Contributors

Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts

Monday, January 24, 2022

Vaccines

 


Friday, November 13, 2020

The Guide On The Side

With much of the country steeped in distance learning, an inherent flaw in our education system has been exposed. This flaw is one of perception by the general public and has unfortunately been fueled by many in the field of education. In fact, it's a belief that needs to be extinguished. Here it is... 

The responsibility of education lies solely with educators. In fact, it lies primarily with parents and the scholars themselves. 

If neither takes this responsibility seriously or understand how to assume this responsibility, then school officials face a losing battle. 

This is what we need to teach the families of our country. Teach your children at the earliest age possible to take control of their learning. Devote time to supporting them in this endeavor. Show them successful ways to learn and be good scholars. 

And educators, you aren't the "Sage on the Stage." You should be the Guide on the Side. That's what leads to more successful scholars. They need to own it. So do their parents. Give them the space to do that. 

If we don't burst this myth and change our course, we will have serious problems with people who can't function for themselves in our culture.

Saturday, August 08, 2020

Shit That Pisses Me Off Because Of Rona Volume 1: Masks

Today I’m starting a new series of posts about shit that pisses me off because of the pandemic. I’ve complained about some of this stuff before but now I’m organizing it in a series. Collect them all! First up is masks. 

Americans are addicted to many unhealthy things. Junk food...social media...parades...but there is something about masks that really sends them into an obsessive fervor. Pro or con, doesn’t matter. Combine it with social media and watch the raging flames hit 100 feet. 

It’s massively unhealthy and I wish people would just calmly react to masks. A mandate requires one? Great. Put it on and go about your business. In a crowd or a place, you can’t distance? Good idea to wear one. Someone not wearing one? Oh well. No need to fly into a white-hot rage. How I yearn for an under reaction to masks. I’d settle for a normal reaction! 

People just have to argue about masks even when there is zero reason to argue. Their blood flies up instantly and all rationality goes out the window when the topic of masks comes up. What a crock of embarrassing shit.

Monday, July 13, 2020

My Dream Last Night

Last night I dreamt that I lived in a country where people still had to deal with the pandemic but it was quite different.

They had leaders who were scientists that relied on facts and evidence, not anecdotes and online gossip. The people admired their intelligence and weren’t antagonistic about their knowledge and accomplishments in a contrarian and adolescent way.

The people were disciplined in their pursuit of solutions and weren’t distracted by irrational nonsense. They helped each other out instead of engaging in petty arguments and pointless debates on social media. They encouraged and supported each other, valuing logic above all else.

They were rational but passionate.

They asked the right questions like:

-How many people have had the virus?
-How many people have it?
-How much of the virus is required to transmit it?

They followed through in pursuit of answers to these questions with comprehensive strategies and gave their energy to goals that actually solved problems.

They were curious in the best possible of ways, wanting clear, positive outcomes for society as a whole while dealing with actual facts and evidence.

And then I woke up and realized what country I actually lived in:

 A CHILDISH SHIT SHOW OF SELFISH AND SELF RIGHTEOUS MORONS.

What the fuck, people? Can we turn this around?

Monday, April 20, 2020

Joe Biden Saw It All

Joe Biden has been taking a lot of shit lately about his stutter during his interviews. If that's all his critics have, he's not going to have many problems in the election. Remember what happened in 2016 when people made fun of Trump? People still voted for him.

The recent revelation that Biden posted an Op-Ed in USA Today on January 27 of this year, in which he detailed the mistakes Trump made prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, will add to his margin of victory in the fall election. Here are some choice cuts.

The outbreak of a new coronavirus, which has already infected more than 2,700 people and killed over 80 in China, will get worse before it gets better. Cases have been confirmed in a dozen countries, with at least five in the United States. There will likely be more.

Well, he was certainly right about that, wasn't he?

Trump has blithely tweeted that “it will all work out well.” Yet the steps he has taken as president have only weakened our capacity to respond.

Trump has rolled back much of the progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. He proposed draconian cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for International Development — the very agencies we need to fight this outbreak and prevent future ones. He dismissed the top White House official in charge of global health security and dismantled the entire team. And he has treated with utmost contempt institutions that facilitate international cooperation, thus undermining the global efforts that keep us safe from pandemics and biological attacks.

To be blunt, I am concerned that the Trump administration’s shortsighted policies have left us unprepared for a dangerous epidemic that will come sooner or later.

It's almost as if he knew what was going to happen...like maybe his experience and competence would have saved American lives as opposed to what Trump has done which has cost thousands of American lives.

As president, I will reassert U.S. leadership in global health security. My policies will always uphold science, not fiction or fearmongering. I will ask Congress to beef up the Public Health Emergency Fund and give me the power to use the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to declare a disaster if an infectious disease threat merits it.

