CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Biff Tannen 45516]

1 hour ago, Bookman said:

He's such a whiny little fucking crybaby.

Reporters should ask "Mr. President, what is your message to Americans who think you're an incompetent, corrupt, failed businessman?"

This would be awesome and correct and therefore will never occur. The simulation won’t allow it. 

[Horn Dog 9688]

Johnny Hack posting a supposed signature block from an alleged email from his financial advisor to own the libs - not quite Rocko posting a picture of his paystub level pathetic, but damn close.  

Cashing in your 401k to buy a used Corvette to own the libs!

Edited March 21, 2020 by Horn Dog

[cactusflinthead 27595]

 

“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” this official said. “The system was blinking red."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html

[Francisco 2.0 32347]

 

https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-interview-larry-brilliant-smallpox-epidemiologist/

 

Quote

LARRY BRILLIANT SAYS he doesn’t have a crystal ball. But 14 years ago, Brilliant, the epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox,  spoke to a TED audience and described what the next pandemic would look like. At the time, it sounded almost too horrible to take seriously. “A billion people would get sick," he said. “As many as 165 million people would die. There would be a global recession and depression, and the cost to our economy of $1 to $3 trillion would be far worse for everyone than merely 100 million people dying, because so many more people would lose their jobs and their health care benefits, that the consequences are almost unthinkable.”

 

Quote

Now the unthinkable is here, and Brilliant, the Chairman of the board of Ending Pandemics, is sharing expertise with those on the front lines. We are a long way from 100 million deaths due to the novel coronavirus, but it has turned our world upside down. Brilliant is trying not to say “I told you so” too often. But he did tell us so, not only in talks and writings, but as the senior technical advisor for the pandemic horror film Contagion, now a top streaming selection for the homebound. Besides working with the World Health Organization in the effort to end smallpox, Brilliant, who is now 75, has fought flu, polio, and blindness; once led Google’s nonprofit wing, Google.org; co-founded the conferencing system the Well; and has traveled with the Grateful Dead.

 

Quote

We talked by phone on Tuesday. At the time, President Donald Trump’s response to the crisis had started to change from “no worries at all” to finally taking more significant steps to stem the pandemic. Brilliant lives in one of the six Bay Area counties where residents were ordered to shelter in place. When we began the conversation, he’d just gotten off the phone with someone he described as high government official, who asked Brilliant “How the fuck did we get here?” I wanted to hear how we’ll get out of here. The conversation has been edited and condensed.

 

Spoiler

Steven Levy: I was in the room in 2006 when you gave that TED talk. Your wish was “Help Me Stop Pandemics.” You didn't get your wish, did you?

Larry Brilliant: No, I didn't get that wish at all, although the systems that I asked for have certainly been created and are being used. It's very funny because we did a movie, Contagion—

We're all watching that movie now.

People say Contagion is prescient. We just saw the science. The whole epidemiological community has been warning everybody for the past 10 or 15 years that it wasn't a question of whether we were going to have a pandemic like this. It was simply when. It's really hard to get people to listen. I mean, Trump pushed out  the admiral on the National Security Council, who was the only person at that level who's responsible for pandemic defense. With him went his entire downline of employees and staff and relationships. And then Trump removed the [early warning] funding for countries around the world.

I've heard you talk about the significance that this is a “novel” virus.

It doesn't mean a fictitious virus. It’s not like a novel or a novella.

Too bad.

It means it's new. That there is no human being in the world that has immunity as a result of having had it before. That means it’s capable of infecting 7.8 billion of our brothers and sisters.

Since it's novel, we’re still learning about it. Do you believe that if someone gets it and recovers, that person thereafter has immunity?

So I don't see anything in this virus, even though it's novel, [that contradicts that]. There are cases where people think that they've gotten it again, [but] that's more likely to be a test failure than it is an actual reinfection. But there's going to be tens of millions of us or hundreds of millions of us or more who will get this virus before it's all over, and with large numbers like that, almost anything where you ask “Does this happen?” can happen. That doesn't mean that it is of public health or epidemiological importance.

Is this the worst outbreak you’ve ever seen?

It's the most dangerous pandemic in our lifetime.

We are being asked to do things, certainly, that never happened in my lifetime—stay in the house, stay 6 feet away from other people, don’t go to group gatherings. Are we getting the right advice?

