Trump says even if the coronavirus comes back for a second round, there will be no more shutdowns. That means that even if there is a sharp increase in infections and deaths, the economy will keep humming, no matter the risk to life.
President Trump said on Thursday that “we’re not gonna close the country” again if the coronavirus sees a resurgence.
During a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan, a reporter asked the president if he was concerned about a potential second wave of the illness.
“People say that’s a very distinct possibility. It’s standard. And we’re going to put out the fires. We’re not gonna close the country. We’re going to put out the fires — whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.”
Put another way, Trump is willing to sacrifice as many lives as necessary to keep the economy open.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’s why Trump had the flag lowered to half-mast a couple of days ago. He is treating the pandemic as a war, and he thinks the entire U.S. population is his army that will be fighting battles with the virus. To Trump, the dead will be nothing but casualties just like any war.
The flag at half mask is his way of letting the people know that he is willing to sacrifice as many as it takes if that means the economy improves and he gets re-elected. Trump sees our deaths as his win. The more of that die, the more he will brag about beating the virus.
I was going to write something essentially similar. I couldn’t agree more. Now Americans will have to decide what’s more important–their lives, and those of others, or a wink and a nod to their racism and xenophobia.
“A wink’s as good as a nod to a blind bat! Nudge, nudge. Say no more! Know what I mean?”
I have no problem letting the racists and xenophobes (especially Trump’s deplorable supporters and Trump) run around without masks and gathering in huge crowds in restaurants, bars, sports stadiums, crowded beaches, and churches as often as they want.
I will not be in any of those places, so I do not care what happens to those ignorant, stupid, and detestable rabble.
But I want markets (with the exception of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club) where most of us shop for supplies to keep their rules about wearing masks and keeping a safe distance from each other while shopping. As private businesses, they have the ability to refuse service to anyone. “if you do not like our rules, you are free to shop somewhere else like Wal-Mart where the Waltons do not care about your health or welfare.”
Let’s Trump’s mad dogs have Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club where they will be allowed to shop without masks and ignore safe distances.
I do not plan to go anywhere Trump’s mad dogs shop mask free.
Lloyd Lofthouse: “…to keep their rules about wearing masks and keeping a safe distance from each other while shopping.”
Indiana does not require masks. Most people are wearing them, but no law is being broken if you don’t. [Red states don’t want to infringe on our right to be free to infect others.]
The problem is that health care workers and grocery clerks and everyone that has to work gets exposed to these clowns. And they then die because someone else cares about themselves above anyone and anything else.
TOW, the arrogance of some of the people I see at my grocery store more than infuriates me. I often chat with the workers, who are people I have come to care for over the years, and they are just thankful they have jobs. They seem resigned to having to deal with these idiots and keep their fingers crossed. When I asked one, what happens if you get sick, he answered, “I don’t know. I try not to think about it.” When I contacted the corporate office to ask if they would deny entry to those who didn’t wear masks, I got no answer.
Fortunately, the governors, not Trump, decide whether to shut down, the degree & methods of phased reopenings, etc. and the people themselves decide to what degree they will participate in reopening depending on their own sense of safety. Governors, for the most part, seem to actually take seriously the welfare of their state citizens,
eyeing their infection/ death stats & acting accordingly. It remains to be seen whether a few Trumpista governors opening prematurely (while stats are still rising) respond with backpedaling if spikes occur. I suspect even in those states, citizens will exercise their own judgment.
My greatest concern is for those essential workers where social distancing is impractical, & PPE &/or sick days not provided consistently. I heard an NPR report today on chicken-processing plants in FL. The workers are low-paid, mostly hispanic immigrants, w/no options other than to work as reqd, w/n whatever safety precautions employers deign to provide. They compared 3 plants. One with a hispanic owner was a standout, requiring self-quarantine for workers w/symptoms & providing 2/3 pay during downtime. Workers reporting anonymously from the other two plants noted inconsistent PPE & bosses reqg you to work when you’re sick.
He does not have to shut it down . Governors do not have to shut it down. Red State Governors can manipulate statistics . What they can not do is hide the sound of sirens or the sight of refrigerator trucks outside of hospitals . The virus will hit denser cities first, but it will unmitigated hit every city and town.
The economy shuts itself down as consumers avoid leisure hospitality and retail . You can force workers to go to work threatening their unemployment benefits you can not force them to spend their earnings. Nor can you force their employers to keep them on the payrolls when they are losing money. Economic pain cascading all the way up the supply chain.
You solve the health problems with public health measures, testing isolating the positive cases in facilities where they can be monitored and contact tracing and you help the economy. You don’t and it shuts itself down.
