saturday, but they’re all invited to the upcoming December event . . . assuming IT happens! And that they figure out how he’s doing student teaching when band & choir are likely to be very, very different next school year.
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Icarus said on May 6, 2020 at 1:23 pm
Just to be clear, I did wear a mask the few times I did go to a store, even before Illinois made it a requirement.
Suzanne @ 20: I think the right has convinced their flock that voter fraud is easier with mail-in voting. You know those 3 million illegals that voted for Hilary in 2016…it will be even easier if they just need a postage stamp.
I don’t know all the ins and outs of voting by mail but given that there is voter suppression, gerrymandering, and such, I wouldn’t put it past anyone to lose a bag of votes or figure out some other way to make those votes not count.
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Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2020 at 1:53 pm
Also to be clear, Icarus, my comment wasn’t directed at you; sorry if it came off that way!
Jefftmmo, congratulations to your son and good luck on plan B. How can he get licensed and hired as a teacher without student teaching? I’ve been thinking a lot about those like your son, Nancy’s daughter, other friends’ kids who are finishing school and trying to enter the job market. Lord have mercy.
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Scout said on May 6, 2020 at 2:41 pm
We’ve been voting by mail here in AZ for years now. It’s awesome, and I can check the County Recorder’s website to verify that my ballot was received and counted. The whole movement to make the one right we all *should* have harder is disgusting, but I know I’m preaching to the choir here.
We are still under mandatory stay at home until 5/15. I’m sure it will be lifted at that time, especially since Don Coronaleone made an appearance here yesterday and schmoozed up with Gov Doucey. (Great optics of trump and his entourage unmasked in a mask making Honeywell plant with all the employees masked and Live and Let Die blasting in the background, lol) Doucey has been surprisingly intelligent to this point, but he is a trumper, and it seems the party line now is that if they pretend it’s all over, it’s over. If people die, oh well. No getting that economy restarted without some human sacrifice, amiright? Fire up the crematoriums!
People I know who aren’t essential personnel are not planning to return to work, or get haircuts or eat in restaurants until science and medicine catch up with this thing. The economy is going to continue to limp along with the now added pain of those employees not being eligible for unemployment anymore. What a choice – starve or die. MAGA!!!
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Peter said on May 6, 2020 at 2:48 pm
I think the mail-in voting paranoia for the GOP is that they’ve spent years perfecting the art of mining mail-in ballots at retirement homes, and they’re on the lookout to make sure the Democrats don’t get in on that sweet scam. Also, some states would mail out ballots to everyone, and the prospect of so many people who don’t normally vote getting a mail-in ballot is causing them fits. As well it should.
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Suzanne said on May 6, 2020 at 2:51 pm
The Health Commissioner of Indiana just told us all that the reason Indiana has (I think she said) the highest per capita stats for COVID deaths of all states that are reopening is…the state has more people who are obese, smoke, diabetic, and other health problems so of course they die more often.
So, it does seem that the plan is to open, let them die, and get rid of that sad statistic of state public health. Nice.
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Jeff Borden said on May 6, 2020 at 2:53 pm
Members of the Armed Forces have had no choice but to vote by mail since forever. I haven’t read of any issues with them. And Utah, which is about a red as they come, does all elections via mail, so this clearly isn’t some liberal conspiracy. The bottom line is well known: when voter turnout is large, it’s bad news for Republicans. So, if the party cannot gerrymander itself into a majority, which is what the onerous Wisconsin GOP has done, they do their best to prevent others from voting, particularly people of color, students and urbanite, as when Alabama began requiring a photo ID, them promptly closed all the DMV offices is majority black counties.
Some people argue to me it should be hard to vote. . .that if people cannot summon the energy to get to the polls and have certain kinds of documents, they don’t deserve to cast a ballot. I take the opposite view. We should create a national voting holiday –maybe replace President’s Day– so almost everyone would have the time to go to a polling place. It’s not fair to those working odd hours or, perhaps, two jobs when election day falls on a work day.
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LAMary said on May 6, 2020 at 3:58 pm
Trump has changed his mind about shutting down the pandemic team. In his words, “I didn’t realize how popular it was.” Popular? Like a cheerleader or like a superhero movie? He said he heard from all sorts of people saying he needed to keep it going. I don’t think they were fans as much as being aware that it’s desperately needed. I’m imagining the Fauci Birx team being replaced by Jared and some Fox news blonde.
