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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
June 18, 2020
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/glenn-greenwald-black-lives-dont
After Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign, I more or less stopped paying attention to Glenn Greenwald. He had spent just about every waking moment of the last six years trying to poison the discourse and while he had succeeded in 2016, he had failed in 2020. There was not going to be a long, drawn out and damaging primary and, so far, there has been no significant split on the left. Except maybe in activist Twitter land which is divided between “Trump has got to go” and “four more years of Trump is worth it.” Greenwald and the rest of his anti-Democrat cohort occasionally darken my twitter feed and I’ll have something less than polite to say about them, but, mostly, I focus on Trump and his party of white nationalist fascists. But after almost three weeks of protests that are affecting real change, I thought I might pop on over and see what kind of crap good ol’ Glenn was spewing. There was zero chance Greenwald would support the protests without additional commentary because they are hurting Trump, badly.
Therefore, I guessed that instead of supporting anti-police brutality, Glenn would be more concerned with how Democrats are to blame for...something. It’s important to keep in mind that Greenwald presents himself as a champion of liberty. In reality, he behaves more like a right-leaning libertarian who doesn’t actually say he’s a right-leaning libertarian. His schtick is to attack Democrats as being the enemy of everything good in the world while ignoring the literal white nationalist fascism of Republicans. It’s a super transparent ruse that anyone not blinded by hatred of the Democratic Party can see through. But hate makes a lot of people easy to dupe (see, Republican Party, entire base of) so he still has quite the following. Even so, as a libertarian, one would think Greenwald would be pretty gung-ho about the protests. Police brutality is so anathema to libertarianism that even Rand Paul, one of the most loathsome Trump toadies in the Senate, is pushing a police reform bill. But Greenwald has very little interest in holding the police accountable. The real bad guys in the ongoing protests are Democrats.
Black Lives Don’t Matter When There Are Democrats To Blame
From the day Floyd was killed and moving through the following weeks, Greenwald’s tweets paint a depressing picture of a person paying lip service to the idea that the police need to be reigned in while searching for a narrative that paints Democrats as the primary villains. Greenwald occasionally struggles to find the right way to bash Democrats and stays relatively quiet until he figures it out. For instance, after his “Russiagate is a hoax” narrative blew up in his face, he was completely silent for a full week before flying into a fit of rage at, of course, Democrats. In this same vein, Greenwald doesn’t really say too much about Floyd, the police, or the protests for the first week or so. There are twice as many tweets about animal cruelty as there are about the protests and only a few of the those tweets are about the police themselves or their rapidly escalating violence. Most of them are about how you can’t trust Democrats or the press. There are, as always, very few tweets about Trump and they have to do with his threats to send in the military (which Glenn, to his credit, opposes). The overwhelming balance is about how awful Democrats are. There are but a handful discussing the actual point of the protests, i.e. black lives mattering.
I'd like to take a moment to point out that Glenn Greenwald is a regular guest on Tucker Carlson’s white nationalist power hour. Allegedly, he does this because his voice is being “suppressed” by the mean ol’ mainstream media — a weird claim given he runs a popular website lavishly funded by billionaire Peter Omidyar. Regardless, the fact that Greenwald is so comfortable with Tucker Carlson, Fox News’s premiere racist, strongly suggests that he doesn’t care all that much about George Floyd or the violence visited on black communities. Unless he can blame it on Democrats, that is. None of this surprised me in the least. Greenwald has never been an ally to anyone but rich white men. That’s what it means to be a libertarian. That’s why Greenwald’s arguments always seem to find a way to avoid criticizing Trump and the GOP while undermining their opposition. I was surprised, however, by the mendacity of the narrative he eventually stumbled onto in order to help Republicans: Democrats, healthcare experts, and the press (who all just so happen to also be targets of Trump) are Covid-19 hypocrites for not condemning the BLM protests. Strap yourself in, this gets crazier than usual. Even for Greenwald.