Well said, Joel. Cuts right to the chase. “You don’t and it shuts itself down.”
Which brings me to thoughts greatly on my mind these days:
(1)N95 masks for EVERYBODY, not just healthcareworkers. Now THAT might make teachers to be willing to return to socially-distanced schools,& get customers back in stores, hell, even to barbers!
(2)Testing for EVERYBODY, ON DEMAND. For starters, families could get together. I haven’t seen my sons for 2 months, nor have they seen each other despite living 1/2mi apart. I’ve pd 50% down on my usual Aug vacation rental: I think that could work, but how can I invite sons, and staggered visits for sister’s family & brother’s family without TESTING?
Bethree, my son and grandchildren came to spend a weekend visit with me. We have all been in isolation since mid-March. We tried social distancing but it didn’t work. I couldn’t help hugging the children. They were so happy to be with us. They loathe distance learning. They miss friends and family. This is such a hard time for everyone.
Diane, I’m so glad you had that visit, but now providing you with a 2-wk “quarantine prayer” 😉 And thanks for the perspective on how “socially-distanced” family gathering would probably work out. That’s why I’m getting hot under the collar about no N95masks [protect wearer too] & no testing! I can’t imagine daring to get together en famille unless everyone had just been tested, cuz for sure we’d slip up.
Trump says that real men don’t wear face masks.
My older brother felt the same way Trump does, and it killed him at 64. Richard worked in plating (grinding off the old chrome on metal and replacing it with new) and was required to wear a mask because of the toxic chemicals involved. When the boss wasn’t around, he slipped the mask off and wore it around his neck and not over his mouth. He breathed in a lot of toxic chemicals over the years that when he was near the end of life and sweated, he smelled coppery and foamed at the mouth.
Yes, Joel. It is up to the people to lead by example with compassion and charity. American lack of leadership if forcing us to, a lack of leadership too many have enabled.
Although I agree 100% . My point was strictly economic . Trump and the right think that sending people back to work will bring the economy back. Much of NYC was shutting down before the lock down. My Daughter in-law works at a large insurance company which shut down a week before, after they lost 2 employees at their downtown headquarters. How do they open these offices up safely? They don’t !
Well not with the same number of employees the don’t. So how many will be told to work from home? What does that do to the commercial real estate market. What does that do to current and future construction. How about the restaurant industry that serviced those office workers? No more deliveries to offices, for those working from home. Banquet luncheons and after work dinners gone.
What incentive do I have to live in NYC or any metro high density area if not the cultural life. Something that becomes extremely discretionary in a Pandemic.
How the hell do you open up the NYC metro infection super highway,Mass Transit ?
Certainly not with people packed in like cattle.
I could give a hundred more examples as to why the economy is toast . Even if we had been South Korea who instituted extensive Public Health measures early on and today has less than 300 deaths, we would have taken a hit. Short of a vaccine or effective treatment . The only choice is Public Health mitigation.
But you can only play games with statistics for so long and prematurely opening will have its obvious cost, No one had to tell my son the severity of the epidemic in NYC , He lives in Forest Hills just off Queens blvd a major East West thoroughfare about 2 miles from Elmhurst Hospital . The sirens were 24/ 7
And to think, Joel, there are still millions of people throughout the nation who don’t consider New Yorkers to be real Americans. Happy Memorial Day weekend indeed!
Actually you hit the nail on the head. NYC residents are not real Americans and minorities in NY or the rest of the country are not considered to be equal humans .Thom Hartmann explains.
https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/the-next-death-wave-from-covid-19-will-be-the-poor-rural-and-white/
Does anyone else see the irony of the Idiot’s administration’s neglect of public health and economic support for all citizens during the pandemic and its willingness to shut the government down because of ideological spending priorities? Their cult certainly doesn’t.
It’s obvious to those who have eyes and can see, “Put another way, Trump is willing to sacrifice as many lives as necessary” to make money.
This matter, as with virtually all else concerning Trump & his party, is about profits over people, and trying to dominate the masses with unmitigated power.
Thank goodness for sane, empathetic, intelligent (mostly Democratic) governors!
It really doesn’t matter what Trump says at any given time. We all know his promises and statements are meaningless. Tomorrow he can say exactly the opposite, and then we will all be ordered by the right wing media to believe that Trump has always said that we will shut down the country if the pandemic returns.
If the pandemic returns, Trump will do whatever he decides is good for Trump. If the pandemic affects communities that his white supporters don’t care about, Trump will ignore it and insist life go on as usual.
