Drunkard's Walk Forums

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/po...ponse.html

Wow, just wow:

The result will surely be God's judgement.

(This is your reminder that generally speaking older people are more likely to be more religious)

Since the orange one is shilling chloroquine--and killing people with his pronouncements, let us see what is there to it:

So, theoretically possible. But also possibly dangerous.

Oh, and "...something we understand and that is inexpensive to manufacture."

Oh boy oh boy. My dude. You just said the magic words.

After all, Epinephrine is supposed to be easy and inexpensive to make.

And yet, we all know what Big Pharma did.

I also saw a report online that indicated that several of the people encouraging Trump's belief in Chloroquine own stock in the 2 main producers of the drug. They did indicate that Trump himself does _not_ own stock in said companies, so at least he doesn't seem to be hawking it for personal profit.

Admittedly, I may be mis-recalling/understanding what the report said, I saw it several days ago late at night.

It's just as possible that Trump is doing it as a favour in return for their support. The gain needs not be direct.

(04-11-2020, 06:50 PM)hazard Wrote: [ -> ]It's just as possible that Trump is doing it as a favour in return for their support. The gain needs not be direct.

True but it may be as simple as him figuring "If the own a pharmasuitical company, that means they know drugs so they must know what they are talking about."

True, and very plausible.

Of course, it could be a combination of things.

(04-11-2020, 06:13 PM)Black Aeronaut Wrote: [ -> ]Oh, and "...something we understand and that is inexpensive to manufacture."

Oh boy oh boy.  My dude.  You just said the magic words.

Remdesivir seems to be more likely to work on this virus.  It's an analogue of adenosine, one of the four building blocks of RNA, which can cause the viral RNA to break apart if substituted in.  But gosh is it hard to make.  See: OMG! We Made One Gram of Remdesivir!

(04-05-2020, 09:20 AM)nocarename Wrote: [ -> ]Doug Ford has been a happy surprise in this situation.

But.

Pay attention to what Kenny does, not what he says.

<snip>

Alberta to send personal protective equipment to Ontario, Quebec, B.C.

The postal service is in the Constitution. It also has been in the movement conservative sights for decades. It didn’t all start with this president*. However, he is using COVID-19 to bring it down: White House rejects bailout for U.S. Postal Service battered by coronavirus The pandemic has pushed USPS to the brink, but Trump and Mnuchin shot down emergency aid

Meanwhile in Florida: Florida Gov DeSantis, seeking to hide Covid infections & deaths, pressures Miami Herald law firm to squelch records suit | Miami Herald

(04-12-2020, 08:59 AM)robkelk Wrote: [ -> ]Alberta to send personal protective equipment to Ontario, Quebec, B.C.

Yes, this is a good thing.
I also suspect that it is the wind up for an attempt to run for leadership of the Conservatives federally and then to run the nation.

If this was strictly a healthcare situation, he wouldn't be working to cut the pay of doctors and nurses at the same time. He also wouldn't be holding the number of MLAs in the provincial legislature to the minimum number needed to outvote the NDP in the event that all of them showed up (49 total with 24 NDP members), rather than the minimum to pass new laws by law. (Which I'm pretty sure is in the low 20s, but am currently unable to find a citation for.)

I trust Jason Kenny as far as I can throw the Speakers chair.

Scientist Kizzmekia Corbett leads the way on COVID-19 vaccine trials with dedication and humor

This at least, seems to be in good and competent hands.

Trump is like Zeus. He'll fuck anything over.

And now he's claiming that he has the authority to overrule states on when to reopen the economy.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/13...pen-183405

Gee, remember the good ol' days when Republicans were all about states' rights? As opposed to the rights of kings?

They seem to be at war with life and human decency itself.

That was when they were playing to the reactionary hicks for votes. Now their corporate financiers are in trouble, so the plebs are getting told to suck it up and bend over that workbench.

And if Trump orders everyone back to work, overruling everyone that tells him it's a bad idea, and then there a massive resurgence of Covid19 cases, the first thing he'll say is "It's not my fault!"

(04-13-2020, 05:09 PM)classicdrogn Wrote: [ -> ]That was when they were playing to the reactionary hicks for votes. Now their corporate financiers are in trouble, so the plebs are getting told to suck it up and bend over that workbench.

