The Trump administration is the most anti-science federal government in modern history. In every department and agency, Trump minions have pushed out scientists and replaced them with religious fanatics, Trump loyalists, or incompetents, is some combination thereof.
Vicki Cobb, author of science books for children, explains here why science matters.
She begins like this:
This quote from the Washington Post is very frightening, “In recent days, a growing contingent of Trump supporters have pushed the narrative that health experts are part of a deep-state plot to hurt Trump’s reelection efforts by damaging the economy and keeping the United States shut down as long as possible. Trump himself pushed this idea in the early days of the outbreak, calling warnings on corona virus a kind of “hoax” meant to undermine him.”
For these ignorant people let me try to explain the most important aspect of science as far as life and death is concerned. Our understanding of weather and violent storms has been growing incrementally and exponentially over the years. First, we used science to understand the properties and behavior of water and air– the physical components of weather. We had to understand the effect of temperature on the volume and pressure of gases, the effect of heat energy on the evaporation of water and wind speed. There were many variables to measure.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dr. Birx did an interview on FOX News defending Trump saying,
“He gets new information, he likes to talk that through out loud and really have that dialogue … I think he just saw the information at the time immediately before the press conference and he was digesting that information.”
Does science matter to the scientists who are informing the entire world on this pandemic???? It gets more disgusting by the day.
Dr. Fauci has not defended Trump’s absurd claims.
Dr. Birx has.
Shame on her.
She was at the briefing when Trump proposed that ingesting disinfectants might be a good idea. He turned to her for confirmation and she changed the subject to “fever,” instead of saying that’s a terrible and dangerous idea.
The Catcher in the Lie
If not for Dr. Fauci
We’d all be drinking bleach
Cuz Fauci ain’t no slouchy
And has a lot to teach
Catcher in the Lye” also works
She is a weak-kneed, waffling wimp, and FauxNews is !&@$/.
But I’m also getting fed up to here with rabidly-righteous reporters who accost apolitical scientists [not Birx] and other folks with expertise to share, unsatisfied with solid input, backing them into a corner with repeated hostile questions like prosecutors in an attempt to wring out of them some flat, irretrievable sound-bite like “Trump is a lying idiot.”
Trump should not be worried that science will undermine his administration. He is doing an excellent job himself by embracing insane, anti-science notions. In his revolving door of advisors, Trump has selected right wing, amateur sycophants that run around like the Keystone Cops trying to put out fires. Anyone with a firm grasp on reality never lasts long. The thinking public knows how dangerous this man is, but the “children of the con” remain his brainwashed loyalists.
and it has always appeared that Trump only has such strong support because the preponderance of those who adamantly support hm do NOT want facts
Fools Rush In
(Richard Feynman Versified)
You can’t fool Mother Nature
However hard you try
It’s one thing to abate her
But foolish to deny
It’s natures way of telling you somethings wrong…
Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time
For y’all have knocked her up
I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit
It’s the new mother nature takin over
There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution
Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it’s the rhetoric of failure
Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it’s something we can’t buy
There must be another way
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
Yes, the battle against ignorance has been being fought a long time now in American politics. Sadly, at the moment, religious and other nonsensical beliefs have won out. Science having been damned to hell for far too many.
Science has mattered a great deal to Germany’s successful response to the pandemic. Angela Merkel is a scientist, not a disseminator of conspiracy theories.https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic/610225/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3jtsbo2XdQSRx2Xl6C2uqREhrLsG-uwOCJztb_kqZzWpAhcydklNIVZ1w
People know “that what they get from both Drosten and Angela Merkel are real and very well-considered facts” and that the two also “share information about what they don’t know.”
I wish we had a leader who wanted facts to come out. Imagine Trump ever admitting that he didn’t know something.
That’s like imagining space of higher dimension than 3.
Some might be able to do it but I can’t.
Doesn’t Trump know everything? He knows more than doctors, scientists, and generals. That’s what it means to be a stable genius.
And an unstable genius means you know even more than you yourself do.
I just ran across two studies that raise new questions about the devastation caused by COVID-19, with noteworthy complications and deaths among people who are not elderly. See this https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/24/strokes-coronavirus-young-patients/
There are also studies that show children are at risk and the implications if these risks are ignored. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3080648/us-coronavirus-study-warns-sick-children-could-overwhelm-health
I have been listening to Fox news. They continue to assert that Trump is being victimized by Democrats who are eager to blame him for the deaths and economic problems caused by COVID-19.
Trump IS being accused of being the cause of numerous deaths from COVID-19 due to his inaction during this crisis. What is even worse, he has not only failed to adopt sensible actions to stem the tide, but he has blocked common sense steps despite the advice of the specialists in the field. In fact, the doctors have to coddle and humor him to remain in service so they can continue to warn the public of the dangers we face. What a dilemma they face! Be truthful and lose your job, be evasive and make a fool of yourself.
Trump has sued to stop a campaign ad that attacks him for calling the coronavirus a “hoax.” He’s saying that he didn’t call the virus a hoax but the Democrats’ politicizing of it. Here’s Trump at his now infamous campaign rally on February 28, 2020. The relevant pronoun, “this,” is ambiguous. Trump is a notoriously sloppy speaker. But there is no question, no question at all, that Trump downplayed the virus. In that same speech, just after this comment, he goes on to say that because of his administration’s response, “we’re down to 15 people” and that soon there would be none. Idiocy.
Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They are politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs, you see. How’s President Trump doing? They go, “Oh, Not good. Not good.” They have no clue. They don’t have any no clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa. They can’t even count. They can’t count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over. They’ve been doing that since you got in.” It’s all turning. They lost. It’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.