I will also renew funding — set to expire in May — for the nationwide network of hospitals that can isolate and treat people with infectious diseases, and fully fund the Global Health Security Agenda so the world is ready for the next outbreak. And I will rebuild public trust, make sure we have dedicated resources to help us respond to crises quickly, and better harness the capabilities of the private sector to protect the American people. Our national security requires nothing less.

So, it's clear that Biden (or really anyone, Democratic or Republican), would have done a better job. Heck, even W knew how important this was.

When you allow ideological buffoons to run a nation, people die.



Thursday, April 16, 2020

What Wisconsin Tells Us About the Election in the Fall

The recent primary in Wisconsin tell us that the Trump Party should be shitting themselves and I'm talking explosive diarrhea. The ploy by the GOP to have the election anyway in the middle of a pandemic completely backfired as democratic turnout was massive. Even with only 5 of 108 polling places open in Milwaukee, Jill Karofsky still managed to defeat conservative Justice Daniel Kelly.  So, what does this tell us?

Democrats are fired up, want Trump gone, and won't even let potential death from Covid1-19 stop them. This is exactly what Rachel Bitecofer has been saying. Trump is toast and will get his ass kicked in November...assuming he doesn't quit before then. He's looking awfully shaky these days and really out of it.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Trumpy Orwell

I was reminded of George Orwell's 1984 recently when President Trump yelled, "Check the tape" in a response to a reporter at a recent press briefing. The reporter asked the president what he had done to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19. He claimed that he shut down travel with China.

In reality, he half shut it down and allowed around 40,000 people to still come in. He also allowed travelers from Europe to come in as well which is what likely accelerated the spread of the virus.

Of course, this doesn't even address the fact that he is on tape making fun of the virus and also saying it would magically go away. He further went on to say that we had it under control. All of these statements can be seen in this video.

Right-wing bloggers and commenters are quite fond of accusing the left of the very thing they are doing...who are you going to believe--me or your lying eyes and ears? Call them on it.

Every. Single. Time.

Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Own It, Assholes

From conservative David Frum

"That the pandemic occurred is not Trump’s fault. The utter unpreparedness of the United States for a pandemic is Trump’s fault. The loss of stockpiled respirators to breakage because the federal government let maintenance contracts lapse in 2018 is Trump’s fault. The failure to store sufficient protective medical gear in the national arsenal is Trump’s fault. That states are bidding against other states for equipment, paying many multiples of the precrisis price for ventilators, is Trump’s fault. Air travelers summoned home and forced to stand for hours in dense airport crowds alongside infected people? That was Trump’s fault too. Ten weeks of insisting that the coronavirus is a harmless flu that would miraculously go away on its own? Trump’s fault again. The refusal of red-state governors to act promptly, the failure to close Florida and Gulf Coast beaches until late March? That fault is more widely shared, but again, responsibility rests with Trump: He could have stopped it, and he did not."


And thus we have the end of "Orange Man Bad" and whining about Trump Derangement Syndrome. We warned you, Trump supporters and apologists. You acted like adolescent assholes and didn't listen. How many people have died from this because Trump didn't take it seriously? How much money has been lost? Whose lives have been destroyed? That's on YOU, assholes!

I've repeatedly explained to the right-wing bloggers and commenters who read this site daily that this would happen. They laughed and pretended like Trump was actually competent. Now, they've gone silent. You fucking assholes aren't anywhere close to comprehending how to run a country. All you have is digital bile that results in American deaths.

I don't know how you can get up in the morning and look at yourselves in the mirror.

Monday, April 06, 2020

Where Is The Middle Ground?

Folks, I have to add to my rant from the other day and it’s something that has built up a seething rage in me. Hopefully, me getting it out will dispel it.
I’ve absolutely fucking had it with the “whoever cancels/shuts down things and does it the farthest out” wins the Most Responsible Government Award. The vilification that is going on with states that haven’t issued stay at home orders needs to be qualified by studying each state’s demographics, how they live their lives, and the rules they already have in place. I have zero problem ripping the leadership in Florida or Georgia, for example, because it’s warranted. They were morons who have literally killed people. But Iowa and Wyoming are different states and their policies won’t have any effect on you unless you live near them. And just because they haven’t officially issued stay at home orders doesn’t mean they are out dancing naked in groups in the street. Different parts of the country are going to be affected differently
The simple fact is that we are just buying time so health systems won’t get overrun. The people who are getting their rocks off in breathlessly relating that we need to be shut down for months aren’t being realistic. Their energy would be better spent demanding a national policy for testing. Because we do have to consider the economic impact of this on people’s lives. No doubt, we have a leader (Trump) who is really doing a poor job in acting on this. Staying at home is a band-aid and short term solution.
And the amount that we don’t know about this virus is enormous. It’s likely that large swaths of our population are immune already to this. Some may have had it, never had symptoms, and are no longer contagious. This is why the only thing people should be screaming about is testing. Screaming about how we all have to hide in our homes until 2021 and if this line of thought isn’t accepted than you are “naive” is fucking nuts.
I get that people are scared but being fatalistic and demanding the same for everyone isn’t helping. Being overly hopeful is just as bad. We must all strive to find a happy medium that at its core relies on action items based on data. If our leaders are doling out big asks, they need to provide us with the big data that led them to that conclusion. That data is going to be different for each area of the country and people need to live with that.