If the pandemic returns and hits communities with Trump voters, and Trump starts to worry about his support, he may not only shut down the country but also conscript doctors and nurses and medical supplies from all blue states and distribute them to his favorite communities.
If it looks like Trump is going to suffer a massive and humiliating defeat in November, Trump probably will order the country closed right before the election.
The one certainty that we can count on — Trump will do whatever benefits Trump and what happens to the people in this country will play no role in the decision.
Nobody with any common sense would listen to madman Trump. I am doing my best to ignore him.
As for his defeat, I hope you are right. I see Biden as a weak candidate, although I will vote for him. It is most important that we do not have four more years of the worst administration in modern history.
I wasn’t predicting a Trump defeat! I’m just as terrified now as I was in 2016 when I was one of the few people who seemed concerned with how casually the dishonest right wing propaganda attacks on the democrat were being repeated by the mainstream media and people on the left! Boy do I wish I was wrong and I would have welcomed “I told you so” comments making fun of my needless worry in 2016.
That’s how I feel now. Except that instead of worrying that Trump would likely be very bad for progressive ideas and democracy, I know that he is even worse than I imagined.
I think that if those voices that amplify the dishonest and ugly right wing propaganda attacks on Biden are not marginalized — if those voices are instead given legitimacy so that the pervasive meme is “Biden is no better than Trump and Biden is more corrupt and racist and dishonest than Trump” — we will see another Trump victory and an empowering of an anti-progressive anti-democratic agenda that might be the end of our democracy.
Can you imagine the pleasure that Trump and his right wing cronies would have in totally crushing AOC and the squad and the entire progressive movement that threatens their power? And they will have the Supreme Court to tell America it is all okay.
What I am predicting is that Trump and his Republican enablers will do anything to win, and they believe they are above the any laws that prevent them from using the full power of his office – and improper outside help — to win. As Barr and his cronies have made clear – if the president wants it done, that means that it is legal.
In order for Trump to be defeated, Biden has to win by such a huge margin of victory in each state that all of the right wing shenanigans to cheat won’t be a factor. I have no idea if that is possible – and I won’t be surprised if elections are just cancelled if it looks like Trump will lose too big to cheat.
How to respond to a pandemic:
Test, trace, isolate
How not to respond to a pandemic:
Gut existing pandemic response groups in the government. Deny that there’s a problem. Blame it on China. Blame it on Obama. Refuse to order that sufficient tests, PPE, and field hospitals be created. Tell governors that its entirely up to them. Deny all responsibility. Threaten or fire anyone who says anything remotely scientific. Insist on not wearing a mask and opening back up. Show no empathy toward anyone, ever, because you have none. Lie 500 times a day. Hold press conferences to congratulate yourself and yell at the “fake media.” Promote extremely dangerous fake cures. Encourage highly armed Nazi brownshirts in the streets to rebel against public safety. Threaten governors. Fire whistle blowers. Encourage large gatherings at churches. Block expansion of mail-in voting. Cut all funding to the international organization charged with pandemic response. Insist that states open back up without testing, tracing, and isolation in place because, hey, it’s election season and your numbers are down and you own hotels and golf clubs, and all this being closed down has seriously cut into your illegal emoluments.
I’ve called the fellow in the orange clown makeup in the now Offal Office in the now Whiter House a lot of things: Moscow’s Asset Governing America (MAGA), Don the Con, IQ 45, Don Chetto “Little Fingers” Trumpbalone, Vlad’s Agent Orange, the Iota, Child-Man in the Promised Land, Vandal in Chief, Dog-Whistle Don, The Man with No Plan and the Tan in the Can, President Pinocchio, Trump on the Stump with His Chumps, Jabba the Trump, Don the Demented, King Con, Donnie DoLittle, the Stabul Jenius, Scrotus Potus–I could go on–but given all of the above, I’m rolling out this one:
Donald Death
Bob, you managed to express my views with precision.
Thank you Bob. You are on a roll here with naming gifts…and rights.
King Ethelorange the Unready
OMG, Bob, that’s a belly laugh.
An excellent essay in NYRB that I missed from Jan 7, by Peter E. Gordon, Why Historical Analogies Matter, is excellent. The concluding paragraph restates many of the points made here over the past four years very succinctly, especially by bugaboo about how “Never Again” is an expansive, nonspecific term that applies to humanity, not just Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Anyone who denies that this nation is quickly slipping into a new, yet familiar, form of fascism understands neither history or current reality. We do, for example, currently have concentration camps in this country ranging from so-called detention centers, private prisons, and a legal system that incarcerates 25% of the world’s population currently in jails and prisons. And that’s just the rotten cherry on top of cake of systemic intolerance and bigotry. Worth reading.
