Teresa Hanafin in Fast Forward in the Boston Globe:
Some interesting quotes for your reading pleasure:
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield to The Washington Post: “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through. We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.”
Trump at the daily [campaign rally] coronavirus briefing: “Dr. Robert Redfield was totally misquoted in the media on a statement about the fall season and the virus.”
Redfield: “I’m accurately quoted in The Washington Post.”
Trump: The coronavirus “may not come back at all. And if it does come back, it’s not going to come back … like it was. Also, we have much better containment now. Now, if we have pockets, a little pocket here or there, we’re going to have it put out. It goes out, and it’s going to go out fast. We’re going to be watching for it. But it’s also possible it doesn’t come back at all.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci of NIH: “We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that because of the degree of transmissibility that it has, the global nature.”
So let’s hear from the leader of the free world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country has been hit hard by the epidemic yet has one of the lowest death rates around. Why?
— Early and widespread testing
— Exhaustive contact tracing
— A robust public health system with plenty of ICU beds
— The cooperation of German citizens who are putting societal good ahead of personal inconvenience and financial difficulties
— Trust in Merkel, a trained scientist (doctorate in quantum chemistry) who has communicated clearly, rationally, and calmly throughout the crisis, sending her approval ratings soaring.
Here’s what she said earlier today:
“Nobody likes to hear this, but it is the truth. We are not living through the final phase of this crisis; we are still at its beginning. We will still have to live with this virus for a long time.”
Kind of refreshing, no?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trust in Merkel, a trained scientist (doctorate in quantum chemistry) who has communicated clearly, rationally, and calmly throughout the crisis, sending her approval ratings soaring.
And we have a stable genius who had an uncle who went to MIT. Inconsistent comments, made up facts, chaos, distrust of medical experts and total incompetency is what we’re stuck with.
Is it any wonder that the US has more deaths than any other country and that the number continues to rise? We still don’t have contact tracing and that was done in S. Korea right after knowledge of COVID-19 started.
There is SO much that this county lacks. “Make America Great Again” is a complete farce.
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I can still remember Democrat-haters – even on this blog — who normalized Trump’s hyping of hydroxychloroquine. Remember the federal government paying how much money to stockpile the “miracle drug”? Wonder what will happen to it all?
I can still remember Democrat-haters – even on this blog – who were pushing the idea that Trump reimbursing hospitals for treating the uninsured was almost like Bernie’s Medicare for All, and hyping the idea that Americans would certainly feel that Trump was “running to left of Biden on health insurance” and vote for Trump even if it wasn’t true. That was a popular meme for a while repeated by Democrat haters.
Angela Merkel has a lot in common with HRC (and in other ways, Elizabeth Warren), Merkel is certainly no progressive and she can certainly be criticized by the left for all of her more conservative, business-friendly views. But the idea that there are German progressives who think that if Merkel was replaced with a new German leader like Trump it would be so good for the progressive movement in their country simply boggles the mind.
But I mourn for all the people who have and will die because we had Trump and his band of unqualified, incompetent, completely corrupt minions managing the response to this virus. We have no idea where all the medical supplies coopted by the federal government went. We have no idea where the money to support struggling Americans is going. We do know that Trump and his enablers — both in the Republican party and those who insist that the subject be changed from criticism of Trump to criticism and scapegoating of the evil Democrats — have hurt this country to a degree that will take a long time to recover.
A competent female president who responded to this crisis the way Angela Merkel did? What a difference that would make. Remember, Merkel still made mistakes — she wasn’t perfect and she didn’t know any more than Trump did. But she reacted in order to do what is right instead of reacting to figure out what was most beneficial to her own political prospects and what actions would insure that her friends and funders got even richer.
You don’t have to be a progressive to act in a way that demonstrates that you are concerned for your country. But you do have to have a smidgeon of morality and being able to think about something other than yourself. A politician may make mistakes and they often do. How they respond to mistakes determines how their citizens fare. And Trump’s response to his own mistakes makes things worse. Much worse.
That’s why Bernie Sanders, AOC and other progressives know that Biden must replace Trump. Most of their supporters agree. There are a small number of people who say they would have voted for Bernie against Trump, but who now claim that they don’t trust the judgement of Bernie or AOC and would never do what they advised. It’s hard to believe those people who now are so skeptical of Bernie Sanders’ judgement would have voted for Bernie when they now claim Bernie’s call to them to vote for Biden to defeat Trump is bad judgement on Bernie’s part (at best, since some of them probably are certain it is because Bernie is corrupt and was paid to endorse Biden).