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Mark P said on May 6, 2020 at 4:38 pm
We should have a voting week. The polls should open at 12:01 am Eastern time on the first Saturday of November everywhere in the country and stay open 24 hours a day until 11:59 pm EST on the following Saturday. And exit poll results should be banned until the polls close.
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Sherri said on May 6, 2020 at 4:41 pm
Vote by mail is less prone to fraud than electronic voting machines without a paper trail for auditing. Republicans are opposed because their ideas are deeply unpopular and they need low turnout elections.
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Dexter Friend said on May 6, 2020 at 5:07 pm
180? How high do Michigan State Troopers’s speed-clocks register? Freedom, free-dom, freedom, free-dom: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/05/michigan-speed-limits-coronavirus/3083587001/
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David C said on May 6, 2020 at 5:45 pm
I was once passed by a crotch-rocket that had to be going 150mph. It scared the bejesus out of me. It was a Sunday morning, so not much traffic then either, but it was US 131 between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo which wasn’t the best maintained freeway around. So the guy can’t have been too bright. If you’ve ever had a hummingbird fly by close enough to hear its wings, that’s exactly what it sounded like only much louder.
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Deborah said on May 6, 2020 at 5:49 pm
We won’t be going back to restaurants any time soon, months and months from now maybe. We may use take out from time to time but the whole eating out thing makes me nervous. I feel for the restaurant workers. It seems to me that it’s going to take a while for people to get over the perception of uncleanliness and deathly danger. I can’t imagine that things will open up and go back to pre-virus normal in people’s minds anytime soon.
The only thing I miss about the situation is being able to make quick trips back to the grocery store when we realize we forgot something for a particular recipe. That and going to an exhibit of some sort. I realize we’re lucky that we can go out to the Abiquiu cabin periodically and feel safe while getting a dose of nature. When we first thought of the land out there that was never a consideration. Boy howdy, how time has changed that.
Tomorrow we will try to go back to Abiquiu for a few days, not sure if we’ll make it a whole 3 days because of my husband’s arm but we’ll see.
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beb said on May 6, 2020 at 6:26 pm
Dexter, I have no idea how high a Michigan State Police radar gun goes but I wonder they stopped the speeder since I doubt that MSP have cars that can go 180 mph. I suppose they set up road blocks but the articles I’ve seen didn’t discuss that part.
David C, We’ve been passed by cars going 80-90, maybe 100 mph and it’s scaring because in most cases we never saw them coming, then zoom they’re flashing past us and the cars rocking because of the draft.
I’ve been wearing a mask while grocery shopping and it is uncomfortable; fogging up the glasses and it does make it harder to breathe. I’ve actually had to stop walking a couple times to lean on the cart to catch my breathe. Nonetheless, I wear them for safety and can’t imagine arguing with anyone telling me to put one on, wiping my nose on someone’s sleeve or shoot someone over a mask.
Peter, the vote-by-mail thing scares the GOP not just because of nursing home scams but because it short-circuits such voter suppression actions like reducing the number of voting places in populous Democratic districts, limiting the hours for voting and making onerous ID requirements. Also there’s a 10% increasing in voter participation. As Pres. Trump so wisely observed, if the nation went to vote-by-mail a Republican would never be elected again.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Julie,
I’ve had problems with my glasses fogging up when wearing a mask, but have noticed that in the warmer weather that doesn’t happen nearly as much. I suppose that’s obvious, but it hadn’t occurred to me.
Today we went to the pharmacy and somebody behind the counter was talking on the phone the whole time I was waiting. I’d say about 3 or 4 feet away from the machine where you enter info and tap your credit card. With no mask on. Uh, I was not pleased — called them later to complain and was told that they’re wearing masks all the time, perhaps that person had just been drinking coffee, or something. Oh, okay! Not a place that I expected non-mask-compliance, that’s for sure.
So, so tired of everything in this fricking country ending up a red vs. blue issue. With 40% of the people taking their marching orders from an incompetent charlatan, who possesses the added attribute of thinking that he knows more about *everything* than the experts. Gee, who’d have thought that the anti-elitist, anti-science, “I love the poorly educated” boob and his cult would be a problem in a crisis like this?