Well, as you reach me, I'm pretending that I'm in a meditation retreat, but I'm actually being semi-quarantined in Marin County. Yes, this is very good advice. But did we get good advice from the president of the United States for the first 12 weeks? No. All we got were lies. Saying it’s fake, by saying this is a Democratic hoax. There are still people today who believe that, to their detriment. Speaking as a public health person, this is the most irresponsible act of an elected official that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime. But what you're hearing now [to self-isolate, close schools, cancel events] is right. Is it going to protect us completely? Is it going to make the world safe forever? No. It's a great thing because we want to spread out the disease over time.

Flatten the curve.

By slowing it down or flattening it, we're not going to decrease the total number of cases, we're going to postpone many cases, until we get a vaccine—which we will, because there's nothing in the virology that makes me frightened that we won’t get a vaccine in 12 to 18 months. Eventually, we will get to the epidemiologist gold ring.

What’s that?

That means, A, a large enough quantity of us have caught the disease and become immune. And B, we have a vaccine. The combination of A plus B is enough to create herd immunity, which is around 70 or 80 percent.

I hold out hope that we get an antiviral for Covid-19 that is curative, but in addition is prophylactic. It's certainly unproven and it's certainly controversial, and certainly a lot of people are not going to agree with me. But I offer as evidence two papers in 2005, one in Nature and one in Science. They both did mathematical modeling with influenza, to see whether saturation with just Tamiflu of an area around a case of influenza could stop the outbreak. And in both cases, it worked. I also offer as evidence the fact that at one point we thought HIV/AIDS was incurable and a death sentence. Then, some wonderful scientists discovered antiviral drugs, and we've learned that some of those drugs can be given prior to exposure and prevent the disease. Because of the intense interest in getting [Covid-19] conquered, we will put the scientific clout and money and resources behind finding antivirals that have prophylactic or preventive characteristics that can be used in addition to [vaccines].

When will we be able to leave the house and go back to work?

I have a very good retrospect-oscope, but what's needed right now as a prospecto-scope. If this were a tennis match, I would say advantage virus right now. But there's really good news from South Korea—they had less than 100 cases today. China had more cases imported than it had from continuous transmission from Wuhan today. The Chinese model will be very hard for us to follow. We're not going to be locking people up in their apartments, boarding them up. But the South Korea model is one that we could follow. Unfortunately, it requires doing the proportionate number of tests that they did—they did well over a quarter of a million tests. In fact, by the time South Korea had done 200,000 tests, we had probably done less than 1,000.

Now that we've missed the opportunity for early testing, is it too late for testing to make a difference?

Absolutely not. Tests would make a measurable difference. We should be doing a stochastic process random probability sample of the country to find out where the hell the virus really is. Because we don't know. Maybe Mississippi is reporting no cases because it's not looking. How would they know? Zimbabwe reports zero cases because they don't have testing capability, not because they don't have the virus. We need something that looks like a home pregnancy test, that you can do at home.

If you were the president for one day, what would you say in the daily briefing?

I would begin the press conference by saying "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Ron Klain—he was the Ebola czar [under President Barack Obama], and now I’ve called him back and made him Covid czar. Everything will be centralized under one person who has the respect of both the public health community and the political community." We're a divided country right now. Right now, Tony Fauci [head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] is the closest that we come to that.

Are you scared?

I'm in the age group that has a one in seven mortality rate if I get it. If you're not worried, you're not paying attention. But I'm not scared. I firmly believe that the steps that we're taking will extend the time that it takes for the virus to make the rounds. I think that, in turn, will increase the likelihood that we will have a vaccine or we will have a prophylactic antiviral in time to cut off, reduce, or truncate the spread. Everybody needs to remember: This is not a zombie apocalypse. It's not a mass extinction event.

Should we be wearing masks?

The N95 mask itself is extremely wonderful. The pores in the mask are three microns wide. The virus is one micron wide. So you get people who say, well, it's not going to work. But you try having three big, huge football players who are rushing for lunch through a door at lunchtime—they're not going to get through. In the latest data I saw, the mask provided 5x protection. That's really good. But we have to keep the hospitals going and we have to keep the health professionals able to come to work and be safe. So masks should go where they’re needed the most: in taking care of patients.

How will we know when we’re through this?