Everyone Is A Hypocrite! Except Me
My guess is that Greenwald noticed that the protests were resonating a little too much with his audience. There’s an awful lot of younger white people showing up to stand with black people — enough that the police are becoming less vigorous with their beatings. America shrugs at the brutalization of black protesters but it’s a different story when fresh-faced Sally gets a baton upside the head for holding a sign. Repeating over and over that Democrats are bad for aligning themselves with protests that most of the country, including a rather significant number of Republicans, are on board with wasn’t going to cut it. Time to find something new. And he certainly did:
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1271129224015941640
snip
Glenn Greenwald: Black Lives Don't Matter When There Are Democrats To Blame
This gets crazier than usual. Even for Greenwald.https://thebanter.substack.com/p/glenn-greenwald-black-lives-dont
After Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign, I more or less stopped paying attention to Glenn Greenwald. He had spent just about every waking moment of the last six years trying to poison the discourse and while he had succeeded in 2016, he had failed in 2020. There was not going to be a long, drawn out and damaging primary and, so far, there has been no significant split on the left. Except maybe in activist Twitter land which is divided between “Trump has got to go” and “four more years of Trump is worth it.” Greenwald and the rest of his anti-Democrat cohort occasionally darken my twitter feed and I’ll have something less than polite to say about them, but, mostly, I focus on Trump and his party of white nationalist fascists. But after almost three weeks of protests that are affecting real change, I thought I might pop on over and see what kind of crap good ol’ Glenn was spewing. There was zero chance Greenwald would support the protests without additional commentary because they are hurting Trump, badly.
Therefore, I guessed that instead of supporting anti-police brutality, Glenn would be more concerned with how Democrats are to blame for...something. It’s important to keep in mind that Greenwald presents himself as a champion of liberty. In reality, he behaves more like a right-leaning libertarian who doesn’t actually say he’s a right-leaning libertarian. His schtick is to attack Democrats as being the enemy of everything good in the world while ignoring the literal white nationalist fascism of Republicans. It’s a super transparent ruse that anyone not blinded by hatred of the Democratic Party can see through. But hate makes a lot of people easy to dupe (see, Republican Party, entire base of) so he still has quite the following. Even so, as a libertarian, one would think Greenwald would be pretty gung-ho about the protests. Police brutality is so anathema to libertarianism that even Rand Paul, one of the most loathsome Trump toadies in the Senate, is pushing a police reform bill. But Greenwald has very little interest in holding the police accountable. The real bad guys in the ongoing protests are Democrats.
Black Lives Don’t Matter When There Are Democrats To Blame
From the day Floyd was killed and moving through the following weeks, Greenwald’s tweets paint a depressing picture of a person paying lip service to the idea that the police need to be reigned in while searching for a narrative that paints Democrats as the primary villains. Greenwald occasionally struggles to find the right way to bash Democrats and stays relatively quiet until he figures it out. For instance, after his “Russiagate is a hoax” narrative blew up in his face, he was completely silent for a full week before flying into a fit of rage at, of course, Democrats. In this same vein, Greenwald doesn’t really say too much about Floyd, the police, or the protests for the first week or so. There are twice as many tweets about animal cruelty as there are about the protests and only a few of the those tweets are about the police themselves or their rapidly escalating violence. Most of them are about how you can’t trust Democrats or the press. There are, as always, very few tweets about Trump and they have to do with his threats to send in the military (which Glenn, to his credit, opposes). The overwhelming balance is about how awful Democrats are. There are but a handful discussing the actual point of the protests, i.e. black lives mattering.
I'd like to take a moment to point out that Glenn Greenwald is a regular guest on Tucker Carlson’s white nationalist power hour. Allegedly, he does this because his voice is being “suppressed” by the mean ol’ mainstream media — a weird claim given he runs a popular website lavishly funded by billionaire Peter Omidyar. Regardless, the fact that Greenwald is so comfortable with Tucker Carlson, Fox News’s premiere racist, strongly suggests that he doesn’t care all that much about George Floyd or the violence visited on black communities. Unless he can blame it on Democrats, that is. None of this surprised me in the least. Greenwald has never been an ally to anyone but rich white men. That’s what it means to be a libertarian. That’s why Greenwald’s arguments always seem to find a way to avoid criticizing Trump and the GOP while undermining their opposition. I was surprised, however, by the mendacity of the narrative he eventually stumbled onto in order to help Republicans: Democrats, healthcare experts, and the press (who all just so happen to also be targets of Trump) are Covid-19 hypocrites for not condemning the BLM protests. Strap yourself in, this gets crazier than usual. Even for Greenwald.