Well, remember, at the level of those financiers, it's all just replaceable nameless cogs. Anyone in employ dies, it's easy enough to hire a replacement - even easier now with so many people having had their employers actually shutter in response. Plus, I'm sure some of them figure they can always pay extra money to get someone else yanked off a ventilator if they happen to actually get that sick, although they're also thinking that it would be good to shed some of the expensive to maintain "dead" weight (read: those with health problems that increase the costs of the company health insurance and hence reduce the profits).

Or you know, the people pulling on Medicare services and pensioners pulling on the pension funds. I mean, are they ever going to be a net positive contributor to the economy?

If they didn't need to be paid for the corporate taxes could be lower.

Since Trump never actually ordered anything closed, he can't order anything back open.

Unless...

And this is crazy town...

So in 2007, Congress in their wisdom decided to give the President the authority to invoke martial law in states and take direct control of their National Guard without the consent of the governors. It has to be a situation in which a right enumerated in the Constitution where the governor cannot or will not enforce that right. So, freedom of assembly? Prohibiting the free exercise of religion? Stopping the right to bear arms by closing gun stores? I think the legal right is probably there. Martial law has been used in the U.S. in the past to get people to return to work, like in the SF dockworkers strike.

The only downside to this idea is starting a civil war in the middle of a pandemic, so there is that.

Which probably means he'll go for it, self-assured that no right thinking American could possibly disagree with him

Tea Party Conservatives: STATES RIGHTS! STATES RIGHTS! LIMITED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!

TRUMP: "The president of the United States calls the shots ... it's a decision for the president ... they can't do anything without the approval of the president ... When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that's the way it's gotta be. It's total."

Tea Party Conservatives:

Trump: Total.

Tea Party Conservatives: Yeah, okay, so long as you're not black, I guess.

(04-12-2020, 08:59 AM)robkelk Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-05-2020, 09:20 AM)nocarename Wrote: [ -> ]Doug Ford has been a happy surprise in this situation.

But.

Pay attention to what Kenny does, not what he says.

<snip>

Alberta to send personal protective equipment to Ontario, Quebec, B.C.

And now with just a little more time...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/a...tes-to-bc/

South Dakota’s governor resisted ordering people to stay home. Now it has one of the nation’s largest coronavirus hot spots.

Quote:Such edicts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Kristi L. Noem said disparagingly, reflected a “herd mentality.” It was up to individuals — not government — to decide whether “to exercise their right to work, to worship and to play. Or to even stay at home.”

And because she believed she was more right than actual scientists and doctors, people started getting sick and dying.

Quote:But now South Dakota is home to one of the largest single coronavirus clusters anywhere in the United States, with more than 300 workers at a giant ­pork-processing plant falling ill. With the case numbers continuing to spike, the company was forced to announce the indefinite closure of the facility Sunday, threatening the U.S. food supply.

With the collapse of the entire world economy overnight, exports have plummeted, which means that at least for now, there is lots of meat in the United States. But that is not necessarily stable, especially as COVID-19 rips through meatpacking plants.

Quote:Over the weekend, Smithfield bowed to growing pressure and said it would shutter the facility indefinitely in a bid to contain the spread — though Smithfield leaders cautioned that the action could severely disrupt the nation’s food supplies. The factory, like other food production facilities, had earlier been deemed essential by the federal government.

The shutdown of the Sioux Falls plant, coupled with other closures, “is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Kenneth Sullivan, Smithfield president and chief executive, said in a statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running.”

She is a true believer alright, and no amount of evidence will convince her that her inaction is helping spread the virus:

Quote:Noem has perhaps gone even further than others, however, citing the principle of individual liberty and the limitations of government to dictate people’s behavior — even when public health may depend on it.

Citing scientific modeling, the governor acknowledged this month that up to 70 percent of residents in her state may ultimately fall ill with covid-19. But, she suggested, it wasn’t up to government to tell them how to behave.

“The people themselves are primarily responsible for their safety,” she said. “They are the ones that are entrusted with expansive freedoms.”

Noem on Monday continued to defend her approach, saying the state had high levels of voluntary participation in social distancing strategies — “much greater than some of those states that issued shelter-in-place orders.”

And she has also bought into the snake oil the president is selling.

Quote:Noem, who said she was closely coordinating with the White House, focused her remarks on a trial of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that President Trump has frequently touted as a possible remedy for the coronavirus, though its effectiveness has not been proved. Scientists in Brazil stopped a study of a similar drug in coronavirus patients after some developed irregular heart rates.