The world is not going to begin to look normal until three things have happened. One, we figure out whether the distribution of this virus looks like an iceberg, which is one-seventh above the water, or a pyramid, where we see everything. If we're only seeing right now one-seventh of the actual disease because we're not testing enough, and we're just blind to it, then we're in a world of hurt. Two, we have a treatment that works, a vaccine or antiviral. And three, maybe most important, we begin to see large numbers of people—in particular nurses, home health care providers, doctors, policemen, firemen, and teachers who have had the disease—are immune, and we have tested them to know that they are not infectious any longer. And we have a system that identifies them, either a concert wristband or a card with their photograph and some kind of a stamp on it. Then we can be comfortable sending our children back to school, because we know the teacher is not infectious.

And instead of saying "No, you can't visit anybody in nursing home," we have a group of people who are certified that they work with elderly and vulnerable people, and nurses who can go back into the hospitals and dentists who can open your mouth and look in your mouth and not be giving you the virus. When those three things happen, that's when normalcy will return.

Is there in any way a brighter side to this?

Well, I'm a scientist, but I'm also a person of faith. And I can't ever look at something without asking the question of isn't there a higher power that in some way will help us to be the best version of ourselves that we could be? I thought we would see the equivalent of empty streets in the civic arena, but the amount of civic engagement is greater than I've ever seen. But I'm seeing young kids, millennials, who are volunteering to go take groceries to people who are homebound, elderly. I'm seeing an incredible influx of nurses, heroic nurses, who are coming and working many more hours than they worked before, doctors who fearlessly go into the hospital to work. I've never seen the kind of volunteerism I'm seeing.

I don't want to pretend that this is an exercise worth going through in order to get to that state. This is a really unprecedented and difficult time that will test us. When we do get through it, maybe like the Second World War, it will cause us to reexamine what has caused the fractional division we have in this country. The virus is an equal opportunity infector. And it’s probably the way we would be better if we saw ourselves that way, which is much more alike than different

 

 

[Nivek 16873]

 

So they support efforts to require fair news and secure our elections then and remove barriers enacted to marginalize voters?

[Degenerate Gardner 4084]

38 minutes ago, RayDog said:

59 million and rapidly dying.

Are you accounting for Stupid's tremendous farm system? Casual observation tells me they have a lot in the pipeline. 

[staboner 4959]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

 

I did thousands of shows, dissed many faces
And deal with new jacks, on a one-to-one basis
But every now and then a sucker MC gets courageous
And like an epidemic it becomes contagious

 

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13555]

13 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

 

“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” this official said. “The system was blinking red."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html

Ah, well there's your problem right there in the title. It was American intelligence. That's the Deep State. They've treated Trump very badly. Trump needs to hear it from a trusted source like Putin. Or perhaps the Saudis.

[cactusflinthead 27595]

8 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Ah, well there's your problem right there in the title. It was American intelligence. That's the Deep State. They've treated Trump very badly. Trump needs to hear it from a trusted source like Putin. Or perhaps the Saudis.

When he talked to Azar he wanted to know when flavored vapes were coming back. 

 

[Anastasis 23403]

44 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

This would be awesome and correct and therefore will never occur. The simulation won’t allow it. 

Let's talk more about the simulation meme. Cause I think it deserves a closer examination. When I was a very little boy I use to think to myself, "What if we were all actually just small little humans living on someone else's head? And their hair was trees?"

Think about it. 

[Biff Tannen 45516]

2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Let's talk more about the simulation meme. Cause I think it deserves a closer examination. When I was a very little boy I use to think to myself, "What if we were all actually just small little humans living on someone else's head? And their hair was trees?"

Think about it. 

The Men in Black marble theory comes into play somehow too. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19096]

Trump is a moron, and he will be out in November.  

Let's talk about the real sleezeballs here, all the Congresspeople who were briefed on what the hell was going on and them dumped stock.  That is insider trading, and is illegal.  They should be doing time like Martha Stewart did.

I would like to see some balls on the Ethics committees of our branches of govt, and I would like to see some strict fucking rules.  If you are an member of Congress, you cannot hold ANY stock in any company except through a 401K type instrument tied to the general health of the overall market (i.e. a general fund) with long term growth as its goal.  We have those in most 401Ks, a general growth fund tied to the anticipated year you turn 65.  Already over 65?  Then you get money market or bond funds.  Don't like those rules, don't be in Congress.