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Sherri said on May 6, 2020 at 7:39 pm
Just went to QFC, and I’d say 90% of the people were wearing masks. People were respectful of social distancing, too.
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Jakash said on May 6, 2020 at 8:12 pm
Ah, the pro-life party. How’ll they self-own next? Federalist writer, home-schooler and thirsty-for-attention Twitter-personality Bethany Mandel has managed to get herself to “trend.” It’s because she’s started out a Tweet with “You can call me a Grandma killer,” but still…
“I’m not sacrificing my home, food on the table, all of our docs and dentists, every form of pleasure (museums, zoos, restaurants), all my kids’ teachers in order to make other people comfortable. If you want to stay locked down, do. I’m not.”
Of course, she’s a shabbat-observing Jewish woman who used to be a Never-Trumper, but has written about “How The Angry Left Turned Me Into A Nazi,” and a Trump supporter, while postulating that “We Need To Start Befriending Neo-Nazis.” So, the evolution has been ongoing.
Amazing what tax cuts for the rich and getting a couple hidebound Supreme Court justices confirmed will do to a person…
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David C said on May 6, 2020 at 8:19 pm
Yeah, pro-life, rule of law, original intent. None of it means shit, but they’ll spout it until the day they die. They’re reprogrammable meatbags who will never change. We’re all the worse for it. The country cannot long endure half Fox and half free.
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LAMary said on May 6, 2020 at 9:59 pm
Seeing Fauci Gates conspiracy crap online lately. Supposedly they teamed up to create a fake virus so they could get rich selling vaccine. Or something like that.
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Dexter Friend said on May 7, 2020 at 1:09 am
LA Mary: Gates’s Diet Coke addiction (he keeps a mini-fridge close at hand for frequent can-grabs) has corrupted his brain into evil genius mode, and Fauci is on the payroll. Thanks for More Breaking News. 🙂
beb…you may recall my post about the N-95 masks my daughter the nurse practitioner insists I wear, since I have all the weakening things that help The Bug. Now I learned and posted earlier how N-95 mask-wearers are beng denied entrance to stores in San Francisco because the vent hole allows The Bug to shoot out the vent into peoples’ faces. So just like the plain mask than does not offer an iota of protection for the wearer, the N-95 does,so it’s just the reverse, and we are supposed to wear the N-95 and cover that with a cloth mask, or …get this…tape up the fucking vent! I feel ya about the difficulty breathing anyway with a mask, as I have a combo asthma/COPD Rx to start with. But I’ll abide, because getting a case of the fukkitts is not a wise choice today. Oh…and a friend of mine , about 32 yeas ago, got a hot new Camaro or some sort of fast Chevy and visited a pal in Coldwater, Michigan, where he got bombed on beer & shots, then opened ‘er up on I-69 and was clocked at either 132 or 142 mph…can’t recall. The Indiana trooper approached with drawn firearm, and cuffs were hooked…buddy was sent to jail for a few days and ordered to A.A. Did Not Take. But he aged out of crazy shit like driving after drinking more than a couple.
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David C said on May 7, 2020 at 8:07 am
I hate these people.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32389490/wisconsin-supreme-court-stay-at-home-order-challenge/
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Suzanne said on May 7, 2020 at 8:12 am
Jakash, I think people like Ms Mandel really don’t care if Grandma dies, or you, or me, or anyone else. That’s what scares me.
I am so worn out by the level of ignorance out there, the lack of any kind of critical thinking, the fact that whether or not you wear a mask in public has become a political issue. When this all began, I naively thought that people will wake up when people begin dying. Nope. Wrong about that.
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Dorothy said on May 7, 2020 at 10:30 am
Deborah I’m glad your husband is doing better. And also that his Uncle was able to talk with him. (Did I get that right? That must have been mentioned in the previous thread)
I heard a story yesterday about a couple who had a scare. Not sure of their age, but late 60’s or early 70’s. The wife parked their car and she forgot to put the gear in park. When she got out, the car rolled and she fell, hitting her head. Husband was still in the car, and from the passenger seat managed to steer car so it wouldn’t hit her again, and stopped the vehicle. They were afraid to go to a hospital because of Covid anxiety. At first they would not give the full story of what happened to a family member. That family member has a former co-worker whose neighbor is a neurologist, who kindly went to this couple’s house to check out the wife. She’s recovering well and was not seriously hurt. But jeez, scary times out there, right?
