Category: Coronavirus

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Coronavirus Featured

Two Black Men Kicked Out of Walmart for Wearing Surgical Mask

The racism is real folks.

Coronavirus protection or not, this officer at a Walmart in Illinois was not going to sit by and allow these two black men to follow the CDC’s recommendation of wearing masks to protect against contracting Covid-19.

Watch as these men are escorted out of the store for the crime of…. protecting yourself while being black.

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Coronavirus Featured

This “Stable Genius” is Stooopid – Video

Listen to the guy… the president of the United States, as he puts his “stable genius” hat on and engaged in some foolery that can only be credited to the likes of a Donald Trump.

In the clip below, the “stable genius” is talking about how smart the Coronavirus is.

“The germ has gotten so brilliant,” the man in the clip said, “that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it.” Still speaking of the virus the man says, “not only is it hidden but it’s very smart.”

WTF? SMH… again!

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Coronavirus Featured

Doctors Ask States to Donate Lethal Injection Drugs to Save Covid 19 Patients

What a concept – use drugs to save lives instead of taking lives.

“We’re running out of all the drugs,” one doctor told the paper. 

Over 2,600 people are currently awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Thirty states, plus the federal government, “use lethal injection as their primary method,” while others use it as a backup.

Since the pandemic, states have not even been using these drugs for that. On April 1, a Texas court issued a stay of execution, its third since the outbreak, citing the disruption to the court system.

In their letter, the experts, such as Harvard Medical School’s Prashant Yadav and David Waisel, argued that the drugs death-penalty states typically use to take lives could, instead, be used to help front-line doctors extend them.

“Your stockpile could save the lives of hundreds of people,” they wrote. “At this crucial moment for our country, we must prioritize the needs and lives of patients above ending the lives of prisoners.”

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Coronavirus Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Coronavirus Response Helps Sink Trump’s Approval Ratings

Maybe it’s the lies he tell, misleading Americans into thinking the we were immune to coronavirus, that the virus will never come to our borders. Or maybe it just the fact that Donald Trump is a terrible president. Whatever the reason, Americans are not liking Trump right now.

Donald Trump isn’t benefiting from what political scientists refer to as a “rally ‘round the flag” effect — a traditional surge in popularity as the nation unites behind its leader during an emergency situation.

Even as the country confronts the greatest disruption to daily life since World War II, a series of new polls released this week show Trump’s approval ratings plateauing in the mid-40s, roughly where his approval rating stood a month ago, before the coronavirus shuttered much of the nation’s economic and social activity.

In other words, public views of Trump’s leadership in the coronavirus crisis are now breaking down along familiar lines of polarization: Americans view his performance during the pandemic about the same way they view his performance generally.

Throughout the first three years of his presidency, Trump’s approval rating has traded in a narrow band. But his failure to unite the country behind his leadership also reflects Americans’ judgment of his handling of the outbreak thus far: In poll after poll this week, increasing percentages say they think Trump is doing a bad job, and his administration hasn’t done enough to protect citizens from the effects of Covid-19.

 

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Coronavirus Featured

Until It’s Safe

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question as he meets with former hostage Danny Burch, an oil engineer who was taken hostage in Yemen in September 2017, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo - RC1D9156F7B0

Really easy to remember those three words, no? A few syllables and you’ve spoken volumes. And that’s all the president has to say. Until it’s safe.

How long do we stay in our homes? Until it’s safe.
How long do we have to practice distancing? Until it’s safe.
How long do we have to wait until we can see professional sports, cultural events, friends, go to the movies or museums? Until it’s safe.

Until it’s safe.

Not Easter. Not May 1, Not September when the NFL season is supposed to begin.

Until it’s safe. That’s the only answer.

The president proved to me long ago that he is a unique study in ignorance, selfishness and egomania basting in a gumbo of misinformation, unverifiable opinion, and dangerous myopia. When he says that something is fake, I know that it’s real. When he says it’s a hoax, I know it’s true. When he says he’s doing a great job, I know that he’s doing a terrible job. When he says it’s a witch hunt, then I am reasonably certain that there are, in fact, witches, and that they are a cornerstone of our economy. When he says that the press is an enemy, then I must be a traitor.

When he does all of this for political reasons, I understand his motives and chalk it up to the system we have. But the Covid-19 pandemic is different. Now his ignorance and instincts for political survival are getting more people sick and dead. And he’s sending a message to states that they are on their own for supplies and should stop whining if they don’t have enough. After all, he’s a wartime president, but true to form, this is not a national war coordinated at the national level to stop a national threat. This is a bathtub naval operation being fought by a president without a clue as to how to use the federal government for the benefit of all, and with his greatest weapon being a soap-on-a-rope.

It’s also no wonder that the Impeached One is so threatened by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Here’s someone who knows what he’s talking about and is not afraid to say what the president won’t; that we should be in our homes until it’s safe to come out.

And if we’re really afraid of what the pandemic is doing to the economy, then let’s have some real relief. A check for $1,200 isn’t going to cut it for a majority of Americans, and the funds for small business help are actually being given out on a first-come-first-served basis. This is relief? Everybody should get relief that will help them and every business that needs help should get it. You shouldn’t have to rely on a faster Internet connection or being able to get/stay up at 4:00 am simply to survive in the marketplace. Other countries have figured this out. Germany got citizens a payment in three days. Some of us won’t get a payment until September.

As for the election, the president is still underwater in most polls, and Joe Biden and the Democrats haven’t even begun to remind voters that they want to provide everyone with affordable health care, while the president wants to take it away. Or that Democrats want a national program of child care and paid sick days. Or that Democrats want to make sure that corporations can’t use any relief money to buy back stock or pay their CEOs more money. Or that Democrats understand that Covid-19 has uncovered the massive gap in realities in education, earnings, job security and wage equity that exists. This pandemic will change this country in more ways than many people think. We’re not going back to the way things were in 2019.