[Hiphopopotamos 20865]

This is my shocked face.

 

[Doc Sam Beckett 5785]

36 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

 

“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” this official said. “The system was blinking red."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-intelligence-reports-from-january-and-february-warned-about-a-likely-pandemic/2020/03/20/299d8cda-6ad5-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html

"Kadlec didn’t provide specific recommendations, but he said that to get ahead of the virus and blunt its effects, Americans would need to take actions that could disrupt their daily lives, the official said. “It was very alarming.”

Trump’s insistence on the contrary seemed to rest in his relationship with China’s President Xi Jingping, whom Trump believed was providing him with reliable information about how the virus was spreading in China, despite reports from intelligence agencies that Chinese officials were not being candid about the true scale of the crisis."

Unreal 

 

[Pasken 1309]

2 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Trump is a moron, and he will be out in November.  

January. 

[JimmyJames 12271]

5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Let's talk more about the simulation meme. Cause I think it deserves a closer examination. When I was a very little boy I use to think to myself, "What if we were all actually just small little humans living on someone else's head? And their hair was trees?"

Think about it. 

You do realize you are currently living in my simulation right? I admit I might have fucked up somewhat. Sorry about that.

On another note, did none of these stupid ass motherfuckers in the Trump government ever read The Stand? Did that book come out after they stopped reading books? 

[Anastasis 23403]

Just now, JimmyJames said:

You do realize you are currently living in my simulation right? I admit I might have fucked up somewhat. Sorry about that.

The real question you should be asking yourself if what if there were even smaller humans living on those humans heads. 

[JimmyJames 12271]

3 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

The real question you should be asking yourself if what if there were even smaller humans living on those humans heads. 

Very good point. Puff puff pass. 

[Gengs1 2583]

This just shows you what I always thought

if you are Republicans candidate, you can Be 

-stupid

-ignorant,

-criminal

-just overall a bad human
=Electable 

 

for democrat

-fail to pay a speeding ticket And you have no chance

 

the mental gymnastics the stupid ppl will do to elect a R candidate is amazing 

 

 

 

[Gengs1 2583]

9 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Trump is a moron, and he will be out in November.  

Let's talk about the real sleezeballs here, all the Congresspeople who were briefed on what the hell was going on and them dumped stock.  That is insider trading, and is illegal.  They should be doing time like Martha Stewart did.

I would like to see some balls on the Ethics committees of our branches of govt, and I would like to see some strict fucking rules.  If you are an member of Congress, you cannot hold ANY stock in any company except through a 401K type instrument tied to the general health of the overall market (i.e. a general fund) with long term growth as its goal.  We have those in most 401Ks, a general growth fund tied to the anticipated year you turn 65.  Already over 65?  Then you get money market or bond funds.  Don't like those rules, don't be in Congress.

He won’t, the base will say; its thanks to him ONLY Xxxxxx number of people died, Hilary would have caused us to lose 100x more

[jimmyjazz 45609]

 

[Hank Scorpio 17724]

 

[RPM 26238]

We could appoint a committee to hunt them down. Paging Ms Warren.

[Ted Lange 16055]

 

[TDunk 590]

 

[Tuco 5076]

Thread 
 

Thanks for posting. Almost all of the attention is understandably focused on what the next 3 months looks like, but acquired immunity is massively important topic for what the next five years look like. It’s a bit of hope for an aspect I’ve been stressed about.

[DigglerontheHoof 21083]

Johnny Sack of Shit, amirite?

Seriously dude, you suck as a human and would benefit from a good ass-kicking. 

[Guest Lobo]

So all sides agree, Trump haters and lovers alike, that it is assured that the Chinese government initially downplayed this thing from November-January.  Even if our CDC had been let in and our advance teams left in place and budgeted properly, that their government still would have kept the rest of the world somewhat in the dark for some period of time.  Right?  

Now, here's where we diverge:

1.  This WaPo story is  true.  Our own intelligence community got wind of this and assembled intel in January that suggested this thing was much bigger and more serious than China was letting on.  So some people sell some stocks because this thing is bad, Trump tweets nice shit so as not to cause a panic, and he wisely shuts down travel with China in early February.  

2.  This WaPo story is not true.  We did not know, either our intelligence community nor our political leaders/CDC folks, how serious this was.  China continued to obfuscate the truth so how could we know?  No intel report was developed until it was too late.  So why then institute the travel ban 6 weeks ago?  If we didn't know, why do that?  If this story is untrue, there would have been no reason to take those steps.