I too am mystified at the push back about wearing masks. It’s not like they’re gags rendering the wearer speechless or breathless. But if someone is dumb enough to believe everything that shit for brains in the White House says, they’re likely too dumb to understand the scope of what it means to wear a mask for awhile.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 10:49 am
Some of the asshats I’ve seen on the news, gathering at a beachside bar and defying all the rules, are not youngsters themselves. Late forties? Fifties? And these idiots are saying it’s ok for geezers like me to just roll over and die. That grim reaper is not so precise about choosing who goes next, assholes. You’ll be in your sixties soon and the idea that your neighbors are ok with you having a nasty death so they can party at the beach and get their hair done won’t sit so well with you.
Addendum: What’s with the inappropriate word choices lately. Dr. Oz calling the prospect of sending kids back to school “appetizing” and Trump saying he did not know the pandemic team was “popular.”
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Heather said on May 7, 2020 at 10:51 am
Oh Ms. Mandel & Co. definitely don’t care. They just want to be able to go to restaurants and hair salons like normal, disguising it as concern for the economy. The economy’s going to tank anyway, but we can get through it without killing hundreds of thousands of people if we want.
If there’s ever been better proof that capitalism sees us as cogs in a machine, this is it. “Grandmas” and the like clearly having outlived their usefulness, even though obviously many older people do work and make other important contributions, like child care, passing along expertise, volunteering, etc. Also: do they not realize that they will be old and possibly infirm someday? (I know, the answer is no, or they assume they will be among the most robust and healthy specimens.) There may be more viral epidemics over the next decades.
I just can’t get over the fact that we’re losing the equivalent of 9/11 every damn day and too many people don’t give a shit. Until it’s their grandma, auntie, or son, I guess. Then they’ll be blaming the healthcare system or some shit.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 10:54 am
Got a message from a nurse practitioner friend who is deep in the trenches. The hospitals need shoe covers. He was suggesting that some of mask makers out there switch to making shoe covers or at least add them to their list.
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Dorothy said on May 7, 2020 at 11:48 am
Well, shoe covers require as much elastic as, or maybe more than, masks do. Elastic is impossible to find. Masks can have cloth ties in place of elastic. But shoe covers need elastic to fit over a wide variety of shoe sizes.
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Julie Robinson said on May 7, 2020 at 11:49 am
Shoe covers would challenge me for sure, unless they could be made with laces or ties. Elastic is as hard to find as a good man. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.
A friend has a job I’d never heard of before meeting her: she organizes hospital supply rooms. It’s mostly done remotely, though she would fly out for in person visits from time to time.
Anyway, at the beginning of the year she mentioned an odd shortage of surgical gowns. She was trying to trace back through the supply chain to find the bottleneck. She warned that elective surgeries might have to be postponed if they couldn’t find an adequate supply.
Of course now I wonder if China was cornering the market in anticipation of need.
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Deborah said on May 7, 2020 at 11:49 am
In my opinion the assholes not wearing masks and are out protesting in mass aren’t thinking, period. Their fearless leader eggs them on and they do what he says. They aren’t thinking about real consequences of their actions, they hardly ever do, about anything. They’re angry people as a general rule, they love being mad about things, and above all love pissing other people off. I had no idea before Trump, how many marginal people there are out there. I’ve been saying since the late 80s that we’re experiencing devolution but I didn’t realize the extent to which it is happening and how quickly. What will the new world be like after this pandemic?
What if a newspaper like the NYT or WaPo would produce a multi, multi page supplement with a picture of each person who has died, just their name and a picture of each when it reaches 100,000 (and it will reach that, and more). I’m wondering how many pages it would take to have an approximately 1 1/2″ x 1″ photo and name under it of each person who has died. Wrapping your head around that number of loved human beings having to die under miserable circumstances is mind boggling. If you’ve ever been to the Vietnam memorial in DC you get a sense of the number of deaths that happened over 8 years and we’re way past that in a few months.
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Charlotte said on May 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm
I live with a contractor who works all day in an N95. Believe me, if you’re pulling 25 year old soggy fiberglass insulation full of silverfish out of the crawlspace of a shitty little rental house you’re renovating, you want a mask. They’re no fun, but they do what they’re designed to do. (And working in a respirator is even worse, but again, you’ve got it on for a reason).