There is very little difference between Trump voters and those on the left who believe Bernie Sanders now should not be trusted. In both cases, it does not matter how much evidence you show them, what matters is what they know in their heart. They know that Trump has been given a raw deal by the evil democrats. They know that Trump really isn’t so bad and the Democrats are just as bad or even worse. They know that Bernie Sanders isn’t really trustworthy but it’s useful to pretend to think he is as long as Bernie isn’t promoting a Democratic candidate or saying anything negative against Trump.
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Cornel West was recently on the Rumble podcast hosted by Michael Moore. West said that we should vote for Biden in order to replace the current fascist-in-chief. I agree.
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Cornel West is quite brilliant so it doesn’t surprise me that he, like most progressives who preferred Bernie, would vote for Biden to replace Trump. That is the case with most Bernie supporters, and of course, it is what Bernie has called on his supporters to do.
I don’t know if Michael Moore agrees with Cornel West, or if Moore is one of the half-hearted Bernie supporters who only trusts Bernie sometimes and other times believe Bernie to be someone who isn’t trustworthy.
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There’s one other thing that Merkel’s Germany has that we don’t…a robust social welfare system that support people when the necessary measures to combat a pandemic force them to stop working. One that applies no matter what their job or who they work for, even if that is themselves. This is what a social democracy really is and why it fares so much better when faced with things like a major public health crisis.
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It’s ironic that Merkel — a Center Right politician – has been accused of hindering progressive causes. And it is true that she has in some cases. In other cases, she has become less conservative than she started out as.
But the bottom line is that Germany has a leader who “believes in the basic principles of liberal democracy, supports freedom of press and expression, and understands that truth and facts are the basis of responsible government.”
If the choice in 2016 or 2020 had been Mitt Romney or John McCain against a non-progressive democrat, the exhortation of those on the left not to vote for that democrat would make some sense.
But that is not what we have. The Republicans have become an anti-democratic, neo-fascist party. The most radical of John Birch Society believers have grabbed all power. This election is the only way to start minimizing the power of those who would like to minimize all who don’t agree with what their Great Leader Trump says.
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There is also no war on unions in Germany. Germany has a strong union movement and works councils; works council representatives may also be appointed to the board of directors.
There are no right to work (for less) states in Germany.
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Trump is clearly a danger to the safety and prospects for health. He is enabled by Fox News and Moscow Mitch and every Republican who keeps silent about his dangerous incompetence, ferocious self-promotion, and lies.
A profile on Merkel.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic/610225/?
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I hope this shows up.[Don’t know if it will.] It’s Trump vs. Cuomo singing.
More entertainment featuring Trump
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=642f60839d&attid=0.1.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1664800739381182365&th=171a8f73b49f7f9d&view=att&disp=safe
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It does not open for me.
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Click on it and wait a little bit. Quick Time Player comes up.
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OK. The time for parody is past, for Trump most successfully parodies himself.
“When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total.”
“No, I don’t take responsibility at all.”
–Donald “J for Jabba” the Trump
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Did you watch tonight? It’s like a comedy show.
Please don’t inject or drink rubbing alcohol or other disinfectants.
And if you find a way to inject infra rays, then you have scientific no how like Donald Trump. Watch out while catching those rays – you might avoid the virus but you also might end up with cancer.
If only it were that simple. However, in Buffalo, the University of Buffalo Medical School, Roswell Park (a cancer research hospital), and the Catholic Health System are studying the virus to see why some people are asymptomatic while others get seriously ill and die. They believe they can discover the root cause and then be able to determine who is “safe” and who needs to remain quarantined. Amazing research which resembles tarot cards scientifically predicting the future of each individual.
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I can’t watch him. His babbling and self praise makes me ill.
Contrast him with Angela Merkel, reasonable and calm, an actual scientist whose demeanor is reassuring.
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I agree, but tonight’s “pep talk” was a real doozy. I guess I’m addicted to watching our President make a fool of himself. So sad.
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“So let’s hear from the leader of the free world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel,”
This is so, so true!!
Thank G-d we have her on the world stage, to pick up and lead the charge that was left vacant by fake president Trump. Merkel is such a fantastic leader!
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Whatiss got in iss pocketses?
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