The Democrats were attacking Trump, at the time, for downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic. And this he was clearly doing. This he did over and over. Their attacks on him for downplaying it could only reasonably be called “a hoax” if COVID-19 weren’t a serious threat. And clearly he was saying that it wasn’t a serious threat, though that was, equally clearly, completely false. Later, Trump claimed that he saw that the pandemic was a threat from the beginning, before other did. So, Trump has contradicted himself again and again. He’s ignorant, he’s a liar, and he’s completely illogical. But in the post-truth world of the Trumpeteers, none of this matters.
The Democrats need a smart, insightful person like you, Bob, to guide them. They need a “wrangler” to help them with messaging. I am sick of watching the Democrats get out messaged by the tribal Republicans. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to put the conservatives on the defensive.
One problem that we have is that Americans exist on these separated news islands. For example, all that Fox viewers have heard about Trump’s notorious “why don’t we try injecting disinfectant” comment, as far as I’ve seen, and I’ve checked, is an online story repeating Trump’s later claim that he was being sarcastic when he made that comment (he wasn’t; that’s an outright lie) and a segment by Sean Hannity also repeating the lie.
Trump has a toddler’s understanding of science. And of history. And of geography. And of economics. And of geopolitics. And of technology. And of almost everything else relevant to his job. All this is quite obvious from his own statements. But Fox and the other alt-right propaganda organizations shelter the deplorables from all this. They provide isolated islands for the continued inbreeding of Trump true believers. This is what I call “The Galapagos Effect.”
If they can’t see it, it doesn’t exist (climate change, viruses, learning…)
If they can see it, and do not like it, they want total government control to eliminate it (women’s rights, immigration, unions, vaccinations, prohibition on gerrymandering…)
If it exists and they want it, they don’t want it regulated (coal, guns, charter schools and vouchers, tax on the wealthy…)
And, the bottom line for them is about “Me the People – good for me and not you” – not “We the People” and the Common Good.
They want to turn back the clock to the segregated, white male dominated, locker room banter, deregulated 1950s. Fine – and put “good old day” Walter Cronkite on fox “news” so someone they might listen to confronts the lies.
Science means a fidelity to truth attitude. If a scientist doesn’t adhere to that underlying paradigm they are usually fairly quickly found out/exposed and rejected.
Faith based belief systems do not have a fidelity to truth attitude but a fidelity to what we say no matter what. Frauds, charlatans and hucksters are sought after. It is a completely different zeitgeist which unfortunately encompasses far too many Americans.
The two are completely incompatible due to the different underlying paradigms despite the efforts of many over the centuries to meld the two paradigms together.
Due to the many contradicting faith based belief systems the ONLY frame of reference/system that can overcome those contradicting systems is a scientific, fidelity to truth attitude working arrangement. We are a far way off from having that philosophy be THE ONLY practical one and we, as a society, pay for the inadequacies of the faith based beliefs on a daily basis.
This is a very challenging essay. Before I completely digest it, I would point out that the issue of truth seems to challenge the so-called scientists who advise the nation on education. As you pointed out in your book, Infidelity to Truth, much of the education reform movement is both academic and self-serving. I suppose that is a bit off the subject.
There are religious traditions that emphasize truth. Their notion of truth is text-based instead of experiment-based. While this is at the crux of your point, it is also interesting to note that the these two ideas have pulled at various scientists of note in history. One interesting scientist who felt this tugging was Sir Isaac Newton, who famously unified thoughts on motion in physics. He also spent a great deal of time trying to unify the spiritual and the physical (the real point to alchemy). In addition, he studied scripture and rejected the notion of the Trinity.
Descartes rejected all truth but experimental truth in Discourse on the Method. That did not keep him from accepting some pretty far-fetched things as verifiable. Indeed scientists themselves have accepted some pretty outlandish theses down through the years. Fundamentalists always use these lapses to argue against all of science. Their world is the world of a house of cards. One move and the whole thing comes down. They do not understand that the process of science is reliable even if the conclusions might be temporarily incomplete or misleading.
It strikes me that the best way to assure truth is for the individual to admit that he could be wrong. The problem is, humility in face of truth makes the individual vulnerable, and human beings do not react well to feeling that way. This is true for scientists or ministers.
Roy, today’s academic science makes it very hard for people to admit they are wrong. That’s why you see people cling to ideas that have gone nowhere even after decades of work by thousands of scientists.
To some degree, this has always been the case but it is getting worse with the passage of time. It is not only increasingly hard to admit you are wrong, but increasingly hard to propose ideas that are outside the “mainstream”.
The irony is that if is just such ideas which are often required to break new ground in science.
You say text based, I say faith based. Tomato or tomatah, potato or potatah, Missouri or Missourah, etc. . . But there is a difference in saying text based instead of faith based. For science is definitely a text based system it, like almost all human communication has to be text based. Faith based means that there doesn’t have to be any rhyme or reason to what one believes, without any kind of proof whether scientific, mathematical or philosophical. Think of Russell’s Teapot.
I agree, Roy, that one should take one’s knowledge with a bit of humility. . . doing so may help that knowledge turn into a bit of wisdom.
Sometimes false ideas are adhered to by scientists for a long time.
That is especially true when experiments can take decades to test the theories.
Some theories that many physicists believe may never be testable.
One idea that was adhered to quite a while after experiment (Michelson-Morley) had indicated it was false was the existence of the “Aether” that was supposed to pervade all space and act as a medium for the propagation of light.
Physicists adhered to this idea and came up with all sorts of crazy ideas to explain away the Michelson-Morley result.
Even after Einstein came up with special relativity, which did away with the necessity of an Aether, may physicists still doing to the belief that it was real.
Science does not work quite the way many people believe it does.