“The true signs of fascism’s resurgence, however, would not be merely the symbols it deploys in its propaganda but its treatment of those who are most vulnerable. This is why the spectacle of migrants in cages should alarm us all, and why we cannot take comfort in the thought that things are not as bad as they once were. The phrase “Never Again” can be used in a restrictive sense as a summons to the Jewish people alone that it should never permit another Holocaust to occur. But if the phrase contains a broader warning, it must apply across time and space to other people as well. By forbidding all comparison, this more expansive meaning is vitiated. The moral imperative that such an atrocity should never again be visited upon any people already implies the possibility of a reprisal—with all of its terrifying consequences.”
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/07/why-historical-analogy-matters
Greg, this post is so important, and so well stated. I’m going to share it on social media. Thank you.
“my bugaboo” WordPress, grrrr!
Someone made a comment on a review I wrote on a book about Japanese-American internment that I had forgotten. Kind of fits here.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2002030230?comment=210037402#comment_210037402
Even Paul Krugman, who turned out to be not so foward thinking, says that fascism is around the corner if Trump wins 2020. He also predicted the class system here n a two part series from the NY Time magazine called “The End of Middle Class America”.
Hell, the fight is just starting. It will be most of us against the overclass, but it will also be the average American pitted against average American . . . . It’s a hot mess, and that’s okay. We will be the better and the stronger for it.
Growing pains . . . . .
Cx: . . . .forward thinking . . . .
Also, the Würtembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn released a cd/streaming a week ago that is a perfect present to the American people to help us commemorate Memorial Day, the album Father Copland. Appalachian Spring, Quiet City, and Clarinet Concerto sound so fresh. The songs celebrate every part of America. I encourage everyone to take some time this weekend to become reacquainted with Copland, Barber, Thompson, Ives, Glass, Reich and other great American composers. They’ll help cure what ails you during these tragic times. https://berlin-classics-music.com/en/father-copland-an-album-about-and-dedicated-to-the-american-composer-aaron-copland/
What a great list!!!! I had the great good pleasure of seeing Copland conduct a selection of his work years ago, and I am crazy about all the others you mention. Been listening to a lot of Glass lately. Here, something mind-blowingly beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBNyieQkYoA
Love that piece by Glass. Check today’s NYT on a story of a “lost” composition by Glass, Music in Eight Parts. Listening to it now on Apple Music.
I have long thought that every session of the US Congress should open with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, to remind politicians on a regular basis exactly who they are charged with serving in this country:
Or Three Blind Mice!
“Putting out the fire” means culling the herd. There are way too many blacks, Hispanics, poor people, old people and Democrats.
This is the Trump way to save money on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment insurance and stimulus payments.
Indiana University did independent testing and came up with a model showing 186,000 infected.[Scroll down to see article.] I don’t trust what is coming from this state. How can the state say that 29,936 are infected when Indiana University says 186,000 are infected? 45% had no symptoms. Face coverings are ‘recommended’. Whoopee.
Gov. Holcomb [R-IN] wants to be the new Pence. He wants everything to be opened up by July 4.
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Friday, May 22, 2020 1:00 am
**State enters modified 3rd stage
Order keeps playgrounds, theaters shut down
NIKI KELLY | The Journal Gazette
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Eric Holcomb issued a new executive order Thursday officially allowing most of the state to move into the next stage of reopening the economy.
But there are some small tweaks from the earlier plan.
“We continue to remain vigilant about protecting Hoosiers’ health while taking responsible steps to further open our state’s economy,” he said. “Moving to stage 3 is possible because Hoosiers across the state have worked together and made sacrifices to slow the spread.”
Lake, Cass and Marion counties will remain in stage 2.
Statewide, 29,936 Hoosiers now have tested positive for COVID-19 – up 676 cases in the last day. Deaths rose by 48 to 1,764.
An additional 30 Allen County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total Thursday to 1,128 cases and 65 deaths.
Some of the changes starting today include the reopening of gyms and fitness centers with some capacity and distancing limitations; retail stores and malls can move to 75% capacity; and community pools may open following CDC guidelines.
Community tennis and basketball courts, soccer and baseball fields, YMCA programs and similar facilities may open with social gathering and social distancing guidelines in place.
Holcomb said Monday that playgrounds could open but the latest order backtracks, saying they remain closed.
The original plan also called for the opening of movie theaters at 50% capacity. But the new order keeps them closed.
There also is new language trying to clarify many questions about sports play and practices.
Noncontact sports such as baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, golf, soccer and swimming may conduct practices, drills and conditioning but may not compete in games, meets or tournaments.