Which again points out what idiots these paid protesters are.
Also, said beloved is pretty bummed to be still doing this at our age, but his vacation rentals have vanished, and there’s still property taxes to be paid.
Luckily, we’ve both paid off all our mortgages
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Sherri said on May 7, 2020 at 12:24 pm
When 9/11 hit and 3000 people died in New York and DC, every podunk town in American was suddenly afraid that terrorists were going to attack their little wide spot in the road and it was essential that their police force be kitted out with tanks and weaponry like a small army. Now we’re looking at that many people dying every day, they’re stomping their feet and saying you can’t tell me what to do!
What’s the difference? They didn’t have to actually sacrifice anything because of 9/11. They didn’t have to pay more taxes to outfit the police force, because the federal government did it. The militarized police force didn’t bother them, because they were white. They received all the benefits and paid few of the costs.
Now, being white doesn’t protect them from having to sacrifice in the face of a virus. They don’t get to keep their business open or not wear a mask or get their hair done just because they’re white, though structural racism does give them an advantage in surviving the virus. Their unearned privilege has been stripped from them, and it feels really unfair.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 12:36 pm
About ten days into the stay at home period people were already complaining. Not so much about closing their business but about not being able to go out to eat or go to the gym. The local news here was running stories about things to do to fight off the tedium. “You Can Work Out at Home,” stories were common. For chrissakes. Ten days? Are we all giant toddlers?
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Jakash said on May 7, 2020 at 12:58 pm
“Are we all giant toddlers?” Well, our Maximum Leader is…
I saw speculation on Twitter that Il Douché refuses to wear a mask because it would mess with whatever creates that orange glow of his. And/or that taking the mask off and having it be obviously covered in Cheeto dust would be a deal-breaker.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 1:01 pm
Maybe he can get masks made in that orange color so it will match his face.
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Dorothy said on May 7, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Surely you have all heard the breaking news that a personal valet of Trump’s tested positive for the virus? It’s a member of the military – usually a Navy person. Apparently this is a guy who regularly brings him his food. And I heard shit for brains was really upset when he heard this news. Oh – the valet doesn’t wear a mask either. Who wants to place a bet on how many people who surround that asshat will now be required to wear masks?
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Sherri said on May 7, 2020 at 1:24 pm
Fresh off his amazing success with the PPE supply chain, Kushner is now in charge of Operation Warp Speed, to get a vaccine this year, along with Peter Navarro, the guy who threw a bunch of papers on the table and told Fauci that there was science behind the Trump’s miracle cure of the day.
Great, add Kevin “cubic model” Hassett to the team and we’ll have all the geniuses. Fortunately, we know that anything they come up with will only be available to Trump friends, so we’re safe from that disaster.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Can’t we get “I’m Complicit” Ivanka on the team too?
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Jakash said on May 7, 2020 at 1:55 pm
Boy, between this Kushner guy and the former Subway spokesman, the name Jared has had a rough few years.
Though lately our nation is rife
With terrible losses of life,
There’s no need to fear,
For Jared is here,
An expert at:
–Pandemic response coordination?
–Virology research?
–Vaccine development and distribution?
!! Picking a wife !!
https://twitter.com/Libericks/status/1258078071204257797
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Julie Robinson said on May 7, 2020 at 1:59 pm
This thing about being bored, I’ve never understood it. The world is so big and has so much to explore, even if it’s just online right now. So many books to read, so much music to listen to, foods to try cooking, sewing and craft projects, on and on. Artists and musicians are sharing their work and I don’t have enough time to see it all. So many people are lonely and would love to receive a phone call.
At the beginning of this I made a long to do list and have only scratched the surface. Plus box after box of photos and documents to be scanned and organized. A couple of friends are learning new languages, one is writing and photographing a cookbook, a couple learned to sew just so they could make masks.
When my kids were little they knew better than to say they were bored because I would give them something to do. It wasn’t always a cleaning chore, sometimes it was a fun project. But they learned to entertain themselves.
If you’re bored then you are a boring person. Judgment intended!
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susan said on May 7, 2020 at 2:20 pm
Jakash @53 – *rump looks at his reflection and thinks, “Hey, that looks great and just the best!” and he doesn’t want to mar that beautiful aspect with a mask. That there is classic cognitive dissonance.