I agree that most don’t understand how scientific thinking works, mainly because we were taught a bullet point type presentation of what the “scientific method” is in high school. In other words a very watered down version. And most don’t pursue the thought after that.
And yes, some theories may never be testable and those will stay in the realm of theory and not a truth (which in itself may be overturned in the future). Scientific truths are always susceptible and subject to changing understanding over time.
And that, Roy, is what the difference between a scientific truth, which is always tentative (as almost all human knowledge is in a sense) whereas faith based “truths” are not per their own declaration.
Scientists sometimes cling to notions after they have actually been disconfirmed, but at least, in the hard sciences, there are generally mechanisms for disconfirmation–for falsification, and this differentiates them from ideologies, political and religious, in which notions are advanced that are not even potentially falsifiable (e.g., The good fortune you recently experienced is because the Papuan Pig Goddess looks upon you favorably; This cracker is God’s body). Of course, the softer sciences are softer precisely because disconfirmation is harder. Look, for example, at the stranglehold that Behaviorism had on psychology (and much else) in the United States and Great Britain for much of the twentieth century. And then there are pseudosciences like Astrology and Phrenology and Chiropractic and a lot of what passes for Economics and Educational Measurement (aka Numerology). Rather than pretend to be a science, Economics should return to its roots as a branch of Philosophy, for both Economics and Philosophy can be INFORMED BY scientific studies. See, for example, the incredibly fascinating work in Experimental Philosophy being done by Eric Schwitzgebel.
Bob Shepherd: “…pseudosciences like Astrology and Phrenology and Chiropractic…”
I’ll dispute you on Chiropractic. A number of years ago I was all at once in such severe back pain that I literally couldn’t move. I’d sit in one chair and that was the only relief that I got. A friend drove me to a chiropractor. [I don’t want to think about the severe pain of lifting my legs to get into the car.] He took an x-ray of my back and pounded it and twisted it into shape. I had to wear a brace on my back for around 3 months.
I certainly wouldn’t put that in the same category as phrenology or astrology. My problem was caused by a degenerated disk and my spine had slipped out of line. I did exercises for around 7-8 years every morning to have back muscles keep my spine in place. Now, I am fine and have no more problems.
Years ago, my then wife was constantly nagging me to see a chiropractor as a matter of general physical health. I was skeptical but finally relented. At the time, I was swimming daily and had developed swimmer’s ear, which is caused, of course, by bacteria or fungi growing in one’s ear in a moist environment. It’s treated with an antibiotic and, going forward, wearing ear plugs when swimming. This chiropractor wanted to manipulate my spine to cure my swimmer’s ear, which is not quite as dumb as suggesting injections of disinfectant to cure COVID-19 but close, for it shows complete lack of understanding of the actual causes and their treatment. I had to conclude that the fellow, who was president of his local chiropractic society, was either profoundly ignorant or a charlatan, or some combination thereof. So, I did some research and found that chiropractic was founded by a 19th-century fellow who believed and taught that manipulating one’s spine was a universal cure-all, based on an entirely pseudoscientific theory of how bodies work. There was no health problem that this fellow wasn’t sure could be cured with his magical manipulation procedures. In some cases people experiencing back pain can get at least temporary relief from a chiropractor, but there is also no doubt that these people make ludicrous, unscientific claims all the time about the efficacy of their methods, and these can be extremely dangerous because they lead people to substitute the quack treatments for actual medical treatment. My view is that government health authorities should long ago have closed these people down, along with peddlers of magical copper bracelets to remove pain and magical foot pads to “remove toxins from the body.”
Bob Shepherd: You had a rotten experience with a chiropractor who didn’t know up from down. I couldn’t have continued to function if I hadn’t seen one who was competent. I was in severe pain and really couldn’t move without his help.
I was working in Malaysia and this incident occurred when I was home for the summer. I was terrified of having my back go out overseas. There were chiropractors in Kuala Lumpur, but I didn’t know how competent they would be. Hence, I did exercises to strengthen the muscles on my back.
But this notion that chiropractic is some sort of universal cure-all is BUILT IN, Carol, to the pseudoscience. It was there from the beginning, and such claims are commonly made. You had an issue for which it, possibly, was appropriate. There are many for which it is not. This wasn’t just a practitioner at random. He was a local mover and shaker in his field. Got an ingrown toenail? Wave this feather over your head while saying, “Llareggub.” The founder of chirpractic, by the way, was also a proponent of healing with magic magnets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_David_Palmer In fact, chiropractic originated with Palmer’s thinking that he had discovered manipulation of the back as a cure for hearing loss, which is like walking your dog in order to prepare dinner. LOL.
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. . . . An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth.
— Max Planck (originator of Qantum theory )
There is lots of evidence to support Planck’s thesis and it is not just true of so called “soft” sciences but “hard” ones like physics as well.
Lots of scientists never accepted Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity even after evidence was shown to supporthe theories.
Scientists are human just like everyone else and the idea of the completely “objective” observer who considers just the facts is a myth perpetuated by the non scientific populace.
Lots of scientists (including Einstein and Planck who both were in on the ground floor of the theory) also never accepted the probabilitstic nature of quantum theory.
Scientists are often thought to be “pursuers of truth” but that is often further from than truth than most scientists would like to admit.
I guess SDP, it depends upon which people claim to be scientists and who claim to use a scientific method usually involving numbers and statistical calculations that appear scientific but the underlying foundations are wrong for example, economics, psychology, or even many educational theories.
Just because a particular group proclaims science as their guiding mechanism doesn’t mean that it is actually so. Many have pointed out the problems of the above mentioned groups but most ignore those criticisms/truth telling.
I agree with you, guys. We should be more careful about whom we call scientists and what we call science. For example, this popular “data-driven” decision making is often hoaxy. Not only the origin and nature of the data are not clearly disclosed, but the statistical methods used to analyze data are also questionable.