Saturday, April 04, 2020

Trump's Body Count

I used to say that President Trump wasn't as bad of a president as our worst presidents because he didn't have a body count. Well, now he does. As I write this, we are nearing 7,000 dead Americans. Consider those families of lost loved ones when you watch this video.




So, how can he fix it? Mandatory testing of every American by May 31. Otherwise, our economy is truly fucked and his presidency is effectively over. Of course, the stalling on testing has another explanation.

He wants the corner market on it.

The blame doesn't just go to Trump, though. I blame all those assholes out there who fetishize small government and blow loads over how neutered it could be. How do you fuckos feel now that our citizens are dying?

The shit response to this back in January by the Trump administration led us to this point. There is zero doubt that Hillary would have done a far better job and fewer people would be dead. But we allowed our irrational feelings about her and liberals to get in the way, didn’t we?

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Blame Trump For This List

From Republican George Conway:
"For Trump supporters, let me make one thing VERY clear!
For the record, NO ONE is blaming the President for the virus. Let me repeat. Coronavirus is not Trump’s fault. 
Here’s a detailed list of what we are blaming him for:
* Trump declined to use the World Health Organization’s test like other nations. Back in January, over a month before the first Co-vid19 case, the Chinese posted a new mysterious virus and within a week, Berlin virologists had produced the first diagnostic test. By the end of February, the WHO had shipped out tests to 60 countries. Oh, but not our government. We declined the test even as a temporary bridge until the CDC could create its own test. The question is why? We don’t know but what to look for is which pharmaceutical company eventually manufactures the test and who owns the stock. Keep tuned.
* In 2018 Trump fired Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossart, whose job was to coordinate a response to global pandemics. He was not replaced.
* In 2018 Dr. Luciana Borio, the NSC director for medical and bio-defense preparedness left the job. Trump did not replace Dr. Borio.
* In 2019 the NSC’s Senior Director for Global Health Security and bio-defense, Tim Ziemer, left the position and Trump did not replace the Rear Admiral.
* Trump shut down the entire Global Health Security and Bio-defense agency. Yes, he did.
* Amid the explosive worldwide outbreak of the virus, Trump proposed a 19% cut to the budget of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention plus a 10% cut to Public Health Services and a 7% cut to Global Health Services. Those happen to be the organizations that respond to public health threats.
* In 2018, at Trump’s direction, the CDC stopped funding epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries including China.
* Trump didn’t appoint a doctor to oversee the US response to the pandemic. He appointed Mike Pence.
* Trump has on multiple occasions sowed doubt about the severity of the virus even using the word hoax at events and rallies. He even did it at an event where the virus was being spread. Trump has put out zero useful information concerning the health risks of the virus.
* Trump pretended the virus had been contained.
* Trump left a cruise ship at sea for days, denying them proper hospital care, rather than increase his numbers in America.
Repeat. We do not blame Trump for the virus. We blame him for gutting the nation’s preparations to deal with it. We blame him for bungling testing and allowing it to spread uninhibited. We blame him for wasting taxpayer money on applause lines at his rallies (like The Wall). We blame him for putting his own political life over American human life. I hope this clears things up."