Everyone Is A Hypocrite! Except Me
My guess is that Greenwald noticed that the protests were resonating a little too much with his audience. There’s an awful lot of younger white people showing up to stand with black people — enough that the police are becoming less vigorous with their beatings. America shrugs at the brutalization of black protesters but it’s a different story when fresh-faced Sally gets a baton upside the head for holding a sign. Repeating over and over that Democrats are bad for aligning themselves with protests that most of the country, including a rather significant number of Republicans, are on board with wasn’t going to cut it. Time to find something new. And he certainly did:
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1271129224015941640
snip
June 16, 2020
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-arsonist-in-chief
In Washington, Trump burned the bridges that connected us with longtime allies. He inflamed tensions with North Korea by threatening war, and with Iran by cremating the nuclear deal and one of its generals. He incinerated presidential accountability by removing those who were supposed to hold him accountable. He blowtorched norms of presidential behavior and just plain human decency. He is supremely deviant and stunningly malignant. Ego and self-gratification are his primary motivators. And he runs the country accordingly, even if it means setting it alight. Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been abysmal if not criminally negligent. He didn’t start the fire, but his shocking incompetence has made it worse. As a result, more than 115,000 Americans and counting have gone up in smoke. The country needed a firefighter. Instead it got someone content to watch it burn.
On Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump will hold his first rally since March 2nd. It just might burn down the city, or at least some of his supporters. The indoor gathering will be attended by thousands and it could not come at a worse time. Tusla’s seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases more than doubled between June 7th and June 12th. Tulsa’s health director, Dr. Bruce Dart, said the jump isn’t due to increased testing because the number of tests administered has remained steady. He blamed the rise on people not taking the necessary precautions, and sounded an alarm on the rally.
“I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event,” said Dart. “And I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well.” Even though his rally could turn Tulsa into a COVID conflagration, the president will stay safe. Arsonists are seldom singed by their handiwork. Whatever their motives, they indulge themselves while endangering others. We saw this exactly two weeks ago when Trump ignited another blaze in the nation's capital. He ordered his obsequious Attorney General, Bill Barr – who for his part has set fire to the Justice Department – to expel peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square. Like so many others across the country, they were protesting police brutality against black Americans. And police brutality is what they got.
Trump had been angered by news reports noting he spent time in a bunker under the White House while protests raged around it. To counter this image, he wanted to be seen walking outside the White House gates to St. John’s Episcopal Church so he could awkwardly pose with a Bible. But the protesters were in the way; so police hit them with batons, pepper spray, and of course, smoke bombs. For good measure, an Australian news crew was knocked to the ground. In Lafayette Square that day, four of the six rights granted by the First Amendment – speech, assembly, press, and petitioning the government for a redress of grievances – went up in flames. And though there should be little sympathy for the police cogs who perpetrated this unconstitutional act, they too could have been injured in the clash. Trump knew this, but he put his own law enforcement agents in harm’s way regardless. He wanted to assuage his ego, which is the same reason he’s putting his own voters in harm’s way in Tulsa. Trump is the vainest, pettiest arsonist there has ever been. He must be stopped in November.
