April 28, 2020

America is beginning to fail.

This administration is beginning to achieve something that wouldn’t have sounded possible a mere three years ago: the dissolution of the United States. Today, a fourth state collective was announced to deal with the challenges of the Corona virus, including personal protective equipment acquisition and distribution, and the process of safely reopening parts of their states. It’s being handled in a way to purposefully not inform the federal government of movement of necessary medical supplies. Bluntly, if the federal government is aware of the equipment, they may seize it and redirect it to undisclosed locations without informing anyone where it will be distributed. The states are also using a more science-based regional approach to determining what businesses should be considered essential, and when public services like schools should reopen. These decisions are being made at a state level specifically because involvement from the Federal Government is not only not helpful, it’s actively detrimental to the states.

In addition, the roll back of federal regulations on environmental policy (over 74 major pieces voided which states have tried to piecemeal back together on a state level), stark disagreements on immigration (sanctuary cities versus holding camps), major policy disagreements on subjects like medical marijuana (state tax revenue versus federal raids), and the recent spat between Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Gov. Cuomo from New York on “blue-state bailouts” show states are at least willing to threaten to go at it alone. There have been roll backs on inspections from the FDA when we need to protect our food supply the most. A study on Coronavirus tests that were rushed to market after being greenlit by the USDA showed that most of them are wildly inaccurate and useless. The Federal government is all but telling the states “Don’t trust us.”

The current administration is failing in so many ways that very few federal services are relevant to the states as a collective. There is a desire at the federal level to do away with many of these as well. The president and Congress have threatened to either withhold assistance funds or allow the United States Postal Service to fail, in favor of private businesses. The Interstate Highway Fund is massively underfunded, and no major infrastructure bill has passed in over a decade. The only “service” the United States Federal government is providing is protection through our military. However, the military can provide protection to a collective of smaller nations just as well as they are doing now. The American dream has gone on for over two and a half centuries. The dream may be over.

April 22, 2020

Study finds more deaths, no benefit from malaria drug touted by Trump

The study, funded by National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia, consisted of 368 patients at Veterans Health Administration medical centers, some treated hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin.

"About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. About 22% of those getting the drug plus azithromycin died too, but the difference between that group and usual care was not considered large enough to rule out other factors that could have affected survival."

Trump repeatedly pushed for using the drug against the advice of advisers like Dr. Fauci, presumably because he and other members of his administration own shares of the company that produce the drug.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/study-finds-more-deaths-no-benefit-from-malaria-drug-touted-by-president-trump/287-1bc9b7ad-d385-4bab-841a-839199d6a9e3

April 15, 2020

Donald Trump names WWE's Vince McMahon as adviser to restart US economy

The US president announced this week he’s putting together a group including the commissioners of the nation’s top four sports leagues and other executives.
As well as ‘the great’ WWE chairman Vince McMahon, Trump also named the likes of NBA’s Adam Silver, NFL chief Roger Goodell, MLB’s Rob Manfred and NHL boss Gary Bettman.
Furthermore, he noted that UFC president Dana White is part of the team, alongside Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/15/donald-trump-wwe-vince-mcmahon-adviser-economy-12558398/?fbclid=IwAR2o_bKhi4hZFtyR3vlgRWAv2HnczKiMuUkPYmx5QcFsFveYy-XH3nXszUM


Sure, why not? Fuck it.

I've found articles in eWrestlingNews, Sports Illustrated, but not major news sites. Metro UK has a shaky reputation at best. If it weren't for actual video of him saying this at yesterday's news briefing, I'd never believe it.

April 5, 2020

We just found out through the news about my Great Aunt's nursing home

I saw a story about St. John the Baptist parish in Louisiana and started checking with family. My great aunt's nursing home (Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home) is featured in the story. We're not able to get information if she's one of the 7 deceased or one of the 18 others that tested positive. She's 91, so we don't have high hopes. Additionally, I've got two aunts and an uncle about 15-20 miles away in Kenner and Metairie. All are diabetic, in poor health, and over 65. I was able to get a hold of two of them today, not doing any worse than usual. The third... he's running a fever and his blood sugar is testing over 600 (high enough his monitor can't read it). No one can go over to check on him because of the fever.

My dad is worried he's about to lose 3 siblings and we're not going to be able to go to their funerals. He's an absolute mess but I'm taking care of him. I'm at a loss y'all. Watch out for the ones you love.

https://www.wdsu.com/article/coroner-one-third-of-all-deaths-in-st-john-parish-connected-to-nursing-home-for-veterans-in-reserve/32022027#