COVID-19 in your part of the world

[quash]

https://youtu.be/1JZ0Ruh89f0

You mean this administration, right?

And yes, I'm pleasantly surprised that the US responded at all, let alone that we actually are seeing some level of utilization of the federal government's emergency powers, being used for a good cause no less. On the first page of this thread I had no reason to believe we'd respond to this at all, which is why I said to treat it like an extended flu season. I'm glad we don't have to do that here.

Also, this avatar was christened upon me by a poster here. I wear it as a post-ironic badge of honor.

[vol.2]

i guess so man, if trump is "liberal" to you, i'm not sure we're even living on the same planet from a common ground perspective.

[cave hermit]

I want to get a sega saturn 3d controller so I can play Nights into Dreams. Amazon isn't shipping for another 20 or so days because of the outbreak. Also no turbografx 16 mini.

Why aren't we talking about the REAL issues at hand?

[quash]

i guess so man, if trump is "liberal" to you, i'm not sure we're even living on the same planet from a common ground perspective.

New York liberal (sometimes used interchangeably with New York republican) is a term that was invented to describe people like Howard Stern and Donald Trump. Does that clear any confusion?

I want to get a sega saturn 3d controller so I can play Nights into Dreams.

You've had 24 years to get one of those. The chances of getting one that works completely without resorting to NOS is slim to none. Just play one of the many ports or emulate it.

[vol.2]

New York liberal (sometimes used interchangeably with New York republican) is a term that was invented to describe people like Howard Stern and Donald Trump. Does that clear any confusion?

maybe i'm just a little jumpy. i don't know what to believe anymore and i can't always distinguish millennial-style irony from alt-right douchbaggery. i sincerely think we've gotten to that stage of culture in this country; the one where we're all so disconnected in our connectedness that we aren't speaking the same language anymore.

[quash]

While I am more than capable of either one of those rhetorical styles, this really isn't the time for it. It's really not the time for internal politicking, especially for the US, as this stands to threaten our standing in the world in a pretty significant way.

There are those who think this is a good thing (from both the left and the right, interestingly enough), and while I can't disagree with some of their reasons, running to China isn't going to solve anything. They barely care about their own people; what makes you think they care about you?

For clarity, if I had to rate my distrust and distaste for the US government on a scale from 1-10, I'd say I'm sitting at a 7. But the Chinese government? Off the charts.

[Steamflogger Boss]

https://twitter.com/business/status/1245460928289812480

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04F4xlWSFh0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE0wfjsybIQ

[BulletMagnet]

It's really not the time for internal politicking

I can't help but note that this is one of the few themes being very heavily and self-interestedly pushed by "the establishment" that you're not immediately and dismissively skeptical of, especially considering that no matter who says it a quick Google search is unfailingly enough to show how little they actually mean it.

[vol.2]

saying people are "happy" about the situation on both sides is reductionist. what's happening is that people on both sides are positioning themselves, and part of that is looking for advantage in a poor situation. that doesn't mean anyone is happy that people are dying.

you're either taking things a little too personally, or trying to be slick and promote your agenda.

i'm not really one for glib rhetoric or shitty irony. i'll just leave it at that.

[quash]

It's really not the time for internal politicking

I can't help but note that this is one of the few themes being very heavily and self-interestedly pushed by "the establishment" that you're not immediately and dismissively skeptical of, especially considering that no matter who says it a quick Google search is unfailingly enough to show how little they actually mean it.

I'm not immediately dismissive of it because it actually makes sense, and because the bipartisan response has been mostly the correct one. Personally, I'm amazed at the response from Gavin Newsom. A little over a year ago you couldn't go outside in much of California without a mask because we refused to do controlled burns for years (or hold PG&E accountable for anything), so the bar has admittedly been set pretty low. But the state is taking this about as seriously as the federal government, so credit where it's due.

Politicians themselves are of course going to use this to their advantage at some point, but the nice thing about the current age is that we can always go back and see what they were saying when it mattered most.

Besides, if you all think I'm some crackpot conspiracy theorist, you haven't seen shit. Some people are calling the entire thing a hoax, despite all the footage of China and Italy we saw before NYC became overwhelmed. I just refuse to buy the line of bullshit that this appeared from nowhere, and that China has done everything in their power to prevent the spread of the disease (especially when this is demonstrably false).