That's assuming he hasn’t burned the nation to the ground by then.
snip
The Arsonist-in-Chief
Donald Trump has always been an arsonist. Before becoming president, he set money ablaze with his failed business ventures. He burned contractors who worked on his properties, and banks that lent him money. He had (and still has) a litigious streak tantamount to a scorched earth policy. He poured gasoline on the Obama birther conspiracy. Then America sent him to the White House.https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-arsonist-in-chief
In Washington, Trump burned the bridges that connected us with longtime allies. He inflamed tensions with North Korea by threatening war, and with Iran by cremating the nuclear deal and one of its generals. He incinerated presidential accountability by removing those who were supposed to hold him accountable. He blowtorched norms of presidential behavior and just plain human decency. He is supremely deviant and stunningly malignant. Ego and self-gratification are his primary motivators. And he runs the country accordingly, even if it means setting it alight. Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been abysmal if not criminally negligent. He didn’t start the fire, but his shocking incompetence has made it worse. As a result, more than 115,000 Americans and counting have gone up in smoke. The country needed a firefighter. Instead it got someone content to watch it burn.
On Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump will hold his first rally since March 2nd. It just might burn down the city, or at least some of his supporters. The indoor gathering will be attended by thousands and it could not come at a worse time. Tusla’s seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases more than doubled between June 7th and June 12th. Tulsa’s health director, Dr. Bruce Dart, said the jump isn’t due to increased testing because the number of tests administered has remained steady. He blamed the rise on people not taking the necessary precautions, and sounded an alarm on the rally.
“I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event,” said Dart. “And I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well.” Even though his rally could turn Tulsa into a COVID conflagration, the president will stay safe. Arsonists are seldom singed by their handiwork. Whatever their motives, they indulge themselves while endangering others. We saw this exactly two weeks ago when Trump ignited another blaze in the nation's capital. He ordered his obsequious Attorney General, Bill Barr – who for his part has set fire to the Justice Department – to expel peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square. Like so many others across the country, they were protesting police brutality against black Americans. And police brutality is what they got.
Trump had been angered by news reports noting he spent time in a bunker under the White House while protests raged around it. To counter this image, he wanted to be seen walking outside the White House gates to St. John’s Episcopal Church so he could awkwardly pose with a Bible. But the protesters were in the way; so police hit them with batons, pepper spray, and of course, smoke bombs. For good measure, an Australian news crew was knocked to the ground. In Lafayette Square that day, four of the six rights granted by the First Amendment – speech, assembly, press, and petitioning the government for a redress of grievances – went up in flames. And though there should be little sympathy for the police cogs who perpetrated this unconstitutional act, they too could have been injured in the clash. Trump knew this, but he put his own law enforcement agents in harm’s way regardless. He wanted to assuage his ego, which is the same reason he’s putting his own voters in harm’s way in Tulsa. Trump is the vainest, pettiest arsonist there has ever been. He must be stopped in November.
That's assuming he hasn’t burned the nation to the ground by then.
snip
June 16, 2020
https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-stephen-millerdonald-trump-speech
“Hello, and thank you for tuning in. That includes my friends at Black Entertainment Television. BET loves me. A few years back we were going to do a reality show with me and a black as my driver, but a bunch of racists killed it. How did that go for you? Now I’m on top and you guys come free with a basic cable package. Anyway, we’re here for an important reason—to deal with the racial nightmare that Barack Obama brought to this country. This is what happens when you stir folks up. I don’t like it. You don’t like it. Only I can fix it.
First, it is very important to note that I was not responsible for the slave ships that started coming to this country in the 17th century. That was all due to previous administrations. The blacks should never have been brought here in the first place. They had their own baseball league and their own nightclubs, and people were happy and they really should have left it like that. But now that it’s too late, let me say this. I, Donald J. Trump, am ordering a total and complete shutdown of blacks entering this country until we figure out what the hell is going on. This is something that obviously should have been done many years ago but no one had the guts to do it. And we’re going to have a wall. A beautiful wall. A wall between the United States and Africa, and Africa is going to pay for it. And we’re going to have a wall between the United States and Alabama. And we’re going to have the blacks build it because no one ever did more for black employment than I did.