Besides the examples you guys already mentioned, the two important hoaxy data analysis we saw recently were VAM and the papers “proving” the superiority of knowledge-heavy teaching.
DSwacker & RT: good discussion. Pls check out my contribution way below in general comments [more room there!]
Directions: Fill in the blank
So, evidently the handlers of the Lyin’ King are now rethinking allowing Trump to blather at Coronavirus Updates. LOL. Trump was always incredibly stupid and ignorant and amoral and vile, but clearly, now, he is also suffering from severe cognitive decline. I expect them to try to use the pandemic to argue that there don’t need to be any election debates, for in his current condition, Trump would make an utter ______ of himself.
You are always coming up with new names for our president. Lyin’ King tops them all.
Not original with me, that one. From a very funny video.
Some wag on this blog gave me IQ45. That’s my fav. Some I came up with and have used for years now:
Vlad’s Agent Orange
Our First Part-time President
Donald “J for Jabba” the Trump
The Teflon Don v2.0
The Great White Dope
The Don, Cheeto “Little Fingers” Trumpbalone
Prez Pinnocchio
Trumpty Dumpty
Don the Con
The Man with the Plan and the Tan-in-a-Can
Dog-Whistle Don
Trump the Chump on the Stump
The Moronavirus trumpinski orangii
And, of course, there’s
MAGA: Make America Grate Again
MAGA: Moscow’s Asset Governing America
The tRump!
aka Tweetle dumb
OK. There are many great videos in which you can watch IQ45 parody himself, but this has got to be the best of all time.
God has certainly blessed us with a personage to whom He can transfer all wisdom. Why study? Why have scholars in universities? What do they know with a personage who has a direct route to God? AND he is in the White House. Are we not all in the best of hands, blessed beyond measure.
He is certainly the great purveyor of ultimate truth. He leads us in all morality, of all kinds. What more could anyone possibly ask for.
We will benefit from his wisdom forever.
Made me chuckle out loud! Gracias.
Trump CAN’T STAND the idea of a woman standing up to him. He also can’t answer why he did nothing for at least a month except hold rallies and golf.
…………………………………..
Donald Trump can’t explain why he waited failed take action against COVID-19 in February
Weijia Jiang from CBS News asks Trump why he failed to warn Americans about the dangers of the coronavirus before it became a pandemic.
Apr 20, 2020
I’m very disappointed in Dr. Birx. She knows that people should not ingest disinfectants. Why didn’t she say so?
Afraid to lose her job? Of course.
Please vote for what is the dumbest thing that Trump ever said. It is put out by the Young Turks.
TYT.COM/DUMB
OMG. Hoosiers actually have wondered and have been calling the State Department of Health as to whether or not to inject or ingest a disinfectant. [Is this why people in this state voted for Trump? I hate to say it but…”Stupid”.]
……………………………….
[NWI Times] Indiana leaders reject Trump’s interest in disinfectants as possible coronavirus cure
Hoosiers have been ringing up the State Department of Health to find out if they should inject or ingest disinfectant to combat coronavirus, a procedure President Donald Trump suggested “would be interesting to check” as a potential treatment.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said Friday during Gov. Eric Holcomb’s daily coronavirus news conference that she’s “certainly had some individuals that have reached out and asked about the wisdom of doing this.”
“We have assured them that that is not something that we recommend, and we have very carefully gone over the things they can do to try to protect themselves,” Box said.
On Thursday, Trump asked members of his coronavirus task force, during a news conference, to consider studying whether disinfectants that kill the coronavirus on surfaces within one minute could be similarly effective inside the human body, particularly the lungs…
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/indiana-leaders-reject-trumps-interest-in-disinfectants-as-possible-coronavirus-cure/article_08254e8d-cdfa-5313-9c30-051ea32b4589.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
Nearly one third of US renters didn’t pay their rent in April. How are people ever going to catch up? Congress doesn’t care about those who are struggling to survive. Evicting people during a pandemic is about as low as this country can get.
…………………………………
Idaho courts halted evictions, but Boiseans are still getting kicked out of their homes
APRIL 25, 2020 05:00 AM, UPDATED APRIL 25, 2020 05:00 AM
…TENANTS CALL FOR RENT DEFERMENT, FORGIVENESS
Zoe Ann Olson, executive director of the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, reports a spike in renters asking for help so they don’t have to move once the order is lifted.
“Our concern is that once the stay-at-home order is lifted and if it’s not extended, then we will see a flood of evictions … from those who were late on payments and those who are now not able to pay,” she said.
Olson said she has heard from many people like Englander, whose leases were not renewed, as well as people seeking rental assistance. Typically, she heard from 10 to 15 people a week calling about rental assistance. In March, she started getting around 30 calls a week, plus 10 to 20 intakes over email.
It’s not just an Idaho problem. Nearly a third of U.S. renters didn’t pay their rent in April, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council, an industry group.
Although most courts stopped nearing new eviction cases, with the exception of drug-related evictions, courts have still ordered the Ada County Sheriff’s Office to carry out 17 evictions since Gov. Brad Little’s stay-at-home order, according to spokesman Patrick Orr. In Canyon County, the Sheriff’s Office carried out 10 evictions throughout March and April, most of which were already in motion prior to the governor’s order, said spokesman Joe Decker…
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article242240816.html?#storylink=cpy
Curious, I just did a bit of poking around on the net about this. Here’s what I found:
Nationwide, 31 percent of renters didn’t pay their rent in April, and many states and communities have not passed eviction moratoriums. Even in those that have, landlords are using utility shut-offs and lockouts to remove tenants affected economically by COVID-19 illness or loss of work. On top of this, the “economic impact payments” from the government will not, in many cases, be paid out FOR MANY MONTHS, according to the IRS, and those are woefully insufficient anyway.
