outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Can't we just put everyone in a Sneetches like machine that basically scrubbing bubbles your immune system every week

i know we're supposed to pretend like this isn't happening because he's looking for attention and he's too incompetent to implement fascism, but

https://i.imgur.com/3MMzgVz.png

for those not in the US or who can't read trumpspeak (it makes no sense), he's advising his followers to ignore the Stay-at-Home orders from the governors in those states (you know, the people that are actually authorized to impose or lift them), while also throwing in a nod that it would be a good idea to show off their guns while they do it

I see the one link above--has this been posted?

http://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/17/836747242/in-south-korea-a-growing-number-of-covid-19-patients-test-positive-after-recover

My day right now basically amounts to an endless loop of "That's good news"--"Hey, that's not good"--"I like that"--"Wait a minute, uh-oh"--etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/ftse100-optimism-potential-coronavirus-drug-remdesivir#maincontent

This seems like good news?

During his live briefing today, Andrew Cuomo was informed that Trump was watching and had been rage-tweeting about him, and Cuomo launched into a several-minutes-long tirade that boiled down to "turn the fucking TV off and do your fucking job, stop expecting congratulations for doing the absolute minimum you should be doing, and stop trying to take credit for shit that's outside of your grasp anyway, like opening the states up."

is that trump started demanding that people liberate their states?

is that ^when^

no, according to the NYT he started LIBERATE tweeting right after Fox covered the michigan protests

I wish someone would LIBERATE his [redacted] from his [redacted]

Cuomo's response starts around 1:16:00.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k3ri7oBXe8

"What am I supposed to do--send a bouquet of flowers?"

Ugh. Just say "I don't want to talk about what the president is tweeting" and move on.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday that all “non-essential permitted events” in May are cancelled, such as parades, concerts, and rallies, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(xpost) He does go on, but I think Cuomo's entitled.

"Thank you for participating in a modicum of federal responsibility in a national crisis...thank you for having the federal government participate in a federal emergency."

Trump is such a troll and the media just lap it up. It's insane that they will interrupt a press conference to tell the speaker whatever fucking crap Trump JUST TWEETED. Trump can turn ANYTHING into something about him immediately now, and everyone keeps falling for it.

tbf having a troll for POTUS is a novel situation

A staffer for New Mexico governor condemns the "death cult" that is not accepting the dangers of COVID-19.

The NM GOP condemns the staffer, demands an apology.

Spokesman for the governor notes, "Umm..the tweet says nothing about the GOP. You see yourselves as a death cult?"

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) April 17, 2020

lmao

lol

oof, that's a hearty, painful lol. i needed that

on a certain level I'm relieved that trump is doing stuff like tweeting 'liberate michigan' instead of projecting the tiniest bit of competence. president pence would probably have a 60% approval rating right now. (otoh the liberate michigan tweet is gonna kill some people.)

The pivot from "It's nothing" to "I always said this was serious and it's completely under control" to "I don't have any responsibility, I've been perfect" to "it's the Governors who suck" to "my authority is total" to "okay Governors better step up" to "citizens of states should just overthrow their Governors because FREEDOM". Is... just...

I'm dizzy and not just from vodka

it's working, because we're talking about trump rather than the fact that 2000 americans are gonna die of this today

I hear you, mookieproof, but I'm not sure ignoring him helps people either.

I mean, he is, in large part, the fucking problem. To stop talking about his rhetorical postures would only help the sick people if we also did something else, which is... what?

And given the extent to which his bullshit is, in fact, killing people? I kinda think him and his bullshit are relevant to the topic. It's a balance, surely?

it seems like a bad idea to encourage supporters to gather en masse right now in critical swing states but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what do i kno

for weeks these governors have been forced to kiss his ass in order to get supplies, I have zero problam w/ any of them landing some punches now

and as YMP says, ignoring him doesn't help either, so at least put forward the counter-narrative

"Liberate (insert state with Dem governor here) and save your great 2nd Amendment" is fucking treasonous, and should not be ignored.

Perhaps we can get in touch with those mysterious Chinese scientists to engineer a pathogen that makes magaheads only infect and/or shoot themselves and/or one another?

The Screwtheflyover Solution

god that's bad sorry

Trump uses the gun issue as the strongest dog whistle he can use to call out his supporters. It's like his security blanket. You know he's going to use it early and often, especially when he's feeling like he's in a weak position.

yeah that sucks xp

little too much overlap with the politics threads here but the sooner we can get "death cult" trending the better IMO

"Liberate (insert state with Dem governor here) and save your great 2nd Amendment" is fucking treasonous, and should not be ignored.

it is, but it will be. after the GOP proved once and for all that they'd protect him no matter what, during the ancient time of the impeachment of late January 2020, everyone said "now he will really be unbound". i guess no one could predict it would happen like this, but now he really can just order his followers to rebel against their governors (democratic, in swing states, of course) with guns in tow, and there's not much that anyone can do. it's not really a far jump from right to shooting someone on 5th avenue. he was right about that.

The controversial Stanford COVID-19 study referenced upthread results were finally published:

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Clara-antibody-test-coronavirus-results-case-15208216.php

Researchers estimate that if 2.5 to 4.2 percent of the county has already been infected, the true number of total cases in early April — both active and recovered — ranges between 48,000 and 81,000. The county had reported just under 1,000 cases at the time the study was conducted, which would mean cases are being underreported by a factor of 50 to 85.

My in-laws live in that particular county and I'm convinced that my immediate family all came down with some nasty virus with COVID-19 symptoms in January and it hung around into February in some cases.

I should also mention that particular county has been the hardest hit by COVID-19 with 69 deaths/1.9M pop = ~36 deaths per million.
The county I live in is tracking at ~22/M.

hardest hit LOCALLY*, these numbers are miniscule compared to other parts of the country, such as Bronx/Queens.

today a patient told me that the virus came from a lab in China and they’re about to attack us with a second virus and we should nuke China now like we should’ve nuked them before since they attacked us in WWII

yeah don't worry about her. my mom believes some crazy shit but not too many people listen to her other than my dad

Karl, you need no reminders about how many people live in a bizarro world, but it is disconcerting for most of us to find one in the wild, confidently spouting their craziness, based in some alternate reality where alien lizards dressed a humans run the world.

it's sad because my mom also believes in reptilians

now he really can just order his followers to rebel against their governors (democratic, in swing states, of course) with guns in tow, and there's not much that anyone can do.

We may find out where Biden's "He has blood on his hands" tipping point is. Or if it exists.

i modified a helpful infographic to incorporate a very strong point of view that was missing

https://i.imgur.com/ES3Khj8.jpg

Great! I'm convinced you could come up with something that Trump would tweet out.

trump was even earlier! i mean, he was the very first person, and the last, to know what a big deal this would be, and also how overblown it is, but also how he fucking NAILED that response!

This describes well why I've done almost 100% of my shopping the past month at the small independent rather than the big chain store (normally it's like 80/20).

http://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/business/small-grocery-stores-rural-america-coronavirus/index.html

But long-term, yes, small independents are probably going to be hurt badly.

I wish I had the option, but i'm 'vulnerable.' The smaller ones around me are generally failing to stay on the delivery grid.

we are so so close to the culmination of the human lawmaking project, a state in which it is literally impossible not to be committing a crime at all times https://t.co/kQcqAEvJNr

— flglmn (@flglmn) April 17, 2020

Fed purchases of assets in week starting March 23 2020 were simply staggering. Matching entire BofE and ECB programs in a matter of days. https://t.co/v7G0FiAaGc pic.twitter.com/0SJ6w6hQKf

— Adam Tooze (@adam_tooze) April 18, 2020