Have you registered to vote? And have you made sure that you can get a mail-in ballot if polls are closed or compromised by a repeat pandemic in the fall? Do it now.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Coronavirus Featured

CNN’s Chris Cuomo Confirmed with COVID-19

The in your face anchor of CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time announced via twitter that the he is confirmed with the Coronavirus.

“In these difficult times that seem to get more difficult and complicated by the day, I just found out that I am positive for coronavirus,” Cuomo wrote in a message on Twitter.

“I have been exposed to people in recent days who have subsequently tested positive and I had fevers, chills and shortness of breath,” he wrote. “I just hope I didn’t give it to the kids and Cristina. That would make me feel worse than this illness!

Cuomo said Tuesday that he is “quarantined in my basement” and will “do my shows from here.”

“We will all beat this by being smart and tough and united!” he wrote on Twitter.

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Coronavirus Featured

Co-(vid) Education

Whither Betsy DeVos?

Here is the Secretary of Education at a crisis point in American education and she is…silent.

Don’t get me wrong; under normal circumstances I would welcome, indeed pay for, silence from Ms. DeVos. Her disdain for, and ignorance of public education, will unfortunately become one of the lasting effects of the Trump Administration and the era of conservatism that seems to be unraveling. I certainly understand that public schools are the purview of the states, but it would be nice to have the Secretary of Education deliver an address or a letter that outlines the objectives that all schools need to meet with online education. I guess if you don’t educate for money, Ms. DeVos doesn’t want to hear from you. This is more than disappointing. It’s malpractice.

Of course, we know that this administration as a whole is educationally-challenged, beginning with the president. His history of undermining and ignoring science has finally caught up to him, and us. In the last few days, he’s even hyped drugs that people with lupus need to live as a possible remedy for Covid-19 (19, 20, whatever it takes). This bit of irresponsibility could cause severe shortages for a medicine that we don’t know will actually address the virus. And that doesn’t even take into account the fact that the president says he knew there would be a pandemic, after denying it and blaming the hype on the Democrats. Could they also have White House briefings where people stand six feet apart from each other? Anthony Fauci should know better. I want to see him in a space suit.

And speaking of blaming it on the Democrats (we were and don’t you deny it), along comes this parable about conservative FOX-watching Americans who were sure that Covid-19 was a fake until…wait for it…one of their own contracted it. I sincerely hope that the man who is sick gets better soon and I am not in any way engaging in schadenfreude. What gets me is that people actually believe politicians in times of health emergencies. Or in this case, they believe that the Chinese created this disease for the purpose of unleashing it on their people and Americans in order for the Democrats to subvert the president and undermine his leadership. I just don’t understand that serpentine illogic. The article also tells of how the conservative media saw the Covid threat as overblown, so the people dismissed the warnings and didn’t take the necessary precautions. That’s the danger inherent in an administration that blames and vilifies the media.

Finally, what happens when there’s a shot for Covid-19 and the anti-vaccinators rebel? I don’t have an answer. I just pose the question.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Coronavirus Featured

The Covidian Epoch Begins

Concerns:

What do you think will happen with this company?

If you eat enough matzoh, you won’t need as much toilet paper. I know that it’s not Passover just yet and it’s forbidden to eat the new matzoh before the first Seder, but these are unique and troubling times. If God has anything to do with Covid-19, how much angrier could he get if we rip open the Yehuda and solve a supply and demand problem? You could add some horseradish for flavor, and after three days you will not need to worry about paper shortages.

Do you still know somebody who denies that the virus is real? Here’s a handy guide to articles that you can use to answer them, if indeed you are still on speaking terms with them. I know that it must hurt some people’s brains to hear the president and others say that the virus is a foreign weapon or an impeachment grade left-wing terrorist plot one day, then say that it is indeed real and that the president actually had dinner with it last week (as with most things related to Trump, it came back negative). I guess anything can get into Mar-a-Lago if it knows somebody. The worst part, though, is that Brazillians of people could now be exposed. And will the president pass his test? Film at 11.

Not to sound too imperious, intelligent and superior, but this blogger began stocking up on necessities three weeks ago. I bought canned goods, pasta, Tastykakes (Juniors and Kandykakes, peanut butter and chocolate), chicken and paper goods at the warehouse boutique, and filled up the mower gas tank just in case the Russians and/or Saudis got frisky with the world supply. Turns out I overpaid on early gasoline, but the interest on my equity loan is now less than a whole number, so I’m going to let x equal whatever it wants for a while.

And a while it will be before the students and I traipse back through the schoolhouse gate. It’s Zoom and Skype and Google Meet and sharing documents across the divide for at least two weeks while we flush out the bad humors from the tony woods of Somerset and Morris Counties. We are still running a timed schedule and do have to meet with our students over the interweb, so it will be an adventure for a while. Of course, if you have younger children in grade school, I’m not sure how that will work. Nap time will now be graded.

If you like good news, you can always take a gander at the daily polls, which, and I know it’s early, show that there seem to be more and more citizens out there who don’t want the president around the White House after January 20. Even Arizona looks a bit wobbly for the Republicans at this juncture. If the market rebounds and the virus doesn’t approach doomsday predictions, the president could make a comeback, but it seems like every time he has what’s called a good week, he steps on it with statements or actions that clearly show that he’s broken up with facts and science. If they were ever seeing each other.

Stay safe. No high-fives. Six feet apart. Read a book.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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