About 131,760,000 Americans live in rented homes or apartments. 31 percent of that is 40,845,600. So, that’s how many Americans live in homes for which the rent was not paid in April.
Makes me so angry I could spit. Who do they think is going to rent the empty apts?
Even in poor Hungary, rents are waived during the pandemic. They also waved the tax for heavy hit small businesses.
Here is a story of more evictions. I’ll say it again, “This is as low as a human can get…to evict a family, or a single person, out of their home during a pandemic.” Most court rooms are closed and these people have NO options but to be on the street. Homeless people congregate together and they spread this disease. I feel deeply sorry for anyone who has to live through that. One statistic said that one third of US people could not meet their rent for April.
I fear that a lot more will be evicted once this pandemic has lessened. Nobody who has lost their job can ever catch up.
Why isn’t Congress addressing this issue instead of giving more money to the wealthy and corporations. Did the airlines really need $25 billion when they made huge profits but misused that money?
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have at least six months of liquidity, Bloomberg estimates. Southwest has 10 months while Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways have liquidity to last over a year. But don’t let a good crisis go to waste. They now ask the government, not their shareholders, to pay salaries after extensive dividends and stock buybacks.
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Staying safe at home
The Journal Gazette [Indiana]:
As we work together to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, our community’s resilience is reflected in its citizens. Each day we witness the helpers in our community serve vulnerable populations by providing health care, education, food, spiritual guidance, legal advice and shelter. Unfortunately, we have also seen this crisis result in injustice, such as housing discrimination against Asian Americans, sexual harassment in housing and eviction. While many of us are able to shelter securely in our homes, other families are facing the reality of eviction.
On March 19, Gov. Eric Holcomb [R-IN] issued a moratorium banning residential landlords from evicting tenants. However, social service agencies in the city and statewide have continued to receive calls indicating landlords are not abiding by the order and are using lockouts and utility shutoffs to force families out of their homes.
A very good question, Carol. This is horrifying.
Now that Bezos is $25 billion richer since March is he going to have to pay any taxes on this wealth? I find it infuriating that he continues to make billions while average people are being thrown out of their homes and many don’t have enough food to eat. Why isn’t Bezos doing more to help? He has the money.
Good grief, he FINALLY visited one of his sweat slave warehouses.
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Bezos Takes Back the Wheel at Amazon
The chief executive, who had distanced himself from day-to-day management, is closely involved in the company’s response to the pandemic.
…Mr. Bezos, 56, has turned back to the here-and-now problems facing Amazon, the company said, as the giant retailer grapples with a surge of demand, labor unrest and supply chain challenges brought on by the coronavirus.
He is holding daily calls to help make decisions about inventory and testing, as well as how and when — down to the minute — Amazon responds to public criticism. He has talked to government officials. And in April, for the first time in years, he made a publicized visit to one of Amazon’s warehouses.
“For now, my own time and thinking continues to be focused on Covid-19 and how Amazon can help while we’re in the middle of it,” Mr. Bezos wrote to shareholders last week.
Mr. Bezos’ daily oversight hasn’t led to perfectly smooth sailing. Amazon has struggled to respond quickly to the growing number of coronavirus cases in its work force, and it has been slammed with orders from consumers.
But Amazon is one of the few companies that have benefited financially from the crisis. Because of all the customer demand, shares of the company have hit record highs. That has made Mr. Bezos, the wealthiest man in the world, $25 billion richer since early March…
Amazon Warehouse Safety ‘Inadequate,’ N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Says
Amazon may have violated federal health and safety standards as well as New York’s whistleblower law, the New York attorney general’s office wrote to Amazon in a letter obtained by NPR.
Amazon also has problems reopening in Europe for the same reason, I think.
Trump and the Republicans, in all of their glory, must be beaming that immigrants are suffering. Singapore didn’t take care of their housed foreign workers and it caused an almost instant rise in the number of infected. Not taking care of immigrants will also increase infections in this country.
“We are all connected’ is not fake news.
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The Hill:
Immigrants raise alarm over ‘cruel’ exclusion from coronavirus medical aid
By Rafael Bernal
Activists and immigrant advocates are sounding the alarm that tens of millions of immigrants are at risk of being left out of COVID-19 testing and treatment in the government’s response to the health crisis.
Forgetting about the foreign workers who lived in cramped government housing has had an impact.
Singapore:
The Health Ministry confirmed 931 new cases as of noon, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 13,624.
Great thread here! My 2ctss of mid-aft Sun 4-27
Duane, I see you’ve written a book on this subject but I’m wading in anyway. There is utility in looking at thought this way (scientific attitude vs faith-based systems). It has increasingly tended to characterize polemics over governmental policy, so it’s important. Especially if you mean by “faith-based” what I would call dogmatic thinking (not necessarily religious). But if the point is to clarify what makes people tick when it comes to social ideals, I would broaden the “scientist” camp to include a large number of folks you may be either dismissing as “faith-based” or who fall in between.
Your assertion that “faith based belief systems do not have a fidelity to truth attitude but a fidelity to what we say no matter what” is a narrow view that excludes all thinking, reflective religious/ spiritual folk – and there’s a huge number of them. And they need to be brought into political discussion, not alienated by condescending assumptions.
RT, although major world religions are text-based in a sense, the text is subject to infinite interpretation & discussion. The texts through history have been used as touchstone/ springboard/ reference as opposed to a Hammurabi code, for all but fundamentalists, with their “house of cards” approach [good one].