Contact sports such as football, basketball, rugby or wrestling are not permitted except for conditioning and noncontact drills.
The social gathering limitations of stage 3 – up to 100 people – must be followed.
Motorsports can also restart but without spectators.
School buildings and grounds, bars, nightclubs and overnight youth camps remain closed.
Youth summer day camps, as well as adult day service programs, can start June 1.
As the state lifts restrictions and more people return to work, visit stores or restaurants and participate in more activities, the number of COVID-19 cases is expected to increase, the governor’s office said. If hospitalization numbers and other principles can’t be met all or portions of the state may need to pause on moving forward or may need to return to an earlier phase of the governor’s stay-at-home order.
In stage 3, Hoosiers 65 and older and those with high-risk health conditions – who are the most vulnerable to the coronavirus – should remain at home as much as possible. Face coverings in public places are recommended. Hoosiers who can work from home are encouraged to continue to do so.
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Thursday, May 14, 2020 1:00 am
186,000 in state infected: Study
2.8% of Hoosiers as of May 1
NIKI KELLY | The Journal Gazette
INDIANAPOLIS – A statewide study on the prevalence of COVID-19 found that 186,000 Hoosiers were actively or previously infected as of May 1 – compared with the 17,000 known positive cases at that time.
The data suggests that only about 1 of every 11 true infections were identified by tests focused on symptomatic or high-risk patients.
IUPUI scientists also estimated the infection-fatality rate for the new coronavirus in Indiana to be 0.58%, making it almost six times more deadly than the seasonal flu, which has an infection-fatality rate of 0.1%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re so grateful for this work. It’s an important snapshot in time of what is happening in our state, and future testing phases will bolster our knowledge,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said. “These initial results will help guide us in our efforts to make decisions about how we move forward in Indiana and better position resources.”
The IU Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI tested about 4,600 Hoosiers statewide.
That included 3,600 people who were randomly selected and an additional 900 volunteers recruited through outreach to the black and Hispanic communities to more accurately represent state demographics.
After analyzing test results, researchers determined that during the last week in April, 1.7% of participants tested positive for the virus and an additional 1.1% tested positive for antibodies – bringing the estimated population prevalence of the virus in the state to 2.8%.
Nir Menachemi, lead scientist on the study, said having a reliable estimate of the number of people infected also enables scientists to calculate much sought-after, but otherwise unknown, rates such as the infection-fatality rate. That represents the proportion of all those infected who have died, as opposed to the case-fatality rate, which focused mostly on symptomatic and high-risk cases.
Menachemi said the research team also found that almost 45% of people who tested positive for active viral infection reported no symptoms.
That is why Box and the doctors involved in the study encouraged all Hoosiers to act as if they have the infection and to avoid large gatherings, wear masks, wash your hands regularly and more.
The study found some differences across the state’s 10 public health districts. District 9 on the southeast side of the state, which experienced an early facility-based outbreak, had the highest prevalence of the virus in the general population at 4.9%.
The Indianapolis region had a 4.2% prevalence and northwest Indiana 3.2%. Northeast Indiana was 1.9%.
Yep. [I sent this article to my brother yesterday. Didn’t get a reply when I said that I thought there would be a second wave because states are opening up too early.]
…………………………………………………………….
Idaho coronavirus cases spike again, climbing to a high not seen in seven weeks
Idaho kept the number of new coronavirus cases in the teens, 20s or 30s for the past four weeks. But the state saw a spike Friday with 98 new cases.
That is the most cases in a single day since April 4, when Idaho had 90 or more cases six days in a row.
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article242947871.html?#storylink=cpyhttps://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article242947871.html
This is a fundraiser but I like their message.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New York City, with offices in Boston and Washington, D.C It was established in 1986 to use the unique skills and credibility of health professionals to advocate for persecuted health workers, prevent torture, document mass atrocities, and hold those who violate human rights accountable.
…………………………………………………………
Physicians for Human Rights:
Last weekend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quietly released its guidelines for reopening the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the White House blocked this report – choosing instead to promote its own substandard plan – it’s clear that weeks of public outcry have been heard in Washington.
This is a crucial step that all of us at Physicians for Human Rights have been fighting for, and a victory against the Trump administration’s anti-science agenda. At a time when victories are so hard-won, we are proud that with the support of people like you, we have made this critically important first step.
But the work continues.
While it’s crucial that this report is now readily available to cities, states, businesses, childcare centers, and other entities that are currently judging when and how best to reopen the nation, it means very little if the federal government refuses to champion these science and data-driven guidelines.