[BulletMagnet]

First things first, more evidence of just how united we are on "supporting the front lines": if you're a doctor or nurse fighting the virus and dare to speak publicly about your staff's lack of protective equipment, bring your own from home, or even just wear what you've got in places the public can see it and possibly grow "uncomfortable", your employer just might terminate your ass. Too bad for you, your already-overworked colleagues, and your patients!

When I say that a significant portion of the "pro-business" crowd would rather kill people than actually own up to their ideological failures, sorry, I ain't just making it up.

EDIT: BONUS ROUND! Time for the latest episode of our political era's favorite game show, "Is He Really That Fucking Ignorant/Incompetent, Or Just That Shameless a Fucking Liar?" (Correct Answer: It doesn't matter, because he won't lose a single vote no matter which it is.)

Now back to our regularly-scheduled exasperation.

I'm not immediately dismissive of it because it actually makes sense, and because the bipartisan response has been mostly the correct one.

It truly is a sight to see that now, of all times, is when you heel turn and start praising the state, Deep and otherwise, for finally "getting it right", despite mountains of testimony from (Deep?) medical professionals as to how badly every stage of the outbreak has been bungled, especially at the Federal level (not just in terms of the policies themselves or even the still-ongoing dithering on enacting them, but the minimal competence needed to actually carry them out), and I frankly can't even imagine the inner contortionism needed to describe the overarching reaction as "bipartisan" in any but the most cynically technical sense. I'd advise you to take your own advice to, without grading on a curve (i.e. the President and his entire party said this, some jerkoff on YouTube said that), "see what they were saying" (and, as you acknowledge, some still are saying), and compare for yourself, but as we've seen, there's no statement bald-faced enough that it can't be dismissed as "out of context" or "not to be taken literally" or "aspirational" or (my perennial favorite) a "false flag" for the sake of convenience.

Sorry, but all this sudden "come to Jesus" moment of yours does is make it easier for bad actors to continue to act badly. And sorry again, but after all this time and all you've said I frankly find it impossible to believe that you're at all unaware of this fact.

I just refuse to buy the line of bullshit that this appeared from nowhere, and that China has done everything in their power to prevent the spread of the disease (especially when this is demonstrably false).

Dude, no country has done "everything in their power" to stop the virus; everybody has made concessions, some more than others, and many of them ill-advised, to the that's too haaaard rabble. Even the most successful places in this effort, I'm sure, hogtied themselves to some degree - how many, just off the top of my head, have been willing to basically completely freeze their economies, a la Denmark, to focus their efforts on weathering the pandemic?

I've no doubt whatsoever that China is no exception to this rule, and may well be among the worst of the bunch: if, however, you have hard evidence that the Chinese government deliberately limited the scope of its response, not just to placate the "let them eat cake" crowd or attempt to save face, but with the express purpose of spreading it to other countries, I'd love to 1) See it, and 2) Hear your take on why, if this evidence exists and the feds know so much crazy shit it'd blow your mind, Trump and company aren't screaming it from the rooftops at every single "press conference" they hold, and are instead leaving this vital, game-changing information to the sub-human crooks selling silver toothpaste. And you.

[quash]

It seems like you just want to argue.

Yeah, the US response hasn't been stellar, but it's way better than anyone had any reason to believe it would have been. What's happening right now is literally unprecedented, and warranted. It's not enough, and it came a little too late to be maximally effective, but the fact that we're taking this seriously at all has floored me. It feels like a fever dream.

You pointed out that a Republican from Georgia said he wasn't aware of it being carried by asymptomatic people. Pretty appalling. About as appalling as the Democratic mayor of New York telling people to live like normal. The earliest record of a US politician I can find even mentioning the Coronavirus is Tom Cotton, who happens to be a Republican, and he wasn't hedging his bets on it.

Again, I'm not here to keep score. If I can pinch my nose and praise Gavin Newsom's response, what more proof do you require of me that I am all for taking this seriously?