We can look at centuries of Talmud, papal encyclicals, scholarly works by theologians and scientists (and no doubt a universe of works by Asian thinkers, whose religions do a better job of marrying spirit with nature). The dance between scientific and faith-based systems is productive; thought-systems evolve. Duane, re: “Scientific truths are always susceptible and subject to changing understanding over time.” Same is true of religious truths. Your view of “faith-based systems” excludes all but fundamentalist thinking, and the periodic narrow pronouncements of religious hierarchy, any one of which can be countered with insightful arguments published in religious annals by their own brethren.
The question of the moment is how we got to a place where the shallow, marginal thinking of fundamentalists has infiltrated govt to such a degree. Incorporating the views– and votes– of the [guesstimate] 45% of those not entirely in either camp but drawing from both would be a good idea.
BTW, SDP, I enjoyed your kibbitzing immensely, just didn’t mention it as you were playing devil’s advocate, drawing out Duane, RT, then BobS.
Also, Duane, afterthought: “And yes, some theories may never be testable and those will stay in the realm of theory and not a truth (which in itself may be overturned in the future). Scientific truths are always susceptible and subject to changing understanding over time.” This is a statement about truth – not just scientific truth. It expresses precisely how I view spiritual truths. People seeking snpritual truth tend to research all major religions & philosophies, looking for synthesis– just as those seeking “facts” watch all the networks & come to their own conclusions. I am not unique. Tho perhaps somewhat anomalous in my own generation, it is my observation that millennials & younger– at least those raised & schooled in vibrant multi-ethnic communities– are similar. Stats show these younger folk increasingly self-declare as “none” on religion [your “faith-based systems”], but don’t assume that makes them anti-religious scientists reacting against parentally-imposed dogmatic thinking. Many were raised by tolerant folk looking only to impart a spiritual perspective.
“It expresses precisely how I view spiritual truths.”
The term spiritual truths seems oxymoronic to me. Spiritual beliefs would be a better way to put it. Without rationo-logical scientific proofs of truth statements, one cannot determine whose spiritual truths are truly true. [sorry couldn’t resist the word play 😉 ]. One person’s “spiritual truth” is another’s spiritual falsehood and for me the only way to mediate those differences is to have a rationo-logical scientific manner of thinking, coming to conclusions.
At the same time if believing in those spiritual beliefs help someone be a kinder, gentler person, more considerate of one’s fellow human beings it can be considered a good thing.
I don’t even comprehend what spiritual truth could be.
Exactly!
My book’s does look at issues of truth, ethics and validity in regard to the standards and testing malpractice regime. It is not an examination per se of the those issues although I do briefly discuss those. It’s main contention is that the government should not discriminate against students in any way, but that it is discriminating against them in the standards and testing malpractice regime.
Yes, I’ve studied those issues for quite a while (25? yrs) so I believe I have some background to discuss them.
Now what my contention in the differences between “faith based” and scientific, rationo-logical thought that has come out of Enlightenment thinking is that faith based knowledge, discourse is fine for an individual’s being, but it does not have the validity of “Fidelity to Truth” thinking, discourse that is needed for social interaction and policy and lawmaking.
Unfortunately at this time the xtian fundie side of “faith based” thinking has taken it upon itself to conquer and replace rationo-logical scientific thinking as the foundation of American society. I reject their faith-based claims. Believe what you want, but do not impose those claims on others
Needless to say the Founding Fathers (and no, they weren’t gods or necessarily even god-like) understood what happens when various faith based governing systems clash, i.e., death and destruction for many innocents, hence the “separation of church and state” is a fundamental part of the Constitution.
“Your assertion that “faith based belief systems do not have a fidelity to truth attitude but a fidelity to what we say no matter what” is a narrow view that excludes all thinking, reflective religious/ spiritual folk. . . Your view of “faith-based systems” excludes all but fundamentalist thinking, ”
No, my critique of faith-based systems is not limited to xtian fundies and their ilk, not at all. People can imagine all sorts of various scenarios that are only real in the heads of those who experience them and have no basis in being considered as a foundational concept for society. I prefer verifiable, valid concepts that are grounded in rationo-logical scientific thought as the basis for societal governance.
OK Duane you have pressured me into delivering personal beliefs. [It must be the pandemic!]
Lifelong, I have never seen any conflict between the spiritualism I was born with and the science of our world. To my way of thinking, God’s earthly palette is science.
We are taught by examples all around us of multiple spheres of reality.
I see reincarnation in the seasons, in the mutation of species– in Nature. I see the reality of other planes of existence suggested merely by the opposition of man’s random physical body and his mind, dominated by pure algebraic rationale [fractals: a possible bridge].
God is love: the human experiment is one (perhaps of many) where the light of love is divided into infinite parts, as light fractured into a spectrum– but if requiring free will to coalesce– may, coalescing, intensify, leading to another plane of reality.
I look to faith-based texts: they are primitive, but there are hints of purpose.
“Go forth and multiply,” for example: this to me is an illustration of the human experiment. It means: when you have so many humans that you struggle to maintain Earth, you will either learn to work together, or you will perish. And that’s just the Judeo-Christian thing; we have equal/ opposite Eastern credos helping us calm the libido/ procreation drive.
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” [Shakespeare]
“Now what my contention in the differences between “faith based” and scientific, rationo-logical thought that has come out of Enlightenment thinking is that faith based knowledge, discourse is fine for an individual’s being, but it does not have the validity of “Fidelity to Truth” thinking, discourse that is needed for social interaction and policy and lawmaking.”
This is fine as far as it goes, but the problem you fail to come to grips with is that any individual’s grasp of discourse needed for social interaction/ policy/ lawmaking is always driven by their sense of right & wrong, which is driven– at some level– by ground-level beliefs– i.e.,faith.