Monday, March 30, 2020

Grab Bag of Irritation

Folks, I’m long overdue for a good old fashion rant. The past few weeks of the global pandemic has brought out some things that have really irritated me to no end. Here they are.
The Action-Adventure Story Teller 
Suddenly every media writer and every social media post is filled up with breathless stories of how they or someone they knew suffered through Covid-19. “My chest was caught in a vice grip” is a line I’ve seen over and over again. Or subheadings like “Day 5, The Worst.” It honestly reminds me of a paperback I’d read in the checkout line at the grocery. I guess trying to be an “influencer” extends to global pandemics too. Not only are these not helpful to people who experience anxiety, but they also incite panic AKA what we don’t need now. Social media is an awful place for something so private. Why do they feel the need to tell their illness stories? How does that help? It really, really doesn’t, assholes.
”We will never be the same again.”
This line has to go away forever. It’s so fucking played and not really special just for this occasion. Isn’t this true of ANY life experience? Or, perhaps, something positive that happens on a worldwide level? Where is the wall to wall coverage of rising life expectancy in the world that has made us “never the same again?”
Insanely Negative People
I had someone tell me the other day that my son won’t get to play baseball for the rest of the year. And that all sports everywhere is done for the year because of how awful this is going to be. First of all, thanks for the positivity, fucknut. Second, how the fuck do you know? No one really knows what’s going to happen so being dire, again, doesn’t help people (like me) who dread excessively. Far too many normally negative people are feeding on this. They love how miserable everyone is. Let’s not let them do that.
Insanely Positive People
Donald Trump is an example of this. This is not going to be done by Easter. It may be that parts of the country are going to shift back to normal but some may need longer amounts of time and testing.
The fucking toilet paper thing
Seriously, why? And I’m also tired of the psychological explanation that “people need to control something and feel comfort.” Barf. This is a great example of how dumb people can be. TP is what you need for this pandemic? Really?
Imperial Declarations of Certainty in Uncertain Times
I’ve seen this a lot from the overly positive and overly negative sides of the issue. Everyone is basically guessing right now how this will play out. You can’t look to Italy and say that it’s going to happen here. Our country is so different and more spread out. Some areas might be the same. I heard one of my favorite pundits say, “By the time this is over, every American will know someone who died from Covid 19.” Really? I don’t know anyone who has died from the flu. I know one person who died in a car accident. Many more fatalities from that over the years, even with the direst predictions.
Gleeful people who “saw this coming.”
I like the U’s, Mike Osterholm. He’s a much-needed epidemiologist that is largely helpful right now. But he seems a little too happy about this. So do some other health care professionals and analysts. So do doomsday preppers. This isn’t “cool,” guys, and you being right makes this a tragedy, not an accomplishment. Osterholm is fond of saying “Hope is not a strategy.” Ok, but can we work on strategies that give us hope?
The doom and gloom from the media
Why aren’t we seeing recoveries listed along with deaths? They are showing this in Minnesota, thankfully, but I don’t see it anywhere else. Many people are recovering. Let’s fucking celebrate that as well as mourn the deaths of those who we have lost.
As we move along through this, more rants could be in the future😎

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

How To Test For Covid-19

Here is a great piece on how South Korea kicked our ass in Covid-19 testing. Essentially, they took it seriously (unlike our president), were proactive, and weren't hampered by bureaucracy.

During World War II, General Motors turned out a plane an hour 24/7 until we won. This is what we need right now. Every American needs to be tested, especially in the hotter spots. Those hotter spots need to shelter in place now. We must have a clearer picture of this and people need to change their behavior otherwise our hospitals will be overrun.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

How Hysteria About The Deep State Has Murdered Americans

Back in 2018, when he took over as National Security Advisor, John Bolton and Donald Trump disbanded the pandemic response team headed by Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer. This was done because it was too "deep state-y" and cost too much money. Now that Covid-19 is spreading around the United States and likely going to adversely affect our nation for the next few months (at least), this decision was clearly a complete catastrophe.

Worse, it was all done because of that same, irrational ideology we've heard from the right for years. The federal government is evil and can't be trusted to do anything right. They are all plotting against ordinary Americans to take away their guns. Civil service employees are lazy and all bought off due to patronage.

Well, now that fucking insane bullshit is coming home to roost as we can clearly see the damage it has done to this country. Had that team been in place (along with these other programs he cut ), we would have fewer Americans die because of this virus. Instead, the blood (literally) of US citizens is being shed because a collection of adolescents has mommy and daddy issues.

These same idiots are still squawking about how Covid-19 is a hoax, perpetrated by the liberal media and other elites to bring this country down. I heard one such ass hat the other night when I was listening to Coast to Coast AM. If you want to get a good idea of how just cult-like these psychos are, listen to L.A. Marzulli's comment at the start of his segment.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

We are in a state of emergency, folks, and our "dear leader" has failed. Donald Trump has done a terrible job as president, this current health crisis being a great example. He's inept, out of his depth, confused and weak. He was exposed to COVID 19 on at least two occasions and still was shaking hands with people during his press conference yesterday. His ideological view of less government (or at least what he pretends it is) led us to a poor response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump supporters, rather than own up to his mistakes, are gaslighting, using the "orange man bad" deflection. Essentially, they are placing the blame for Trump's errors on his critics, pretending (in a very trollish way) that they are the problem, not Trump. This is also known as the "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?" defense used by Groucho Marx.

It's really simple, folks. He IS that bad. No amount of pretending is going to make this less true. His presidency is over. It's failed. He should quit (along with Pence) and let Nancy Pelosi run the country until the fall election.

It would save lives.