As for the deep state/entrenched bureaucrats, I don't trust them any more than I did a month ago, but ultimately this is something that can hurt them too. It's why most people in power who understand the severity of the situation tend to agree that we've made the right call. Some say we haven't gone far enough and in some aspects I agree, but again, we had no reason to believe that we would respond like this before the decision was made. If you don't think the response is unprecedented, find another instance of this happening. I'll wait.

Regarding China, I don't know what kind of proof you need. We all seem to agree that they're lying about the number of infections and fatalities, so do we not already treat them as a bad faith actor? Do you want me to post recorded politburo meetings or something? I'm just putting together a brief timeline of events.

For reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin ... nuary_2020

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin ... ruary_2020

November: Possibly the earliest known cases are reported to the CCP.

January: The absolute latest the CCP can claim to have found out about it. The lunar new year holiday was on the 25th. By the end of the month the virus is already in multiple countries.

February: Cases skyrocket and international travel remains mostly open. The stage is set for a global pandemic.

You can choose to believe this is simply incompetence, and I won't stop you from doing so, but regardless of why it didn't happen, China did not ban international travel anywhere near soon enough to prevent this from becoming a global pandemic. Had they done so, I'd be able to cut them some slack and maybe even offer some good faith their way. However, given that they're obviously lying about the impact within their borders, didn't ban travel to other countries, and are conducting an all out disinfo campaign to convince the world that it was actually the US that started this, why should we extend the benefit of the doubt to them? Why is suggesting that this event has been manipulated, if not downright orchestrated, controversial in the slightest? Sure, we don't have smoking gun evidence yet, but that's in part because the doctors who were trying to sound the alarm over this were silenced.

Again, I can't force you or anyone else to believe anything, but if this seems at all unreasonable to you, I really don't know what to say to that.

[BulletMagnet]

Yeah, the US response hasn't been stellar, but it's way better than anyone had any reason to believe it would have been.

I would absolutely love to hear what you expected to happen: were you counting on Daddy going full Glenn Beck (among others) on us and then firing up the incinerators? Which, as it happens, seems to clash with your accompanying hypothesis that The Establishment/Baby Boomers/4D Lizard People are doing as much as they are because they've been abruptly forced into self-preservation mode (which makes me even more eager to hear your take on the "The Medical Deep State is in cahoots with Beijing on this" meme)?

It's even funnier, of course, considering that this is the guy you hyped up for years as The One Who Finally Really Gets It, which only reinforces the impression that, even if you do have access to all this life-changing next-level dirt that the rest of us, invariably, just aren't ready for yet, you haven't the first clue what to do with any of it, especially if you've chosen to preach your life-changing gospel out here in the internet equivalent of Siberia.

And yeah, this outbreak is, in numerous ways, unprecedented, but so was the Depression, and so was World War 2, among numerous others, but back then folks at least had the good sense to realize that the corporatists and "America Firsters" had abjectly failed and told them in no uncertain terms to fuck off, rather than mewling that, well, at least Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford "exceeded expectations". Of course, if you really want to talk about something surreal it's the fact that both of those denizens of history's dustbin have not only resurfaced but effectively run the country...and that there are actually people wagging their fingers at anyone unwilling to "give them credit where it's due". On that note...

Again, I'm not here to keep score.

That's precisely the problem, and it is unfailingly the stance that "contrarians" like yourself take as soon as the skeevy con men you've rallied behind (sorry, but your half-assed backpedaling doesn't count) screw up royally, to be immediately abandoned as "commie kumbaya" as soon as someone else takes office. It's as blatant a dodge as there is: you can divide literally anything into two disparate parts and accurately - but, in the vast majority of cases, meaninglessly - say "there's xyz on both sides". Tune your microscope finely enough and everything exists on "both sides" of every chasm; the incredibly complicated idea, as you well know, is to actually deign to step back and look at the wider picture and overwhelming trends for a moment, something you have, inevitably, taken to labeling as "frivolous" and refusing to discuss.