“Trump supporters have pushed the narrative that health experts are part of a deep-state plot to hurt Trump’s reelection efforts by damaging the economy and keeping the United States shut down as long as possible. ”
The whole thing reminds me of the Galileo trials by the Inquisition. Galileo refused to be a martyr and some people have criticized him for it, but I hope our health scientists won’t be too hot headed to go directly against this Trump crowd narrative. As David Hilbert, the greatest mathematician of the 20th century, said
Galileo was not an idiot. Only an idiot could believe that scientific truth needs martyrdom; that may be necessary in religion, but scientific results prove themselves in due time.
And your research proving this result has appeared in which peer reviewed journal? Are your methods and the mathematical tools clearly described?
I am against funding for the military. Bring them home. We don’t need to kill and destroy more. Exactly how does the military test everyone without shortchanging the civilian population?
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Monday, April 27, 2020 1:00 am
Testing prioritized for those critical to national security
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – With limited supplies of coronavirus tests available, the Pentagon is focusing first on testing those performing duties deemed most vital to national security. Atop the list are the men and women who operate the nation’s nuclear forces, some counterterrorism forces and the crew of a soon-to-deploy aircraft carrier.
Defense leaders hope to increase testing from the current rate of about 7,000 a day to 60,000 by June. This will enable them to test those showing symptoms as well as those who do not.
The current tight supply forced the Pentagon to take a phased approach, which includes testing sailors aboard the USS Nimitz, the Bremerton, Washington-based Navy carrier next in line to head to the Pacific. Officials hope to avoid a repeat of problems that plagued the virus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt. On Friday, the Navy disclosed a virus outbreak aboard another ship at sea, the USS Kidd.
Despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that testing capacity is not an issue in the U.S., Pentagon officials don’t expect to have enough tests for all service members until sometime this summer.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently approved the tiered approach. It expands the Pentagon’s practice of testing mainly those who show symptoms of the virus to eventually testing everyone. Many virus carriers show no symptoms but can be contagious, as was discovered aboard the Roosevelt.
The aim is to allocate testing materials to protect what the military considers its most important missions, while not depleting supplies for high-risk groups in the civilian population, including the elderly at nursing homes and health care professionals on the front lines of battling the virus.
The first tier of U.S. troops are being tested this month, followed in May and June by the second-highest priority group: forces in combat zones such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Next will be those abroad outside of war zones, like troops in Europe and aboard ships at sea, as well as those returning to the United States from overseas deployments.
Last in line: the remainder of the force.
Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first three groups could be fully tested by June. By then the Pentagon hopes to reach its goal of being able to conduct 60,000 tests per day. To complete testing of the entire force will take “into the summer,” he said without being specific.
Hyten said that testing under this tiered approach started to step up in mid-April, and that it included a plan to fully test the crew of the Nimitz. The complications that come with trying to test for coronavirus aboard a ship while it’s already underway were made clear with the Roosevelt, which pulled into port at Guam in late March after discovering its first infections. It wasn’t able to test 100% of the crew until a few days ago.
Beyond its desire to limit the spread of the virus, the Pentagon views testing and associated measures such as isolating and quarantining troops as tools to keep the force viable and to ensure it can perform its central function: to defend the nation. At least 3,900 members of the military had tested positive, including more than 850 from the Roosevelt.
Military members, being fitter and younger than the general U.S. population, are thought to be less vulnerable to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. So far only two military members have died from it.
Well, at least in the military, they would get tested. So far I personally know 6 people who got the virus according to their doctors, but none were tested since “the symptoms are mild”.
Btw, yesterday, we had the highest number of new cases so far; almost 40K.
Máté Wierdl: I have a friend whose husband died a few days back in a nursing home. Apparently some medical worker entered who was not having a fever but was a carrier.
There is a severe shortage of testing and, as far as I know, no monitoring or tracing of contacts. Just go home and infect your whole family.
This country is in big trouble. Now Moscow Mitch believes its fine for state to illegally declare bankruptcy. I didn’t see him stopping one second before working at night to pass that wonderful tax break for the millionaires and billionaires.
Here’s a real goodie. [For more enjoyment, read the comments under the U-tube video.] People are calling for reopening the country. We don’t have any idea of how wide spread COVID-19 is and the virus count is still going up. This is a recipe for disaster. How many people are going to die from Trump’s “emphasis on public health”?
This is ‘news’ from the WH:
When President Trump took early, aggressive action against the Coronavirus—such as restricting travel from China in January—public safety was his top priority. As he prepares Americans to return to work, that emphasis on public health hasn’t changed.
Admiral Giroir: Safely reopening America’s economy is what the doctor ordered
Apr 27, 2020
The White HouseThe White House
Here is proof that Americans aren’t the smartest people on the planet. Children will drink anything, but adults? I’m sure there are some who listen to Trump and take his advise on anything. Why not drink some hand sanitizer, Lysol or Clorox or inject it into your lungs? It might be the COVID-19 cure that we’ve all been looking for!! Hoo-rah!
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US FDA Says Steps Needed to Stop People Drinking Hand Sanitizer
By Manojna Maddipatla, Reuters
27 April 20
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked makers of hand sanitizers to add denatured alcohol to the products in order to make them less palatable in a bid to discourage people, especially children, from drinking the liquid.
The regulator’s advisory follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments on whether injecting disinfectants might treat COVID-19, which raised concerns that frightened people could poison themselves with untested treatments.
“Hand sanitizers are not proven to treat COVID-19, and like other products meant for external use, are not for ingestion, inhalation, or intravenous use,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement here
Demand for hand sanitizers has soared after the government and health agencies advised people to clean their hands thoroughly to discourage the spread of the new coronavirus, which has caused over 51,000 deaths in the United States.
The agency said adding denatured alcohol to hand sanitizers renders a bitter taste making the liquid less appealing for consumption.