[JimmyJames 12271]

7 minutes ago, Lobo said:

So all sides agree, Trump haters and lovers alike, that it is assured that the Chinese government initially downplayed this thing from November-January.  Even if our CDC had been let in and our advance teams left in place and budgeted properly, that their government still would have kept the rest of the world somewhat in the dark for some period of time.  Right?  

Now, here's where we diverge:

1.  This WaPo story is  true.  Our own intelligence community got wind of this and assembled intel in January that suggested this thing was much bigger and more serious than China was letting on.  So some people sell some stocks because this thing is bad, Trump tweets nice shit so as not to cause a panic, and he wisely shuts down travel with China in early February.  

2.  This WaPo story is not true.  We did not know, either our intelligence community nor our political leaders/CDC folks, how serious this was.  China continued to obfuscate the truth so how could we know?  No intel report was developed until it was too late.  So why then institute the travel ban 6 weeks ago?  If we didn't know, why do that?  If this story is untrue, there would have been no reason to take those steps.

Since the intelligence briefings were and are classified, we have no way of knowing exactly what they said.

We do know that Senators of both parties briefed on the matter in January and February, mainly republican but whatever as it don’t matter, sold off numerous stock, and that Republican Senators who received those classified intelligence briefings repeatedly got on the media to downplay the seriousness of the situation and at least for Burr told people in a more private matter that it was like the Spanish flu that killed millions. All the while they were shorting America and killing Americans. Sorry about your grandma. 

It don’t take a genius to figure out what happened and what they knew. 

As for what should happen next? 

Arrest. Trial. conviction. Death penalty. Incarceration. Appeal. Resolution. 

Edited March 21, 2020 by JimmyJames

[Guest Lobo]

No, I get it.  It's just that nobody on his side is gonna be convinced by a WaPo article.  But a question is then prompted though... why is he pointing all these fingers at China all of a sudden if that intel briefing way back then?  

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

SIAP

 

[Guest Lobo]

I am still going to pray tonight for my family and my planet but it's gonna come with a generous, heaping side of, "We're in a simulation, aren't we God?"  

This is how fucked up today was for my country...I read that and my first thought wasn't Gov. Mike shoving corn cobs up his ass or the inevitable plumbing issue, was, or why you  wouldn't want to eat more corn with less toilet paper, all those corn niblets are gonna make a mess around your butthole.  Nope, my worry was, "What do you say when people ask why you have a bunch of shit-stained corn cubs in your bathroom wastebasket?"  

Edited March 21, 2020 by Lobo

[Jomac0928 76]

5 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

SIAP

 

[Francisco 2.0 32347]

4 minutes ago, Lobo said:

No, I get it.  It's just that nobody on his side is gonna be convinced by a WaPo article.  But a question is then prompted though... why is he pointing all these fingers at China all of a sudden if that intel briefing way back then?  

Come on.

When reality set in that this administration was in waaaaaaaay over its head and obvious to everyone (including themselves), the only card left to play was blame it on someone.  Enter China.

It's a wet dream for Team MAGA.  Point fingers to the Chinese, float holding the Chinese accountable, "billing" them for damages done, paint the Dems as siding with them spreading propaganda, etc.  

Trump needs a boogyman.  He can't have one this time, so he blames an entire country. It's sort of working, at least among the mouth breathers.

[cactusflinthead 27595]

Thread 

We're going to start seeing Uncle Joe more often I'm betting. 

What's that called? A plan? What a concept!

Edited March 21, 2020 by cactusflinthead

[Francisco 2.0 32347]

I'm old enough to remember Jade Helm.  

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/breaking-trump-eyes-2-week-quarantine-only-drug-grocery-stores-open

Quote

President Trump, moving with haste to slow the spread of the coronavirus, is preparing a plan to mobilize the National Guard to help enforce a two-week quarantine of the public if his tough-love efforts so far fail.

The unprecedented action would require everyone to “stay at home,” according to a source knowledgeable of the evolving plan.

The effort, which is still being mulled and wouldn’t be announced until early next week if needed, would urge that all businesses, except grocery stores and pharmacies, be closed.