The recommendations as outlined in the CDC report must now guide the administration’s overall direction for reopening the country. Without the input of these experts, the long-term implications of this global public health crisis will be even more dire for communities across the United States at a time when our most trusted medical experts are already warning of the coming “second wave” of the virus.
While we welcome the news of the CDC report, we have not stopped fighting for medical and human rights experts to lead the national and global response to this historic crisis.
We have a long road ahead of us, but thanks to supporters like you and a dedicated team like ours, I know we can let science lead.
Onwards,
Michael Payne
Senior Advocacy Office and Interim Advocacy Director
Physicians for Human Rights
It couldn’t be any clearer. Trump and his allies cherish two things exclusively, their wealth and power. They do not value the lives of most Americans. If they did, they would ensure people’s income and health during the pandemic. Death and suffering in their twisted morality is for them yet another opportunity to do what they have always done while ignoring the wellbeing of all. Since, what they really want is widely unpopular and they are facing loss of power in the coming election, they will blame, lie, cheat, suppress the vote, and stop at nothing– nothing– to maintain control.
The Democratic alternative must be bold and clear.
Oh, and btw: Only 13 percent of small businesses that applied for Trump’s bungled Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) were approved for the loan.
Well you know, during the pandemic, fraud among struggling and dying small businesses is as rampant. Just like voting all the time. You know how untrustworthy Americans are!
“as rampant as can be.”
LOL. Don the Con lackeys overseeing dispersal of a relief fund. What could possibly go wrong?
Joe Biden latest ad | vote out Trump
May 21, 2020
Joe Biden campaign Ad
When is Trump going to be held accountable for all the missteps and blatant ignorance that he continuously inflicts on Americans, immigrants, children, schools, women, political critics and the media who don’t tell the world how fantastic he is?
I remember seeing a photo of the huge lineup of Americans trying to pick up their luggage to re-enter the US at O’Hare International in Chicago. It was a 3 hour wait that turned into a breeding ground of infection.
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The Washington Post
Democracy Dies in Darkness
Special Report
May 23, 11:32 AM
Trump’s move to block travel from Europe delivered chaos and one final viral infusion
Epidemiologists contend the U.S. outbreak was driven overwhelmingly by viral strains from Europe rather than China. More than 1.8 million travelers entered the United States from Europe in February alone as that continent became the center of the pandemic. The crush of Americans rushing home into crowded U.S. airports after Trump’s announcement only added to that viral load.
To such demands by Trump, I would respond: There shall be no more pity-pot meltdowns from someone who is supposed to be the Commander-in-Chief, especially when we are in the midst of a global crisis of great magnitude and people are looking to him for understanding and compassion.
I don’t typically believe in the smack down, but sometimes someone has to make a bully face reality and this guy really needs to learn that, regardless of what he says, it’s clear to most people in the world that he has the brain of a gnat and the heart of a wasp. (Then, if he is capable of learning, he needs guidance in working diligently to overcome those very serious shortcomings.)
I am so proud to have a president who is SO religious. Makes one proud. [BS]
……………………
The president made the comments to reporters as he left for Wisconsin from the White House on Thursday according to the New York Post.
“One of the others things I want to do is get the churches open. The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the Democrat governors,” Trump said.
“I want to get our churches open, and we’re going to be taking a very strong position on that very soon,” he added.
Churches have been at the forefront of many protests against the coronavirus lockdown, as the orders tend to infringe on the free exercise of religion.
President Trump wants churches in America open; unemployment numbers soar | EWTN
May 21, 2020
President Donald Trump told reporters before heading off to Michigan that he wants to see churches open and says they are not being treated with respect by some. Meanwhile, in his efforts to reopen the nation, which has seen close to 40 million lose their jobs, the COVID-19 death toll is nearing a tragic milestone number. EWTN News Nightly White House correspondent Owen Jensen reports.
Trump thinks that Memorial Day is a religious holiday.
Trump’s emphasis on churches underscores how he favors Christianity over other religions and discounts Jews who attend synagogues, Muslims who attend Mosques, etc., the same way he failed to say a word about the genocide of Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2017 –which is bound to please his neo-Nazi base again, but is not likely to go unnoticed by people of other faiths: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/white-house-holocaust-jews-234572
I don’t think Trump favors any religion. His is a religion of money and greed. You have to remember that his son in law is Jewish and his dear daughter converted. His speech writer and fellow hate monger is Stephen Miller…..also a Jew. This isn’t about religion….it’s about power, greed, narcissism and delusions of grandeur. It’s about a man that is unhinged and doesn’t know it (and doesn’t care). His “handlers” have lost control of the madman i the WH.