Let me just say something here that never gets any attention in the liberal fake media. You look at all the women they say I raped or sexually assaulted or grabbed their whatever and you don’t see one black face. Not one. And you’d think maybe the New York Slimes or the Washington Compost or MSLSD would be nice and mention that even once. Maybe mention that this shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that I respect black women. But nothing. Dead silence. And if let’s say I had assaulted a few black females at the Miss Black America pageant or something because just like Sir Mix-a-Lot I like big butts, the same liberal fake media would never have admitted Donald Trump was for equal opportunity. You can’t win. Anyway, we’re going to do more than build a beautiful wall. You have to figure a few blacks are going to try to come into this country anyway. And some of them are going to bring their kids even though the kids should be in school but are playing hooky. That’s why there was so much black unemployment with Obama. The kids were all staying at home rioting.
From now on we’re going to separate black kids from their parents at the border. This is a win-win. First of all, maybe after this, black parents will think twice about trying to get into this country illegally. Also, maybe black kids will do better in white homes where there is less looting and more 5G. Finally, if black parents raise white kids for a while maybe the kids will get into better schools. Finally, let me say that no one was more upset to see what has been going on in this country the last few weeks. After the thing with George Floyd I binge-watched old Amos ‘n’ Andy reruns for three days and ate KFC in bed. Again, Barack Obama. It was a shame. There were very fine people on both sides. But you have to be smart. First they say, okay you got this virus so stay inside. Then they say, okay, they shouldn’t have killed this kid in Minneapolis so everybody go outside and protest. Inside, outside, which is it going to be? So I’m making a new law. During the pandemic the black people stay inside and the white people stay outside. This way no one gets sick and no one gets hurt. It’ll be better and safer for everybody. The blacks love me. The whites love me. They just shouldn’t love me together.”
snip
satire
The Stephen Miller/Donald Trump Speech on Race Relations: First Draft
"We’re here for an important reason—to deal with the racial nightmare that Barack Obama brought to this country."https://thebanter.substack.com/p/the-stephen-millerdonald-trump-speech
“Hello, and thank you for tuning in. That includes my friends at Black Entertainment Television. BET loves me. A few years back we were going to do a reality show with me and a black as my driver, but a bunch of racists killed it. How did that go for you? Now I’m on top and you guys come free with a basic cable package. Anyway, we’re here for an important reason—to deal with the racial nightmare that Barack Obama brought to this country. This is what happens when you stir folks up. I don’t like it. You don’t like it. Only I can fix it.
First, it is very important to note that I was not responsible for the slave ships that started coming to this country in the 17th century. That was all due to previous administrations. The blacks should never have been brought here in the first place. They had their own baseball league and their own nightclubs, and people were happy and they really should have left it like that. But now that it’s too late, let me say this. I, Donald J. Trump, am ordering a total and complete shutdown of blacks entering this country until we figure out what the hell is going on. This is something that obviously should have been done many years ago but no one had the guts to do it. And we’re going to have a wall. A beautiful wall. A wall between the United States and Africa, and Africa is going to pay for it. And we’re going to have a wall between the United States and Alabama. And we’re going to have the blacks build it because no one ever did more for black employment than I did.
Let me just say something here that never gets any attention in the liberal fake media. You look at all the women they say I raped or sexually assaulted or grabbed their whatever and you don’t see one black face. Not one. And you’d think maybe the New York Slimes or the Washington Compost or MSLSD would be nice and mention that even once. Maybe mention that this shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that I respect black women. But nothing. Dead silence. And if let’s say I had assaulted a few black females at the Miss Black America pageant or something because just like Sir Mix-a-Lot I like big butts, the same liberal fake media would never have admitted Donald Trump was for equal opportunity. You can’t win. Anyway, we’re going to do more than build a beautiful wall. You have to figure a few blacks are going to try to come into this country anyway. And some of them are going to bring their kids even though the kids should be in school but are playing hooky. That’s why there was so much black unemployment with Obama. The kids were all staying at home rioting.