 

Quote

It comes on the heels of other insider reports that the president is considering grounding all U.S. passenger flights to force a halt in people interacting and moving around the country.

Senior officials have said that dozens of radical ideas are being considered and that the president and his virus task force are moving quickly to protect the nation.

Trump has praised the public for following the rules he has put in place, but the new plans are an acknowledgment that many people are not taking the warnings seriously.

In some areas, the National Guard has already been called out to enforce “stay in place” orders, a model of what Trump is considering.

 

 

[RPM 26238]

3 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

Thread 

We're going to start seeing Uncle Joe more often I'm betting. 

It's time somebody started leading. 

[Bullneck 19028]

7 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

Thread 

We're going to start seeing Uncle Joe more often I'm betting. 

We better.  Also, anyone heard from Bernie Sanders?  I heard he was running for president still.

[SaucyJack 3487]

Dibs on the punk band names:

Wet Market

DP Corn Cob

Pangolin Penis

Bat Soup

[cactusflinthead 27595]

9 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

We better.  Also, anyone heard from Bernie Sanders?  I heard he was running for president still.

Since you asked I scrolled back to find it.

 

[Francisco 2.0 32347]

 

 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Could there be anything more on personal brand than @Johnny Sack walking away from Trump’s 4 years, with a wake of financial destruction and societal ruin that will take years for us to recover from, totally content knowing he turned a profit?

[RPM 26238]

I don't hate Bernie. I think he really believes in what he preaches. However, now isn't the time. The world is burning and we need a fireman. Stop campaigning a lost cause and let's get Biden in the WH before everyone is dead.

[cactusflinthead 27595]

4 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

Like the man said in replies, I'm not a mathy person but that USA line is kinda looking bad.

[FondrenRoad 4378]

1 hour ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Trump is a moron, and he will be out in November.  

Let's talk about the real sleezeballs here, all the Congresspeople who were briefed on what the hell was going on and them dumped stock.  That is insider trading, and is illegal.  They should be doing time like Martha Stewart did.

I would like to see some balls on the Ethics committees of our branches of govt, and I would like to see some strict fucking rules.  If you are an member of Congress, you cannot hold ANY stock in any company except through a 401K type instrument tied to the general health of the overall market (i.e. a general fund) with long term growth as its goal.  We have those in most 401Ks, a general growth fund tied to the anticipated year you turn 65.  Already over 65?  Then you get money market or bond funds.  Don't like those rules, don't be in Congress.

They directly violated the STOCK Act.  The ethics committees are in on it. The DOJ is a shitshow run by the biggest traitor of them all.  Only way this is going to stop is with tribunals following a revolution.

But we don't have the balls for it. 

Edited March 21, 2020 by FondrenRoad

[RPM 26238]

4 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

Like the man said in replies, I'm not a mathy person but that USA line is kinda looking bad.

[RPM 26238]

17 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

[Brisketexan 104750]

Could there be anything more on personal brand than [mention=115]Johnny Sack[/mention] walking away from Trump’s 4 years, with a wake of financial destruction and societal ruin that will take years for us to recover from, totally content knowing he turned a profit?

He’s actually the poster child for the modern American ethos: there is only me, there is no we.
Perfect, flawless selfishness bordering on sociopathy is our brand.
That brand will kill us - it’s doing just that right now.

[TornACL 7689]

2 hours ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

"Kadlec didn’t provide specific recommendations, but he said that to get ahead of the virus and blunt its effects, Americans would need to take actions that could disrupt their daily lives, the official said. “It was very alarming.”

Trump’s insistence on the contrary seemed to rest in his relationship with China’s President Xi Jingping, whom Trump believed was providing him with reliable information about how the virus was spreading in China, despite reports from intelligence agencies that Chinese officials were not being candid about the true scale of the crisis."

Unreal 

 

Trump's ability to make the dumbest fucking read possible when trying to weigh options is astounding. 

[JimmyJames 12271]

24 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Could there be anything more on personal brand than @Johnny Sack walking away from Trump’s 4 years, with a wake of financial destruction and societal ruin that will take years for us to recover from, totally content knowing he turned a profit?

I don’t know whether the sack has personally profited from our latest  republican induced depression, but I can tell you that he’s very upset about the suspension of rat fucking exhibitions, as we all are. 
 

Maybe someday people will all  be able to pay 10k to watch rats fuck again. Maybe not. The future is unknown.