I beg to differ. Trump is prone to stereotyping Jews and has said he wants only “short guys that wear yarmulkes every day” counting his money, hence all the Jewish accountants, former execs from Goldman Sachs etc. he has hired, A lot of us think Trump is as much an antisemite at his core as he is a racist, xenophobe and misogynist. He also said there were some “very fine people” among the neo-Nazis in his base who “shouted Jews will not replace us” when they marched with torches ostensibly to protest the removal of a Civil War monument in Charlottesville –having nothing to do with Jews! And many of those in his base believe that Trump is an antisemite. See “Yarmulkes, Money and Labels: Trump’s Antisemitism and Racism” here:
https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2019/04/16/yarmulkes-money-and-labels-trumps-antisemitism-and-racism
Trump’s son-in-law has attracted a lot of Orthodox Jews to Trump’s base (and I happen to know many of them), but that seems to be mostly because very observant Jews are more likely to become Republicans than the rest of us (who are mostly Democrats), as well as about Trump’s stance on Israel. I don’t think Trump really cares about Israel; he seems to have just adopted a different foreign policy approach because he’s so intent on always doing the opposite of what Obama did and Obama was a lot less supportive of Israel than any other president since Israel became a state in 1948.
The overwhelming majority of Jews will vote for Biden. We don’t share Trump’s bigotry. We respect education. We believe in respecting all people. We don’t vote for allies of white nationalists, the KKK, and other haters.
I like Richard Rohr’s thought for the day. Christians are not superior to other religions. They only follow the Sermon on the Mount when the average or poor person on the fringes of society matter, not the elites who oppress, impress and brutalize in the name of ‘Christianity’.
Trump cares nothing for religion except to impress ‘Christians’ who have forgotten the message that comes from Jesus. The message of the Prosperity Gospel tells of a God who rewards the wealthy.
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Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
Invitation to Solidarity
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Throughout human history, countless people have been poor, vulnerable, or oppressed in some way. Those holding positions of authority within systems of power secure their own privilege, comfort, and wealth—almost always at the expense of those most on the margins. Much of history has been recorded to hide this fact and instead celebrates the so-called “winners.” I call this systemic reality a form of sin, or what the apostle Paul describes as the “the world” (Ephesians 2:1–2). This type of corporate evil is often culturally agreed-upon, admired, and deemed necessary, as is normally the case when a country goes to war, spends most of its budget on armaments, admires luxuries over necessities, entertains itself to death, or pollutes its common water and air.
The hidden nature of systemic oppression makes it all the more remarkable that the revelation of God in the Bible is written from the perspective of the oppressed. The Bible reveals a liberating path of humility, compassion, and nonviolence in the face of oppression that culminates in the life, ministry, and state-sponsored execution of Jesus.
We see in the Gospels that the people who tend to follow Jesus are the ones on the margins: the lame, poor, blind, prostitutes, drunkards, tax collectors, and foreigners. He lived in close proximity to and in solidarity with the excluded ones in his society. Those on the inside and at the center of power are the ones who crucify him: elders, chief priests, teachers of the Law, scribes, and Roman occupiers. Yet we still honor people in these latter roles and shun the ones in the former.
For the first three hundred years after Jesus’ death, Christians were the oppressed minority. But by the year 400 C.E., Christians had changed places. We moved from hiding in the catacombs to presiding in the basilicas. That is when we started reading the Bible not as subversive literature, the story of the oppressed, but as establishment literature to justify the status quo of people in power.
When Christians began to gain positions of power and privilege, they also began to ignore segments of Scriptures, especially the Sermon on the Mount. Our position in society determines what we pay attention to and what systems we are willing to “go along with.” This is what allowed “Christian” empires throughout history to brutalize and oppress others in the name of God. Sadly, this is still the case today.
But when the Bible is read through the eyes of solidarity—what we call the “preferential option for the poor” or the “bias from the margins”—it will always be liberating, transformative, and empowering in a completely different way. Read this way, Scripture cannot be used by those with power to oppress or impress. The question is no longer “How can I maintain my special and secure status?” It is “How can we all grow and change together?” I think the acceptance of that invitation to solidarity with the larger pain of the world is what it means to be a “Christian.”
I agree with you completely, Diane! I’ve read that 70% of American Jews are Progressive and Democrats. That is consistent with my personal experience of being raised as a Reform Jew and coming from people who believe very strongly in social and economic justice, which involves taking action to ameliorate the human condition and heal the world (“tikun olam”).