Calls to the National Poison Data System last month related to hand sanitizer increased by 79% compared to March 2019, and a majority of them were about unintentional exposure to children aged 5 and younger, the FDA said.
The agency recommended that the products carry child safety warnings and information to get medical help upon accidental consumption.
The FDA, which in March relaxed rules to allow pharmacists to supply alcohol-based hand sanitizers without prescriptions, also said it was taking measures to help ensure continued supply of the product.
More than 1,500 new makers of alcohol-based hand sanitizers have registered with the agency as it works to improve the safety and supply of the product amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
Trump denied that his comments had played any role in those reports at his Monday briefing, the first time he’d taken questions at a press conference since his remarks about injecting people with disinfectant and sunlight faced nearly universal condemnation. Trump later claimed that suggestion was sarcastic.
“I can’t imagine why,” Trump said Monday when a journalist noted a reported rise in the misuse of disinfectant since then.
“Do you take any responsibility?” the reporter continued.
“No. I can’t imagine, I can’t imagine that,” Trump said before quickly moving on to another reporter’s question.
He takes “no responsibility” as usual for anything he says.
My sister in law drank hair spray. She was addicted to the stuff. It eventually killed her.
It’s amazing what people, even intelligent ones who should know better, will put in their bodies.
Earlier at Monday’s briefing, Trump and other members of the coronavirus task force outlined a new plan for issuing coronavirus tests, though it was scant on details about solving problems in the supply chain and other testing capacity issues.
Despite state leaders calling for a federal-level effort at ramping up testing, the task force said states would be largely responsible for increasing access to tests. Under the plan presented Monday, all 50 states would receive enough tests from the federal government each month to screen 2% of their populations.
Attorney General William P. Barr’s memo: Balancing Public Safety with the Preservation of Civil Rights
“If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court,” the attorney general wrote.
Washington+Post:+Attorney+General+William+P.+Barr’s+memo:+Balancing+Public+Safety+with+the+Preservation+of+Civil+Rights
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/attorney-general-william-p-barr-s-memo-balancing-public-safety-with-the-preservation-of-civil-rights/749fc86a-f81c-4baf-b002-b68deb3f1ade/
This is news from Canada. Compare the intelligent speech that Trudeau makes against the Lysol infected dimwit that runs our country.
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Trudeau’s daily coronavirus update: ‘The measures we’ve taken so far are working’ (Full transcript)
In his daily briefing, the PM noted that while the curve is flattening in some places, the country is ‘not out of the woods yet.’ He provided updates on new PPE supplies and said the feds would soon release ‘shared principles’ on reopening the economy.
…But we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re in the middle of the most serious public health emergency Canada has ever seen and if we lift measures too quickly, we might lose the progress we’ve made. So we all need to be very careful for ourselves, and especially for the most vulnerable, like our parents, grandparents and elders in long-term care facilities.
Earlier this month, when we released the first modelling, I said that the path ahead was up to us. And the same holds true today. How many new cases there are, how many losses we have to mourn, whether our hospitals can continue to cope; it’s all up to all of us. You’ve already stepped up to help your family, friends, neighbours and frontline care workers. Stay safe.
And your governments across the country are stepping up as well. We’re a big country and we don’t always agree on everything. But right now, the premiers and the federal government are working together to fight this crisis. We need common guidelines to make sure that the decisions being taken across the country are grounded in a shared understanding and appreciation of what science and experts are telling us…
https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/trudeaus-daily-coronavirus-update-the-measures-weve-taken-so-far-are-working-full-transcript/
Why hasn’t testing people from international flights been considered before NOW? I was tested in Hong Kong when transferring to a different plane. There was a medical place for anyone who had a fever to walk to for further testing. This was during the bird flu and SARS.
Trump said the Small Business Administration has processed more loans in 14 days than it has in the previous 14 years. Everything is about how fantastic he is.
He’s still claiming what a great decision he made to keep people from China from entering the US, even though more than 40,000 travelers from China still made it to the U.S. after his ‘momentous decision’.
DeSantis is a fool if he wants to reopen Florida at this time. Florida is a hot spot.
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Tests might soon come with flights
Would be for international travel
Associated Press
April 29, 2020
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration is considering requiring travelers on certain incoming international flights to undergo temperature and virus checks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected,” Trump said at the White House. “We will be looking into that in the very near future.”
Trump said it has not been determined whether the federal government or the airlines would conduct the testing. “Maybe it’s a combination of both,” he said.
Trump’s comments came during an event showcasing a loan program designed to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program. He said the Small Business Administration has processed more loans in 14 days than it has in the previous 14 years.
Earlier, the president defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic as he met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and promised to help states safely begin reopening their economies.
Trump, seated next to DeSantis in the Oval Office, insisted the United States was doing enough testing to protect Americans reentering the workforce. The administration has been sharply criticized for not overseeing widespread testing, but Trump said no amount would ever be good enough for critics in the media.
The president dismissed suggestions that the administration was slow to respond to the threat of COVID-19, including reports that it was mentioned in his daily intelligence briefing in January and February. He stressed his decision to restrict flights from China – though more than 40,000 travelers from China still made it to the U.S. afterward – and said of the decision: “Whether it was luck, talent or something else, we saved many thousands of lives.”
Florida, with a high population of older Americans vulnerable to the disease, has long been a source of concern, and DeSantis was slower to impose social distancing guidelines than other governors. But DeSantis promoted his state’s ability to test its residents…
https://journalgazette.net/news/us/20200429/tests-might-soon-come-with-flights
You wonder what the heck these “leaders” do all day long. It certainly isn’t addressing the basic needs of the country necessary to keep us all safe. Where are all the “smart” people?