By the by, as for the "I praised Newsom, you should praise Trump et al", sorry, that's not how it works: even assuming you're genuine in saying that the former pleasantly surprised you, from where I'm standing the response from the administration has been, and continues to be, abysmal on nearly every front. And here's where you get to dust off the "you have way too much faith in government, lol" line; yeah, I guess I'm just one of those crazies who looks at history, sees that positive things have sometimes happened when we've had the wherewithal to make them, and actually demands slightly more than cheap "entertainment" from his leaders.

Feel free to mock me for my naivete...and while you're there, be sure to indignantly deny that you're a nihilist.

We all seem to agree that they're lying about the number of infections and fatalities, so do we not already treat them as a bad faith actor?

Considering them a "bad faith actor" doesn't automatically mean you're required to unhesitatingly advance the juiciest tabloid-worthy (and worldview-reinforcing) headlines that should require the most irrefutable evidence to be taken seriously; could it have been intentional? Anything's possible! Feel free to somehow tie Google into it too if you want, go nuts! I and others, however, have repeatedly questioned whether the way this whole mess unfolded truly bears the marks of a targeted attack, as opposed to, say, prolonged denial (which, I imagine you'd concur, China has plenty of experience with as well); moreover, I'll ask you again to explain why the Trump administration either doesn't know about this or isn't bothering to mention it. Free tip: if it's too rickety for Daddy to hang his hat on, you just might want to be a little bit skeptical of it.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Come for the shmups stay for quash vs bm.

[quash]

I would absolutely love to hear what you expected to happen

Sure. I expected normalcy bias and downplayers to win out over people who had been paying close attention to what was going on and knew it stood to get much worse.

Glenn Beck (among others) on us and then firing up the incinerators? Which, as it happens, seems to clash with your accompanying hypothesis that The Establishment/Baby Boomers/4D Lizard People are doing as much as they are because they've been abruptly forced into self-preservation mode (which makes me even more eager to hear your take on the "The Medical Deep State is in cahoots with Beijing on this" meme)?

I don't care what Glenn Beck has to say and I never have. I also don't know what you're referring to as "the medical deep state".

What I do know is that this is the first time in history that nearly five billion people have been simultaneously placed on some sort of lock down. If you think this is being done out of the goodness of our leader's hearts, think again. Notice how a shit ton of political insiders are testing positive: public officials, their aides, etc. This is a very pragmatic, if not incredibly risky, measure for them to take out of self preservation. They've sat down and weighed the odds of dying vs the odds of losing their positions as a result of this, and they seem to like the odds of staying in power after this.

It's even funnier, of course, considering that this is the guy you hyped up for years as The One Who Finally Really Gets It, which only reinforces the impression that, even if you do have access to all this life-changing next-level dirt that the rest of us, invariably, just aren't ready for yet, you haven't the first clue what to do with any of it, especially if you've chosen to preach your life-changing gospel out here in the internet equivalent of Siberia.

I mean, he talked a hell of a good game, but ultimately he either became compromised or was from the very beginning. I'm still glad Hillary Clinton isn't president for a laundry list of reasons, but if she hypothetically were to respond the same way, I'd be saying the exact same thing I am now.

Also, I've been saying I'm a low man on the totem pole for years. I've also said on more than one occasion that the point of classification is to ensure that no one person knows everything. So not myself, Donald Trump, or yes, even Hillary Clinton, fully understands the context of, say, for example, the classified material amongst the tens of thousands of illegally transmitted emails she sent and received.

You know why I keep coming back here? Because the only other place on the internet I can be so reliably misrepresented and misunderstood is Facebook, but the average user there doesn't engage in nearly as interesting a level of discourse. So in a sense, I guess I should be thanking you.

And yeah, this outbreak is, in numerous ways, unprecedented, but so was the Depression, and so was World War 2 among numerous others, but back then folks at least had the good sense to realize that the corporatists and "America Firsters" had abjectly failed and told them in no uncertain terms to fuck off, rather than mewling that, well, at least Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford "exceeded expectations".

I think you're committing some pretty obvious context denial here. By most accounts, America has not been as divided as it is today since the lead-up to the Civil War. It's also widely accepted that faith in our institutions is at an all time low. That's not to speak of the drastic differences in media, technology, social cohesion, etc. between now and the early 20th century.

Also, Herbert Hoover was a one term president. Hate to break it to you, but the way things are looking now, that's something you won't be saying about Trump.

That's precisely the problem, and it is unfailingly the stance that "contrarians" like yourself take as soon as the skeevy con men you've rallied behind (sorry, but your half-assed backpedaling doesn't count) screw up royally, to be immediately abandoned as "commie kumbaya" as soon as someone else takes office.

Are you saying I'm a contrarian, or that I fancy myself one? I'm just a guy who calls it as I see it.

Be specific. What has Trump screwed up royally in his response? I'll give you the underhand lob of him waiting too long to shut things down. Now give me something else, that is actually his fault. Not having enough hospital beds, masks, and respirators for a scenario like this predates his administration by quite a bit. It even predates Obama.

Tune your microscope finely enough and everything exists on "both sides" of every chasm; the incredibly complicated idea, as you well know, is to actually deign to step back and look at the wider picture and overwhelming trends for a moment

Well here's a rare moment of clarity. Does this mean you're finally willing to admit that a cartoonish level of corruption plagues your political party to such an extent that you're putting an animated corpse up as your presidential nominee? Because I've railed on neocons and their corruption for years, and I would really like to get past the false dichotomy between political parties in this country, but you only seem to pay lip service to that when you can conveniently use it to dunk on someone.

By the by, as for the "I praised Newsom, you should praise Trump et al", sorry, that's not how it works

That's not what I'm saying, but okay.

And here's where you get to dust off the "you have way too much faith in government, lol" line

You really wanna know how we're in the end of days? I have more faith in the government right now than you do.

Feel free to mock me for my naivete...and while you're there, be sure to indignantly deny that you're a nihilist.

I don't think you're being naive. In fact, I'm not sure exactly what you're being right now. You're certainly upset and I'm still having a hard time figuring out why. Sure, things are fucked right now, but they're fucked to such an extent that the people normally doing the fucking have to take a break from that and make sure their own global economy ponzi scheme doesn't literally kill them.

As for the charge of me being a nihilist: I want to start a family some day. With the current economic system, the chances of me being able to do that are slim to none, and that's before you factor in other issues such as social cohesion. If I am a nihilist, it is only for as long as the Federal Reserve and the financial industry continue to squeeze every last cent out of us all.

CHYNA

This could be completely accidental top to bottom as far as the CCP goes. That still raises more than a few questions, ultimately leading to questioning why it is we've allowed such a wildly irresponsible nation (this is by the kindest and gentlest estimation, mind you) to rise to the #2 economy in the world.

What bothers me is that some people in the US don't seem the slightest bit interested in how things got to where they are, but do seem to want to downplay the severity of it, while bitching about things that, certainly given the circumstances, are pretty fucking frivolous. I am just as tired of hearing lazy accusations of racism against the Chinese as I am of hearing about how bad this is for the economy. You know what's really bad for the economy? Having untold numbers of people dead, or living with permanent lung/brain damage. And sorry, the government that runs literal concentration camps doesn't get to play the racism card.

A few months ago, the US was already in an unfavorable position with regards to China. We had to somehow strike a balance between repatriating production, antagonizing them, while also keeping them happy enough to continue to trade with us. The tariffs were but one aspect of this and they mostly did their job by my estimation, but they were just the beginning of a delicate balancing act. As much as it may sound crass, this may be our chance to not have to worry about keeping China happy while doing the other two. I really don't want to see this opportunity wasted as this is the only kind of scenario short of war that could favorably reposition us, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[Steamflogger Boss]

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/2 ... -you-think

[Udderdude]

This is one of the best articles I've found on shutting down the economy vs. avoidable deaths .. it's a long read. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... sis-159248

[GaijinPunch]

America

[orange808]

Another day, still flat deaths versus last year in Italy and still right with projections that were made last year before anything happened.

Jeepers! When will the numbers finally roll in? (They won't.)

Two weeks? Nah. Never.

How (oh how?) will you explain the financial ruin in a few weeks when things start getting printed? Mobilization would have been significantly cheaper than shutting down, but math is hard.

[GaijinPunch]

Another day, still flat deaths versus last year in Italy and still right with projections that were made last year before anything happened.

I know, right? Imagine if people were actually on the streets.

[Steamflogger Boss]

[orange808]

Due to the age of the population in Italy, deaths were scheduled to increase. The increase has been phasing in over the last few years.

[orange808]

Another day, still flat deaths versus last year in Italy and still right with projections that were made last year before anything happened.

I know, right? Imagine if people were actually on the streets.

Yep. You'll always find a way to make your prophesy come true.

It's like going to church.

[BulletMagnet]

Be specific. What has Trump screwed up royally in his response?

If anyone has ever wondered why I don't hesitate to call you a troll, nonsense like this is precisely why: you and the rest of Those Who Know What's Really Going On have complained for years on end that the (Deep?) media in its entirety is obsessed to the point of dementia with silencing the straight-shooting outsider and spends 99 percent of its time painstakingly chronicling and nitpicking every little thing Trump and company say and do...now, all of a sudden, you've apparently never heard of any of this, and want me to comb through this mile-high pile and put it in digest form for you.

Just like your whiplash-inducing praise of this "compromised" administration's response, it buggers belief that this is anything but yet another bad-faith, headache-inducing side trip. So it always goes: the back-and-forth gets more and more lengthy, but rubber never meets road; anything resembling genuine discourse simply gets bogged down with tangent after tangent and anyone attempting to keep track winds up exhausted. A few weeks or months later the same unprovable and/or downright ludicrous nonsense gets dropped again as if nothing happened, the cycle begins anew, and the harvesting of lulz once again commences.

Before I contribute another word to this latest trip around the mulberry bush, I'll fruitlessly ask you about the core of your premise for a third time: especially if you, and presumably the people upstairs who should know even more, consider this moment a golden opportunity to "put China in its place" without having to worry too much about repercussions, if there truly is convincing evidence that the Covid-19 virus was released on purpose, why are only the snake oil salesmen too blatant even for Trump pushing it?

[quash]

now, all of a sudden, you've apparently never heard of any of this, and want me to comb through this mile-high pile and put it in digest form for you.

I have my issues with the response so far and some of them even fall squarely on Trump himself. I want to hear what you think constitutes a royal screw up on his part. Perhaps this could shed light on how we see things differently, no?

Just like your whiplash-inducing praise of this "compromised" administration's response, it buggers belief that this is anything but yet another bad-faith, headache-inducing side trip.

Is it that out of the realm of imagination that a mediocre politician can do something good once in awhile? I even have praise for one specific thing Obama did with regard to foreign policy, but it's a secret I'll be keeping to the grave at this point.

if there truly is convincing evidence that the Covid-19 virus was released on purpose, why are only the snake oil salesmen too blatant even for Trump pushing it?

We're still dependent on China, for starters. Also, there's the impact this is having on our military force readiness. Make no mistake, things are moving in that direction as fast as they reasonably can given the circumstances.

On that note: https://nypost.com/2020/04/03/navy-secr ... s-at-risk/

Take a good look at this story. This is the kind of institutional rot the US has been dealing with for many years now. This man broke no laws and is being relieved of command on the bogus notion that he compromised force readiness. No, what compromises force readiness is forcing thousands of people into a floating dumpster in the middle of a global pandemic. They claim he didn't use the chain of command, when in all likelihood he did and fell on deaf ears, which led to him sending this message to other leaders onboard.

Full disclosure: Captain Crozier was my XO at one point. At no time did I ever see him impose unnecessary risk upon his crew, and the outpour of support he is receiving from those who have served under him speaks to that. When this man is made an example out of and not the people responsible for sailing though a plume of radioactive smoke in 2011, or those responsible for the collisions in 2017, or those involved in the Fat Leonard scandal, it speaks to a culture of corruption and complacency that poses a serious threat to our country and the rest of the world.

I am going to make a bit of an assumption here and it may be unfair, so correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be the type of person who thinks that Trump is the cause of things like this and not the symptom of it. You seem to think that listening to NPR and paying your taxes is going to fix everything, when it is that kind of complacency that enables those in power to abuse your good faith. It is blind faith in government institutions that allows them to continue their racket, which makes life that much shittier for us all. Yes, the private sector has no shortage of corruption either, but a lot of that ends up being made possible by government corruption. Don't mistake criticism of one thing as praise for another. Everything is fucked, but as long as you continue to believe there is or will ever be a simple solution to it ("vote blue no matter who"), you don't understand the half of it.

[GaijinPunch]

Due to the age of the population in Italy, deaths were scheduled to increase. The increase has been phasing in over the last few years.

We'll have to check back in on Japan in a month. They are a more extreme metric across the board in health (except maybe obesity) and many fold in population density, with as of yet not as high of a mortality rate. Shit is about to hit the fan in Tokyo though.

Another day, still flat deaths versus last year in Italy and still right with projections that were made last year before anything happened.

I know, right? Imagine if people were actually on the streets.

Yep. You'll always find a way to make your prophesy come true.

It's like going to church.

It's really not.

[GaijinPunch]

Take a good look at this story. This is the kind of institutional rot the US has been dealing with for many years now. This man broke no laws and is being relieved of command on the bogus notion that he compromised force readiness.

I just watched this on CNN. Obviously the media would paint it one way (or does usually I should say) but at the end I was like looking for the "however, he did this... " statement. Guy was concerned about the entire population of a nuclear submarine getting a hazardous virus? Don't we want those guys in top physical and mental condition? Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

[MintyTheCat]

Pretty hard to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRM5yyaDkMc

The word that comes to mind is decimation.

[BulletMagnet]

I am going to make a bit of an assumption here and it may be unfair, so correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be the type of person who thinks that Trump is the cause of things like this and not the symptom of it.

If folks will pardon another foray into "this should be in the politics thread" territory, this I want to respond to for a moment, as it happens I've used that exact phrase IRL when discussing this subject with a family member who is very much in the "I don't care who they nominate, just get Trump out" camp; among numerous other things (maybe we should be a little skeptical of the Obama guy who talks about how well he gets along with Mitch Fucking McConnell?), in a larger sense I can't help but be extremely wary of not caring about the person you vote for beyond how much you hate the other person (or the people who'd vote for that person), as that same yeeeahhhhh fuck yooouuu yeeahhhh attitude is a large part of how we ended up in the Glorious People's Free Republic of Trumpistan in the first place.

(To wit, recently, during a particularly banal and self-effusive "press conference" on TV this family member remarked "It's a travesty he's even allowed to speak like this", to which I replied "Plenty of others are 'allowing' him to do this, every last one of them will still be there once he's out of office, and 'our' presumptive nominee wants to be pals with them". Which earned me a now-familiar conversation-ending "Sure, just 'vote your conscience' on Election Day like an asshole and guarantee us another four years of this".)

As this relates to...whatever hot mess this is, hopefully you can at least acknowledge how...odd it is to hear you attempt to praise the actions of an administration that has been consistently pilloried almost across the board by medical experts for how inadequate and/or just plain fraudulent its response has been to the virus outbreak while simultaneously tut-tutting me, as you have for years, for trusting the government too much. Of all the actions taken by any administration, this is the one that pleasantly surprises you to the point you allow yourself an exemption from your constant "Wake Up Sheeple" mantra? Frankly, I find it hard to parse such a state of mind save how many "hysterical snowflakes" will be inevitably exasperated by it.

Y'know what, you really want to use our differences to delve meaningfully deeper into the situation, toss the rest of us a quick primer on what you think Trump (or, more accurately, Kushner) and company have done that isn't an inadequate half-measure at best, and see if things go anywhere unexpected from there. That, and how you apparently came to be the only "non-compromised" person with security clearance in the entire country, as not a single non-grifter anywhere, except for you, seems willing to "ask the right questions" about how the virus first spread, if it's truly that concrete and that important.

[Mills]

Pretty hard to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRM5yyaDkMc

The word that comes to mind is decimation.

Holy sh*t!

I think when the UK and US gov see this, they won't hesitate to impose lockdown. Youngest deaths in UK is 5yrs, 13yrs, 19yrs no underlying health issues.

The reality is when you don't see it in your neighborhood, you just don't wanna act with the lockdown. Especially this weekend when we will get the nicest weather this Sunday.