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Jakash said on May 7, 2020 at 2:35 pm
Yeah, Julie, I think about that when it comes to all this new online content being created. Obviously, you’ve got loads of creative people out there who are currently unable to pursue their careers, so many are coming up with stuff that gets put online. Which is fine, but it gets to be a bit much. Every cultural organization that we belong to or patronize is sending emails festooned with links to stuff to read or watch or listen to.
But there were more books that I’d be happy to read that had been published before I was even born than I’ll ever get to. Add in magazines, music, movies, TV, etc. — uh, I don’t really need any specially created coronacontent to add to the backlog.
Which may cause one to wonder why I bother looking at Twitter, at all. Fair point! But, hey, this is a clever observation! ; )
“The real trick turned out to be getting people to shoot *themselves* on Fifth Avenue”
https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/1258435374336094211
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 3:00 pm
A friend from high school received a text addressed to her cat from Newt Gingrich. It encouraged her to register to vote so we can keep trump in office for another term. Callie the cat wasn’t interested but I suggested she send Newt a litter box selfie.
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Deborah said on May 7, 2020 at 3:05 pm
So my husband finally called his Chicago Dr about his allergies/suspected sinus infection. He didn’t mention his arm, of course. She prescribed a different nasal spray and an antibiotic for the infection, which he’s had before. His reward is that we’re going out to Abiquiu, but for only 2 days and I’ll do all the chores because of his arm. A bit of a toddler, huh.
I think I’ve said this before here, that I’m an introvert, I could do this social distancing for a long time. I like being connected virtually (duh) but it isn’t as important to be in contact face to face all that much. I do like meeting nn.c people in person though. I’m not bored, I read and I have projects going on to keep me mostly busy. I listen to podcasts etc etc. I only miss a few things like being able to hop in the car or walk back to the store if I forgot something. At this point I’m trying to keep my forays out into the world down to twice a week, except for rambling neighborhood walks in Santa Fe or Mesa walks in Abiquiu which I let myself do everyday if I want, because I rarely encounter anyone, especially in Abiquiu where I walk exclusively on our property where I encounter no one else except my family.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 3:43 pm
There was the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who said that “those other people” get the virus. Now we have the head of HHS saying this:https://tinyurl.com/y8jbxhho
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Suzanne said on May 7, 2020 at 3:52 pm
Indiana’s governor is really trying to walk that fine line between Trump a$$ kisser and not kill off his constituents. His daily presser today, after the Friday one in which he announced Phase 1 of opening Indiana, despite almost none of his previously stated criteria being in place, began with the Health Commissioner exhorting everyone to please stay home. Churches, she mentioned, are allowed to open but then pretty much told people to not go because it’s really not safe to do so.
So hard to keep the Trump/Pence team happy and stave off massive deaths that might be too hard to hide.
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ROGirl said on May 7, 2020 at 4:00 pm
Finally getting a back to work plan from my company, the full policy will be out tomorrow. We have people who have to be onsite to do their jobs, they will start the week of the 18th. The rest of us will start after Memorial Day. We will rotate in office and at home 2 days a week, closed on Friday for cleaning. Temperature checks, no coffee/water/kitchen/lunchroom, no conference rooms. They will provide 2 masks per employee, to be worn at all times.
The new normal is awaiting.
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 4:07 pm
This is what the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice said:
https://www.wisn.com/article/coronavirus-chief-justice-spread-at-meatpacking-plant-not-affecting-regular-folks/32393991
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Scout said on May 7, 2020 at 5:06 pm
It’s not just the MAGAts anymore. Now the hippy dippy anti-vaxxers are joining the chorus yodeling about how this whole thing is a fraud perpetuated to promote a vaccine. I have had to mute several facebook friends who are amplifying the Plandemic video and one who is posting that during Woodstock in the 60’s there was a pandemic but we didn’t need to wear masks then, so there. I. Just. Can’t. Even. With. These. Idiots.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/scientist-vaccine-jailed/
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LAMary said on May 7, 2020 at 6:08 pm
Scout I got into it online about the 1968 Avian Flu or Hong Kong flu. It was a year before Woodstock for one thing and the other is that it wasn’t that bad in the US. I was a 15 year old in 1968 and I have no recollection of anyone I knew or heard of that had that flu. I’m not saying it wasn’t a big thing in other countries but I don’t think it turned out to be very bad here.
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