I did not know much about the other 30% of us until about five years ago, when I moved into a very diverse community with a large population of devout Orthodox families. This has been a very eye-opening experience for me and many other Reform Jews –and for some who were raised Conservative as well… (It’s rather complicated.)
Don’t get me started! I have trouble with extremists in every religion.
Covid-19 patients no longer infectious 11 days after getting sick, research shows
PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2020
SINGAPORE – After 11 days of getting sick, Covid-19 patients no longer pose a risk of spreading the disease – which means they can be safely discharged.
Singapore now discharges patients only after two swab tests are negative for the virus. But a local study has shown that while the patients might test positive, it “does not equate to infectiousness or viable virus”.
That’s because the test detects parts of the virus’ genome, but is unable to show if they are just fragments of the virus, or if an intact virus is no longer viable and can’t infect anyone.
The position paper from Singapore’s infectious diseases experts say these new findings allow for revised discharge criteria…
https://str.sg/Jd4i
Here is one more reason that the infections and death in the US will not go down. Workers are not being protected but are required to go back to work. They have a choice to work or starve since their unemployment insurance will be cancelled. Nasty. McConnell and the GOP don’t want workers to be able to sue corporations if they get sick.
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Sunday, May 24, 2020 1:00 am
Meatpacking safety guidelines unenforceable
AMY FORLITI | Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS – Federal recommendations meant to keep meatpacking workers safe as they return to plants that were shuttered by the coronavirus have little enforcement muscle behind them, fueling anxiety that working conditions could put employees’ lives at risk.
Guidance issued last month by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that meatpacking companies erect physical barriers, enforce social distancing and install more hand-sanitizing stations, among other steps. But the guidance is not mandatory.
The pandemic is “the most massive workers’ safety crisis in many decades, and OSHA is in the closet. OSHA is hiding,” said David Michaels, an epidemiologist who was the agency’s assistant secretary of labor under President Barack Obama. Michaels called on OSHA to make the guidelines mandatory and enforceable, which would include the threat of fines.
OSHA’s general guidance plainly says the recommendations are advisory and “not a standard or regulation,” and they create “no new legal obligations.”
But the guidance also says employers must follow a law known as the general duty clause, which requires companies to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards. Critics say that rule is unlikely to be enforced, especially after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April aimed at keeping meat plants open…
https://journalgazette.net/business/20200524/meatpacking-safety-guidelines-unenforceable
I disagree with this opinion. Government should pass controls and not bow down to Trump who expects workers to either starve or possibly infect their families.
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The End of Meat Is Here
If you care about the working poor, about racial justice, and about climate change, you have to stop eating animals.
By Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of “Eating Animals” and “We Are the Weather.”
Is any panic more primitive than the one prompted by the thought of empty grocery store shelves? Is any relief more primitive than the one provided by comfort food?
…Is it more essential than the lives of the working poor who labor to produce it? It seems so. An astonishing six out of 10 counties that the White House itself identified as coronavirus hot spots are home to the very slaughterhouses the president ordered open.
In Sioux Falls, S.D., the Smithfield pork plant, which produces some 5 percent of the country’s pork, is one of the largest hot spots in the nation. A Tyson plant in Perry, Iowa, had 730 cases of the coronavirus — nearly 60 percent of its employees. At another Tyson plant, in Waterloo, Iowa, there were 1,031 reported cases among about 2,800 workers.
Sick workers mean plant shutdowns, which has led to a backlog of animals. Some farmers are injecting pregnant sows to cause abortions. Others are forced to euthanize their animals, often by gassing or shooting them. It’s gotten bad enough that Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has asked the Trump administration to provide mental health resources to hog farmers…
I cut WAY back on processed sugars, stopped eating all meat (including fish and fowl) and all dairy products in 1982.
I’m still here. And, unless COVID-19 gets me and breaks my healthy streak, I haven’t had a common cold or the flu since 1982 and I do not get the annual flue shot.
The Wall Street Journal has a paywall. Looks like even they are skeptical of our “lowering of cases” and the “reopening” that Trump wants.
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Coronavirus Cases Rise as U.S. Marks Holiday Weekend
More than five million people have been infected world-wide, with over 1.6 million of those cases in the U.S.
By Ben Chapman and Talal Ansari
Updated May 23, 2020 5:24 pm ET
Coronavirus infections rose in the U.S. as states warily entered Memorial Day weekend, while many countries in the Muslim world marked an end to the holy month of Ramadan with fresh restrictions.
The number of confirmed deaths in the U.S. caused by the new coronavirus surpassed 96,000, the highest national tally globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than five million people have been infected world-wide, with over 1.6 million of those cases in the U.S., the data showed.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
Oct 13, 2014
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter.