CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Bullneck 19315]

4 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

It amazes me that things like this happen at all anywhere, but especially in the state with the single largest proportion of black people. Do blacks not vote at all there? 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/poll-prri-voter-suppression/565355/

There was another article I saw where a county would have only one place to register.  But you had to have a driver's license.  That was issued in a city 45 minutes away.  So, for some people you have to spend a lot of time in line at different places to be able to vote.  There was also an article I saw yesterday people who only vote once every 20 years having their votes nullified because of "fraud."  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13539]

1 minute ago, Dahobbs said:

No, a post that asserts that the federal government (1) outbidding the states for medical supplies, (2) handing the medical supplies to private companies, and (3) forcing the states to re-bid on medical supplies they already bid on but this at at even more inflated rates, is anything but the dumbest least inefficient course of conduct is a bad a post. It's ok, you made a mistake. The important part is to move on and re-evaluate all prior decisions.  

Ask yourself this, if the federal government didn't get involved like above, what changes? The richest states still end up with the supplies. It just took longer to get them, cost more, and a middleman made some coin. Please provide one even slight benefit to the states to those actions. I'm quite certain there is none. 

I've already asked the question how the fed govt is getting their hands on the supplies. I don't know.  did the fed govt own the supplies in which they transported? You seem to know the background, so how did that transaction occur?

[Dahobbs 17802]

Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I've already asked the question how the fed govt is getting their hands on the supplies. I don't know.  did the fed govt own the supplies in which they transported? You seem to know the background, so how did that transaction occur?

The federal government is bidding on them. Whether the government is paying those cost itself isn't 100% clear, but I'm going out on a limb and saying yes. I don't think that really matters though. Why is the federal government getting involved at all if not to provide a benefit to the states? 

[burntorangebongos 10787]

I'm thinking the Lincoln Memorial would work. Lots of space out front. Lincoln can look at their asses while the rest of us get the business end.

[TheStoicPaisano 9940]

55 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

Thanks for the correction.  Wondering what an equivalent location might be?

“Virgina”.

[SameSame 1711]

21 minutes ago, Nivek said:

They will never hear about it.  And when they do, they will 'look into it' means they will hear you, pretend to have interest, and watch Fox/OAN for the story.  If it isn't there, it didn't happen.  

Along those same lines, a friend of mine his grandmother lost her life savings to an evangelist/financial planner.

We went over there to help her move some things and I just remember her sitting there with this dumbstruck sadness.  She could not wrap her head around that he was a straight up con-man.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

54 minutes ago, horn4life said:

After looking at the US infection curve I have come to a very simply conclusion.  The ONLY reason the number of infected is only growing at roughly 30,000, is that... you guessed it... a lack of available testing. i dumped most of my stock yesterday that I bought on last weeks bottom, outside of some very long term hold's mostly in oil sector where I already have 20+ percent gains, between Shell and Parsley and some ming boggling dividend rates at the prices I bought in at.  

I think there is a false sense of optimism.  The "if we can make it through this week" or this week is our "Pearl Harbor" are going to be proven to be simply hopeful musings.  If my perception regarding lack of increases in a nation of 330 million people can only be a result of lack of testing.  OR you can believe the infection numbers are accurate. and we are shutting down the country because of .000091% increase in our populations infection? 

I hope my prediction is right because I had some vary favorable long term positions that I simply think are gonna see one more big pullback when folks realize were are not going to be "open for business" anytime soon.  In my mind I thought, I am actually investing on the belief that the Trump Administration is "going to get this under control."   And that seems like a stupid thing to invest in.  Simply because I think far too many people still do not understand what this virus is going to do to red state America, and that Trump is so very defensive on testing questions in briefings that we have no hope of "opening up for business" anytime soon. I was hoping for mid-July, and perhaps with another month of shut in that's still possible, but I am thinking that we are two months behind on reasonable expectations for the Trump administration I thought my investment strategy flawed.  I loved my log positions, but think theres gonna be another huge selloff.  If I'm wrong it's gonna cost me a chuck of change. If I'm right I'm hopping right back in on the same stocks later this month.

Right now after watching the optimism in the market yesterday, I think folks still don't realize where this is headed. I think sometime a week or so after Easter, as the spread begins to hammer rural (R) areas, the depth and time it's gonna take to get back to "normal" is gonna cause another selloff. Hope I made the right decision.  

 

 

I trust Fauci more than anyone else on that stage during the briefings. I do think what he was saying regarding the models being all one has at the start and then as data comes in the models need to be adjusted. He is in a difficult position, but he and his colleagues studying the virus have a better idea of the R0 value, the numbers, etc than they did earlier. He commented on the mitigation in certain areas working and I believe him. But there is no magic pill, there is no vaccine. The antibody testing will help, but the more the Trump Administration pushes their schtick, the more I think about the accusation is a confession mantra and that Fauci is hanging on to the ledge with his fingertips and they are standing on his hands. The longer we have mitigation, the more time it gives for prep. While I am thankful for the states that have supplied other states with supplies, someone better keep track of who has what because they will continue to be necessary. So, I don't see your caution as being unwise.

Also with respect to ventilators and other medical supplies, FEMA, and logistics. I have zero faith in the government as a good agent. Zero. The supply chain talks they give up there are just for show, we know that. Based on their actions with the states, we know that. But the other tidbit that I believe we also are finding out is that little nugget regarding them being able to dial down to the exact hospital with respect to needs? They (not Trump, but Jared and Stephen) can tell pretty quickly based on their data whom that hospital serves. White? Predominately GOP county? Swing votes? You get a vent and you get a vent and you get a vent. Black? Sorry, we sent all we have. Poor? Out of luck. Hispanic? Hmmm, where are your papers? I have zero faith. Trump cares only about himself, but I don't think for a minute that Stephen won't use this to kill those Americans that he think don't deserve to live here.

[Native Horn 3516]

16 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

I'm thinking the Lincoln Memorial would work. Lots of space out front. Lincoln can look at their asses while the rest of us get the business end.

Straight out of Handmaids Tale.

[Francisco 2.0 32432]

https://thebulwark.com/why-is-trump-obsessed-with-hydroxychloroquine/

 

TL;DR.  In 2009 Trump bought a MLM that peddled vitamins. He renamed it, then peddled pills for diets, kids, skin care, etc.  The Youtube clip of him is eerily close to what he does daily now:

 

Quote

You know the old saying: When you’re a con artist who once ran a multi-level-marketing scheme that sold “vitamins,” everything looks like a miracle drug.

Speaking of which, the president of the United States has some things to tell you about the medicine hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria and lupus:

“We bought a tremendous amount of hydroxychloroquine, which I think is, you know, it’s a great malaria drug. It’s worked unbelievably.”

 

Quote

“I’m not a doctor. But I have common sense.”

“What do you have to lose? And a lot of people are saying that, and are taking it.”

There are many questions surrounding the White House’s obsession with hydroxychloroquine. Whether someone has a financial incentive for pushing it. (It’s certainly possible, since he has at least some stake.) The extent to which it actually works (Fingers crossed!) Which TV doctor got the president so spun up on it? (Dr. Oz?)

Quote

Some of these are unanswerable. The Trump family’s finances are still impossibly opaque. I have no relevant expertise in immunosuppressive pharmaceuticals. And performing forensic accounting on Trump’s television habits would require access to the meta-data inside his super-DVR remote.

But I do, regrettably, know far too much about the career of Donald Trump. And his weeks long hydroxychloroquine song and dance is simply a redux of the pitch job that has served him so well for four decades: Sell the newest Trump-branded miracle scheme as hard as possible until it becomes completely untenable, the feds show up, or the next one bubbles up from the recesses of his frontal lobe.

 

Spoiler

You may or may not know about “Ideal Health.”

Ideal Health was a multi-level-marketing company—that’s the polite term for “pyramid scheme”—founded in the 1990s that sold personalized vitamin supplements based on the results of a urine test.

This pee test supposedly provided “a scientific window into your personal biochemistry.”

The company hired a network of low- to middle-income salespeople who earned a commission both from vitamin sales and from recruiting other salespeople. Ideal Health would charge these salespeople thousands of dollars up front to get access to marketing materials and other “network benefits.”

You will not be surprised to learn that many of these people lost all their money and didn’t sell any vitamins. Dozens of them filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. The company had to settle a lawsuit with the FTC over false claims that “Supreme Greens”—one of their signature products—“cured cancer.”

In short, Ideal Health was a shady vitamin pyramid scheme with a reputation for lying about cancer cures.

Naturally, Donald J. Trump had to get a piece of the action.

In March 2009, Trump purchased Ideal Health and then took Worldcom and Stringer Bell’s advice on fixing a troubled asset by giving it a shiny new gold lamé moniker. He called it “The Trump Network.”

Under Trump, The Network offered a miracle “custom essential” multivitamin based on the “privatest.” They also offered pills for “silhouette solutions” (a diet program), skin care, low-energy, and of course some “Snazzle Snaxxs” for the kids. (I’m sure the health benefits of the Snazzle Twissters Sour Cream and Onion were legion).

But Trump’s real value add was as a pitch man. The Trump Network launch came on the heels of the financial meltdown, so he updated the Ideal Health proposition to would-be salespeople, convincing them that if they listened to Trump they would discover the cheat code to breaking out of financial hardship.

You should watch for yourself.

 

“Americans need a new plan. They need a new dream. The Trump Network wants to give millions of people renewed hope, with an exciting plan to opt-out of the recession . . . with cutting edge health and wellness formulas.”

To anyone watching Trump’s pandemic press briefings, his Trump Network spiel sounds familiar. What do you have to lose?!

Or as Trump apologist Ari Fleischer delicately puts it, the president always “reaches for hope.”

(I suppose the big guy just can’t help himself. He’s a lot like Reagan and Lincoln in that way, right Ari?)

Of course, for people in The Trump Network, the false promises, or misleading snakeoil, or incorrigible, happy-warrior hope—call it what you will—wound up costing them a lot.

Those who joined didn’t get to opt-out of the recession the way Trump had promised. Instead they had their hardship extended. More bills they couldn’t afford.

FTC complaints came down the pike, again. The Washington Post later reported that Trump Network sales representatives said “they paid thousands of dollars for leadership programs, infomercials, starter kits, and other materials that they never recovered in sales.” As one FTC complaint put it, “They try to use [people’s] hopes and dreams to empty their wallets.”

Offering hope with one hand while grabbing cash with the other was not a one off move for Trump with Ideal Health. It was basically his business model.

In 2018 the Trump family was hit with a RICO lawsuit that laid out a pattern of scams where Donald Trump “deliberately defrauded” vulnerable people who were convinced to put thousands of dollars they didn’t have into marketing schemes that made Trump millions but returned little to nothing to them.

Each scam—from the Trump Network to ACN to Trump University—followed the same playbook. Trump used his image and fame to sell false hope to the marks.

The hope that they could get rich. That they could get the perfect body. That they could find the custom essential vitamin that works only for them. That they could be an orange billionaire in a penthouse with a hot wife and a hotter side piece. All they had to do was give Donald Trump their last paycheck, swallow another vitamin, take this one more class.

And by the time the marks figured out that the scheme didn’t work, Trump had taken the monorail to the next town over. Selling new suckers (and the same media) on a similar bill of goods.

As David Frum wrote a few weeks ago:

 

This is how Donald Trump is wired. He doesn’t know any other way. And he has no incentive to change his behavior because the neverending scam wheel eventually landed him in the most important job in the world.

God-willing maybe the rest of us will get lucky and hydroxychloroquine will turn out to be the one scheme that actually works.

You could bet your venture capital on it, if you have some. I just wouldn’t bet your life.

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Francisco 2.0

[jw4381 3131]

On 4/5/2020 at 3:44 PM, Chuckie Finster said:

Goodness, her name was even Karen.

This fuckin timeline.

[4th&Five 41701]

 

[Goredho 17510]

On 4/5/2020 at 3:41 PM, Pancho said:

Trump getting his own cult members killed. 

 

Well, that's sort of the logical conclusion for cult members, isn't it?  You come to your senses and get out before harsh reality comes knocking on the compound door or you keep drinking the fucking koolaid until you enter the void without facing the fallacy of your beliefs.

[StruggleBus 3922]

6 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Well he's correct that the WHO is a massive pile of horseshit. Can't say that without praising himself of course. 

[F250 28941]

11 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Crazy old man says crazy shit.

[Junior Miller 1502]

1 hour ago, Hookah Horns said:

It amazes me that things like this happen at all anywhere, but especially in the state with the single largest proportion of black people. Do blacks not vote at all there? 

Southern states still strictly adhere to 3/5

[4th&Five 41701]

This will look really dumb in about 2 days. 

 

[Junior Miller 1502]

11 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Well he's correct that the WHO is a massive pile of horseshit. Can't say that without praising himself of course. 

Especially when in effect he kept the borders open to China. His little travel "ban" was so poorly executed and half ass that it did nothing to slow contamination any more than doing nothing would have done. 

Everything is half assed and stupidly executed in this Fed now. Everything. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Junior Miller

[wildcat09 29453]

1 hour ago, Hookah Horns said:

It amazes me that things like this happen at all anywhere, but especially in the state with the single largest proportion of black people. Do blacks not vote at all there? 

Mississippi essentially has its own mini electoral college for all statewide offices. If you want to be governor, you don't only have to win a majority of the votes but a majority of the state house districts.

[F250 28941]

7 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

This will look really dumb in about 2 days. 

 

Only to people who don't believe him. Trump has no credibility to anyone outside his base and the GOP that will spin for him but these messages are not meant for the unbelievers.

Trumpism is about belief and any facts that get in the way will be dismissed. Basically it can be summed up as "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can't explain it"

[tx 3 putt 77919]

His base is eating that up 

[Tuco 5084]

2 hours ago, horn4life said:

After looking at the US infection curve I have come to a very simply conclusion.  The ONLY reason the number of infected is only growing at roughly 30,000, is that... you guessed it... a lack of available testing. i dumped most of my stock yesterday that I bought on last weeks bottom, outside of some very long term hold's mostly in oil sector where I already have 20+ percent gains, between Shell and Parsley and some ming boggling dividend rates at the prices I bought in at.  

I think there is a false sense of optimism.  The "if we can make it through this week" or this week is our "Pearl Harbor" are going to be proven to be simply hopeful musings.  If my perception regarding lack of increases in a nation of 330 million people can only be a result of lack of testing.  OR you can believe the infection numbers are accurate. and we are shutting down the country because of .000091% increase in our populations infection? 

I hope my prediction is right because I had some vary favorable long term positions that I simply think are gonna see one more big pullback when folks realize were are not going to be "open for business" anytime soon.  In my mind I thought, I am actually investing on the belief that the Trump Administration is "going to get this under control."   And that seems like a stupid thing to invest in.  Simply because I think far too many people still do not understand what this virus is going to do to red state America, and that Trump is so very defensive on testing questions in briefings that we have no hope of "opening up for business" anytime soon. I was hoping for mid-July, and perhaps with another month of shut in that's still possible, but I am thinking that we are two months behind on reasonable expectations for the Trump administration I thought my investment strategy flawed.  I loved my log positions, but think theres gonna be another huge selloff.  If I'm wrong it's gonna cost me a chuck of change. If I'm right I'm hopping right back in on the same stocks later this month.

Right now after watching the optimism in the market yesterday, I think folks still don't realize where this is headed. I think sometime a week or so after Easter, as the spread begins to hammer rural (R) areas, the depth and time it's gonna take to get back to "normal" is gonna cause another selloff. Hope I made the right decision.  

 

 

1. I think it is important to distinguish the economy and the health crisis.  Certainly, they are related, but what's good for managing the health crisis can be bad for the economy, at least in the short term.  I think the health crisis has to take priority, because, you know, I don't like the idea of 100s of thousand dying for the sake of my 401k, and because ultimately I believe an out of control pandemic will do more damage to the economy. 

2.  Sitting here in Omaha, Redstate Nebraska, I do have some relative optimism about the health crisis, at least for the first wave.  I've been strictly self-isolating for 3.5 weeks, and that's about the time they closed downs schools and restaurants, and started encouraging people to telecommute if possible.  I figure there is a 2-3 week delay between when infection and hospital admittance.  And while the hospitals are stressed, it's mostly for preparation.  I am worried about the lack of social distancing in some poorer communities, particularly immigrant communities, which could still lead to a major spike to hit the hospitals.  But three weeks ago, I figure our medical system would be overrun.  

3. But, assuming we flatten this first wave, I am concerned about people thinking it was an overblown concern and pushing hard to go back to the normal of 6 weeks ago.  Without wide spread testing, effective treatments, or vaccinations, we are still at risk of a huge wave.  With this administration and an upcoming election, they will definitely push getting back to normal.  

[Red Five 41065]

(Trump on stage reading a script in a monotone voice) "we must come together as one country and put our differences aside and pull together to defeat the invisible enemy"

(walks off stage, gets on Twitter, and starts blasting the shit out of everyone)

[TwiceHorn 31676]

34 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Well he's correct that the WHO is a massive pile of horseshit. Can't say that without praising himself of course. 

This is one of those deals where he takes something with a nugget of truth and manages to somehow blow it up into some horrible policy with grotesque long-term effects.  

It is true that China is trying to accrue power and respectability within the UN, of which the WHO is an agency.  And there are probably "forces" within the WHO that militate against being blunt about China.  Also, being a UN agency, it's inherently a bit of a shitshow.

That doesn't mean we should withdraw from the UN.

Edited April 7, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Tuco 5084]

8 minutes ago, F250 said:

Only to people who don't believe him. Trump has no credibility to anyone outside his base and the GOP that will spin for him but these messages are not meant for the unbelievers.

Trumpism is about belief and any facts that get in the way will be dismissed. Basically it can be summed up as "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can't explain it"

I'm guessing it's the 17k dead = debacle that will specifically look dumb in 2 days. 

[DigDug 1709]

24 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

This will look really dumb in about 2 days. 

 

Without turning my tv on, I think I have a pretty good idea what fox news is running.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13539]

There is no way that Rudy doesn't have some type of financial interest in these drugs or there is no way he would be pushing it. Whether he owns something, or is being paid to push it, it doesn't matter.

[F250 28941]

2 minutes ago, Tuco said:

I'm guessing it's the 17k dead = debacle that will specifically look dumb in 2 days. 

Not to EMAW and Zavala.

[TwiceHorn 31676]

Again, while the financial stake is probably true, I think the HCQ nonsense is Trump's only way of coping with this.  He hopes to be on the right side of this issue because it will wind up being the only thing he's done well or right in this whole mess.

[Bullneck 19315]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://thebulwark.com/why-is-trump-obsessed-with-hydroxychloroquine/

 

TL;DR.  In 2009 Trump bought a MLM that peddled vitamins. He renamed it, then peddled pills for diets, kids, skin care, etc.  The Youtube clip of him is eerily close to what he does daily now:

 

 

 

  Hide contents

You may or may not know about “Ideal Health.”

Ideal Health was a multi-level-marketing company—that’s the polite term for “pyramid scheme”—founded in the 1990s that sold personalized vitamin supplements based on the results of a urine test.

This pee test supposedly provided “a scientific window into your personal biochemistry.”

The company hired a network of low- to middle-income salespeople who earned a commission both from vitamin sales and from recruiting other salespeople. Ideal Health would charge these salespeople thousands of dollars up front to get access to marketing materials and other “network benefits.”

You will not be surprised to learn that many of these people lost all their money and didn’t sell any vitamins. Dozens of them filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. The company had to settle a lawsuit with the FTC over false claims that “Supreme Greens”—one of their signature products—“cured cancer.”

In short, Ideal Health was a shady vitamin pyramid scheme with a reputation for lying about cancer cures.

Naturally, Donald J. Trump had to get a piece of the action.

In March 2009, Trump purchased Ideal Health and then took Worldcom and Stringer Bell’s advice on fixing a troubled asset by giving it a shiny new gold lamé moniker. He called it “The Trump Network.”

Under Trump, The Network offered a miracle “custom essential” multivitamin based on the “privatest.” They also offered pills for “silhouette solutions” (a diet program), skin care, low-energy, and of course some “Snazzle Snaxxs” for the kids. (I’m sure the health benefits of the Snazzle Twissters Sour Cream and Onion were legion).

But Trump’s real value add was as a pitch man. The Trump Network launch came on the heels of the financial meltdown, so he updated the Ideal Health proposition to would-be salespeople, convincing them that if they listened to Trump they would discover the cheat code to breaking out of financial hardship.

You should watch for yourself.

 

“Americans need a new plan. They need a new dream. The Trump Network wants to give millions of people renewed hope, with an exciting plan to opt-out of the recession . . . with cutting edge health and wellness formulas.”

To anyone watching Trump’s pandemic press briefings, his Trump Network spiel sounds familiar. What do you have to lose?!

Or as Trump apologist Ari Fleischer delicately puts it, the president always “reaches for hope.”

(I suppose the big guy just can’t help himself. He’s a lot like Reagan and Lincoln in that way, right Ari?)

Of course, for people in The Trump Network, the false promises, or misleading snakeoil, or incorrigible, happy-warrior hope—call it what you will—wound up costing them a lot.

Those who joined didn’t get to opt-out of the recession the way Trump had promised. Instead they had their hardship extended. More bills they couldn’t afford.

FTC complaints came down the pike, again. The Washington Post later reported that Trump Network sales representatives said “they paid thousands of dollars for leadership programs, infomercials, starter kits, and other materials that they never recovered in sales.” As one FTC complaint put it, “They try to use [people’s] hopes and dreams to empty their wallets.”

Offering hope with one hand while grabbing cash with the other was not a one off move for Trump with Ideal Health. It was basically his business model.

In 2018 the Trump family was hit with a RICO lawsuit that laid out a pattern of scams where Donald Trump “deliberately defrauded” vulnerable people who were convinced to put thousands of dollars they didn’t have into marketing schemes that made Trump millions but returned little to nothing to them.

Each scam—from the Trump Network to ACN to Trump University—followed the same playbook. Trump used his image and fame to sell false hope to the marks.

The hope that they could get rich. That they could get the perfect body. That they could find the custom essential vitamin that works only for them. That they could be an orange billionaire in a penthouse with a hot wife and a hotter side piece. All they had to do was give Donald Trump their last paycheck, swallow another vitamin, take this one more class.

And by the time the marks figured out that the scheme didn’t work, Trump had taken the monorail to the next town over. Selling new suckers (and the same media) on a similar bill of goods.

As David Frum wrote a few weeks ago:

 

This is how Donald Trump is wired. He doesn’t know any other way. And he has no incentive to change his behavior because the neverending scam wheel eventually landed him in the most important job in the world.

God-willing maybe the rest of us will get lucky and hydroxychloroquine will turn out to be the one scheme that actually works.

You could bet your venture capital on it, if you have some. I just wouldn’t bet your life.

 

 

[Bateshorn 9944]

5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Again, while the financial stake is probably true, I think the HCQ nonsense is Trump's only way of coping with this.  He hopes to be on the right side of this issue because it will wind up being the only thing he's done well or right in this whole mess.

He’s desperate for a magic bullet.  

[Francisco 2.0 32432]

11 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

His base is eating that up 

Speaking of, does Fox or OAN put up a tally on the death toll or how many cases are in this country?   Maybe they do on their website, but on their channels?

Point being, if the rubes never see an actual number, because they choose not to look around, they may not believe it's killed as many as it has so far.

 

 

[DigDug 1709]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Again, while the financial stake is probably true, I think the HCQ nonsense is Trump's only way of coping with this.  He hopes to be on the right side of this issue because it will wind up being the only thing he's done well or right in this whole mess.

You know, and I'm just spitballing here, he could try being humble and honest and compassionate.   That path may actually work better.

[SameSame 1711]

2 minutes ago, DigDug said:

You know, and I'm just spitballing here, he could try being humble and honest and compassionate.   That path may actually work better.

Well that's off the table.

[henrygandorf 29199]

17 minutes ago, Red Five said:

(Trump on stage reading a script in a monotone voice) "we must come together as one country and put our differences aside and pull together to defeat the invisible enemy"

(walks off stage, gets on Twitter, and starts blasting the shit out of everyone)

90% of the briefings have been focused on two topics: “credit and blame”.  the rest is just coloring books. 

[Mdhorn 6090]

1 hour ago, SameSame said:

Along those same lines, a friend of mine his grandmother lost her life savings to an evangelist/financial planner.

We went over there to help her move some things and I just remember her sitting there with this dumbstruck sadness.  She could not wrap her head around that he was a straight up con-man.

Most snake oil salesmen now peddle god--real easy really.  

[Anastasis 23498]

navarro's Jan 29 internal memos:

https://www.axios.com/exclusive-navarro-deaths-coronavirus-memos-january-da3f08fb-dce1-4f69-89b5-ea048f8382a9.html

 

[Mdhorn 6090]

11 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Speaking of, does Fox or OAN put up a tally on the death toll or how many cases are in this country?   Maybe they do on their website, but on their channels?

Point being, if the rubes never see an actual number, because they choose not to look around, they may not believe it's killed as many as it has so far.

 

 

If the numbers spike unfavorably,  Republican governors and the President would just stop tracking fatalities and stats.  They've already shown they'll suppress damning information--they began with purging climate change from everything.  That wasn't even a discussion.  

[FondrenRoad 4378]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

I trust Fauci more than anyone else on that stage during the briefings. I do think what he was saying regarding the models being all one has at the start and then as data comes in the models need to be adjusted. He is in a difficult position, but he and his colleagues studying the virus have a better idea of the R0 value, the numbers, etc than they did earlier. He commented on the mitigation in certain areas working and I believe him. But there is no magic pill, there is no vaccine. The antibody testing will help, but the more the Trump Administration pushes their schtick, the more I think about the accusation is a confession mantra and that Fauci is hanging on to the ledge with his fingertips and they are standing on his hands. The longer we have mitigation, the more time it gives for prep. While I am thankful for the states that have supplied other states with supplies, someone better keep track of who has what because they will continue to be necessary. So, I don't see your caution as being unwise.

Also with respect to ventilators and other medical supplies, FEMA, and logistics. I have zero faith in the government as a good agent. Zero. The supply chain talks they give up there are just for show, we know that. Based on their actions with the states, we know that. But the other tidbit that I believe we also are finding out is that little nugget regarding them being able to dial down to the exact hospital with respect to needs? They (not Trump, but Jared and Stephen) can tell pretty quickly based on their data whom that hospital serves. White? Predominately GOP county? Swing votes? You get a vent and you get a vent and you get a vent. Black? Sorry, we sent all we have. Poor? Out of luck. Hispanic? Hmmm, where are your papers? I have zero faith. Trump cares only about himself, but I don't think for a minute that Stephen won't use this to kill those Americans that he think don't deserve to live here.

Sadly, this is probably spot on.  To add to this, I would bet that Trump has spent far more time trying to figure out how to fire Fauci without backlash from his base than he has trying to figure out how to get this crisis under control.

[Mdhorn 6090]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://thebulwark.com/why-is-trump-obsessed-with-hydroxychloroquine/

 

TL;DR.  In 2009 Trump bought a MLM that peddled vitamins. He renamed it, then peddled pills for diets, kids, skin care, etc.  The Youtube clip of him is eerily close to what he does daily now:

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You may or may not know about “Ideal Health.”

Ideal Health was a multi-level-marketing company—that’s the polite term for “pyramid scheme”—founded in the 1990s that sold personalized vitamin supplements based on the results of a urine test.

This pee test supposedly provided “a scientific window into your personal biochemistry.”

The company hired a network of low- to middle-income salespeople who earned a commission both from vitamin sales and from recruiting other salespeople. Ideal Health would charge these salespeople thousands of dollars up front to get access to marketing materials and other “network benefits.”

You will not be surprised to learn that many of these people lost all their money and didn’t sell any vitamins. Dozens of them filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. The company had to settle a lawsuit with the FTC over false claims that “Supreme Greens”—one of their signature products—“cured cancer.”

In short, Ideal Health was a shady vitamin pyramid scheme with a reputation for lying about cancer cures.

Naturally, Donald J. Trump had to get a piece of the action.

In March 2009, Trump purchased Ideal Health and then took Worldcom and Stringer Bell’s advice on fixing a troubled asset by giving it a shiny new gold lamé moniker. He called it “The Trump Network.”

Under Trump, The Network offered a miracle “custom essential” multivitamin based on the “privatest.” They also offered pills for “silhouette solutions” (a diet program), skin care, low-energy, and of course some “Snazzle Snaxxs” for the kids. (I’m sure the health benefits of the Snazzle Twissters Sour Cream and Onion were legion).

But Trump’s real value add was as a pitch man. The Trump Network launch came on the heels of the financial meltdown, so he updated the Ideal Health proposition to would-be salespeople, convincing them that if they listened to Trump they would discover the cheat code to breaking out of financial hardship.

You should watch for yourself.

 

“Americans need a new plan. They need a new dream. The Trump Network wants to give millions of people renewed hope, with an exciting plan to opt-out of the recession . . . with cutting edge health and wellness formulas.”

To anyone watching Trump’s pandemic press briefings, his Trump Network spiel sounds familiar. What do you have to lose?!

Or as Trump apologist Ari Fleischer delicately puts it, the president always “reaches for hope.”

(I suppose the big guy just can’t help himself. He’s a lot like Reagan and Lincoln in that way, right Ari?)

Of course, for people in The Trump Network, the false promises, or misleading snakeoil, or incorrigible, happy-warrior hope—call it what you will—wound up costing them a lot.

Those who joined didn’t get to opt-out of the recession the way Trump had promised. Instead they had their hardship extended. More bills they couldn’t afford.

FTC complaints came down the pike, again. The Washington Post later reported that Trump Network sales representatives said “they paid thousands of dollars for leadership programs, infomercials, starter kits, and other materials that they never recovered in sales.” As one FTC complaint put it, “They try to use [people’s] hopes and dreams to empty their wallets.”

Offering hope with one hand while grabbing cash with the other was not a one off move for Trump with Ideal Health. It was basically his business model.

In 2018 the Trump family was hit with a RICO lawsuit that laid out a pattern of scams where Donald Trump “deliberately defrauded” vulnerable people who were convinced to put thousands of dollars they didn’t have into marketing schemes that made Trump millions but returned little to nothing to them.

Each scam—from the Trump Network to ACN to Trump University—followed the same playbook. Trump used his image and fame to sell false hope to the marks.

The hope that they could get rich. That they could get the perfect body. That they could find the custom essential vitamin that works only for them. That they could be an orange billionaire in a penthouse with a hot wife and a hotter side piece. All they had to do was give Donald Trump their last paycheck, swallow another vitamin, take this one more class.

And by the time the marks figured out that the scheme didn’t work, Trump had taken the monorail to the next town over. Selling new suckers (and the same media) on a similar bill of goods.

As David Frum wrote a few weeks ago:

 

This is how Donald Trump is wired. He doesn’t know any other way. And he has no incentive to change his behavior because the neverending scam wheel eventually landed him in the most important job in the world.

God-willing maybe the rest of us will get lucky and hydroxychloroquine will turn out to be the one scheme that actually works.

You could bet your venture capital on it, if you have some. I just wouldn’t bet your life.

 

The plan for dietary get rich quick pills was to enter the market, make a bunch of money and then bail before the lawsuits came in.  Trump is totally insulated since he's shielded by the government.  Grifting with no consequences.  

[Bullneck 19315]

40 minutes ago, Red Five said:

(Trump on stage reading a script in a monotone voice) "we must come together as one country and put our differences aside and pull together to defeat the invisible enemy"

(walks off stage, gets on Twitter, and starts blasting the shit out of everyone)

National TV:  Anyone can see it

Twitter: You either want to see what crazy shit he posts or you love him.  

[FondrenRoad 4378]

2 hours ago, Hookah Horns said:

It amazes me that things like this happen at all anywhere, but especially in the state with the single largest proportion of black people. Do blacks not vote at all there? 

Some of them do, but it isn't an easy task.  First, its tough keeping your name on the voter registration roles in Mississippi if your last name is Washington.  Second, the boss really needs you to work a double shift on election day.

Even so, turnout is picking up, and nobody is getting killed for voting anymore, so there are baby steps toward progress.

Remember, this is a state that only got around to ratifying the 13th amendment in 1995.  Even Bama ratified it in 1865.  Medgar Evers had already been assassinated in June 1963, 2 months before MLK marched on Washington.  His killer wasn't convicted until 1994.  

[JohnnyRage 1617]

54 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Again, while the financial stake is probably true, I think the HCQ nonsense is Trump's only way of coping with this.  He hopes to be on the right side of this issue because it will wind up being the only thing he's done well or right in this whole mess.

It's a half-court shot with 10 seconds still left on the game clock. If it goes in and we win, fuck it. I guess he is the rainmaker.

Edited April 7, 2020 by JohnnyRage

[TexLonghorn 5732]

For a frame of reference:

Current "official" US coronavirus death toll is 11,906.  That number would equal the largest crowd ever in Disch-Falk Field (a surprising 10,000 for a 1977 exhibition game) PLUS the largest crowd ever at Red and Charline McCombs softball field (1,570) at the same time, and still have over 300 people that don't fit into the stadiums.  Gonna have to shift the frame of reference later this week to the Erwin Center.

[Born to Run 6581]

It's a half-court shot with 10 seconds still left on the game clock. If it goes in and we win, fuck it. I guess he is the rainmaker.

Trump has nothing to do with it. He didn't originate the idea and any language attributing it to him should reflect that.

[Bama Chick 28596]

Trump has nothing to do with it. He didn't originate the idea and any language attributing it to him should reflect that.

Yeah he’s not the golfer going for an eagle from just off the green - he’s the fat douchebag in the crowd screaming “GET IN THE HOLE!!!” because he made a stupid prop bet with his bookie with his last $1,000.

He’s a genius if it works, if it doesn’t he can blame the bad results of his shitty decisions on somebody else.

[Anastasis 23498]

Here's a bit about the actual companies that the government is buying HCQ from: https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/federal-agencies-purchase-large-supply-of-hydroxychloroquine/

Veterans Affairs purchased $168,000 in hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets from the Colorado-based generic drug distributor Golden State Medical Supply, and an additional $40,000 from the pharmaceutical company McKesson, according to the report.

Procurement records list both as “emergency” purchase orders to combat the coronavirus crisis.

The Bureau of Prisons bought $60,000 hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets from the company Premium Rx National on March 31 — and did not mention the deadly virus in its order, but the purchase comes as federal correctional facilities saw a surge in COVID-19 cases, according to the report.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I ought to take a screenshot of the CDC H1N1 page before it gets rewritten.

Quote

From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus....

CDC estimated that 151,700-575,400 people worldwide died from (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first year...

Per JHU, the data for COVID-19 as of right now are

Worldwide Cases: 1,381,014

US Cases: 378,289

Worldwide Fatalities: 78,269

US Fatalities: 11,830

Since the President grabbed the number 17,000 from the range (but more likely he just grabbed a number) to cover his rear, he probably should have just gone all out and used the world wide number since fact checking doesn't matter to his supporters. Without adequate testing upon death, the true numbers will never be known. For all the people crying that many deaths are reported as COVID when they may not be, consider it a wash because there are plenty that are being called something else. Ask Karen's family if you don't believe me. The data will always be compromised and that is a travesty.

So as @4th&Five stated, that tweet of the Presidents is not going to age well, not that any of his ever have. There is a tweet for every occasion after all.

 

[Mo Horn 8899]

Gotta make sure someone is in charge that will do his bidding. 

[Anastasis 23498]

16 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

Trump has nothing to do with it. He didn't originate the idea and any language attributing it to him should reflect that.

I think there is a pretty good chance at this point that the harm generated from adverse drug events, and destabilization of people receiving HCQ to treat RA and lupus as a result of supply shortages, will outweigh the overall benefit of HCQ as a treatment for COVID.  So maybe keep the ability to attribute the outcomes to Trump in play.  I hope that I am wrong, and it is a miracle drug. 

Oh, and this is a fairly strong to quite strong bitch slap coming out of U of Michigan.

[Beantown Express 2.0 6568]

90% of the briefings have been focused on two topics: “credit and blame”.  the rest is just coloring books. 

I think the briefings are very helpful.


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