From now on we’re going to separate black kids from their parents at the border. This is a win-win. First of all, maybe after this, black parents will think twice about trying to get into this country illegally. Also, maybe black kids will do better in white homes where there is less looting and more 5G. Finally, if black parents raise white kids for a while maybe the kids will get into better schools. Finally, let me say that no one was more upset to see what has been going on in this country the last few weeks. After the thing with George Floyd I binge-watched old Amos ‘n’ Andy reruns for three days and ate KFC in bed. Again, Barack Obama. It was a shame. There were very fine people on both sides. But you have to be smart. First they say, okay you got this virus so stay inside. Then they say, okay, they shouldn’t have killed this kid in Minneapolis so everybody go outside and protest. Inside, outside, which is it going to be? So I’m making a new law. During the pandemic the black people stay inside and the white people stay outside. This way no one gets sick and no one gets hurt. It’ll be better and safer for everybody. The blacks love me. The whites love me. They just shouldn’t love me together.”
snip
satire
June 16, 2020
A specialist in biological and chemical warfare has explained why he believes you should never get in a Las Vegas pool, and it's a rollercoaster. Author Dan Kaszeta began his career as a Chemical Officer in the US Army. He then became a defense contractor, working with the Pentagon on chemical and biological proliferation issues. His career spans historical research for the USA's decommissioned chemical and biological weapons programs to training on live nerve agents. Basically he's got the kind of C.V. that if he says "don't go in that pool" you don't get in that pool. Which made the following tweets quite worrying for Las Vegas pool fans.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1264657670709133315
After receiving a few annoyed replies from Las Vegas pool enthusiast Twitter for the enigmatic tweet, he decided to elaborate on why you shouldn't go swimming in a Las Vegas pool, or even touch the water. Fair warning, it makes for some grim reading. In a Twitter thread, he explains in the late 1990s he was working as the "chemical and biological terrorism guy at the White House Military Office," right around the time they were starting to take chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense seriously. While working there, he got a call from another federal agency that needed his help.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265193651187089408
Kaszeta hooked up the caller with a lab that could do a full chemical and biological analysis on a sample they needed looking at. The particular lab used a process that involved analyzing control samples, or "blanks", as well as the suspect substance. The scientists involved were not told which was which.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265193667238801410
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265194538580283393
The suspicious sample, it turned out, contained something relatively harmless "like glycerine". But the control sample, in this case, swimming pool water from a major Las Vegas Hotel, hoo boy.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265196259700244485
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265197636023455750
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265198767688515586
So far, so disgusting. But he wasn't done. Being a science guy, he asked the contact to collect more samples from other pools "for giggles". Same results.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265199981016858625
snip
more at the top link
Biological warfare expert explains why you should never get in a Las Vegas pool
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/biological-warfare-expert-explains-why-you-should-never-get-in-a-las-vegas-pool/A specialist in biological and chemical warfare has explained why he believes you should never get in a Las Vegas pool, and it's a rollercoaster. Author Dan Kaszeta began his career as a Chemical Officer in the US Army. He then became a defense contractor, working with the Pentagon on chemical and biological proliferation issues. His career spans historical research for the USA's decommissioned chemical and biological weapons programs to training on live nerve agents. Basically he's got the kind of C.V. that if he says "don't go in that pool" you don't get in that pool. Which made the following tweets quite worrying for Las Vegas pool fans.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1264657670709133315
After receiving a few annoyed replies from Las Vegas pool enthusiast Twitter for the enigmatic tweet, he decided to elaborate on why you shouldn't go swimming in a Las Vegas pool, or even touch the water. Fair warning, it makes for some grim reading. In a Twitter thread, he explains in the late 1990s he was working as the "chemical and biological terrorism guy at the White House Military Office," right around the time they were starting to take chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense seriously. While working there, he got a call from another federal agency that needed his help.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265193651187089408
Kaszeta hooked up the caller with a lab that could do a full chemical and biological analysis on a sample they needed looking at. The particular lab used a process that involved analyzing control samples, or "blanks", as well as the suspect substance. The scientists involved were not told which was which.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265193667238801410
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265194538580283393
The suspicious sample, it turned out, contained something relatively harmless "like glycerine". But the control sample, in this case, swimming pool water from a major Las Vegas Hotel, hoo boy.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265196259700244485
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265197636023455750
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265198767688515586
So far, so disgusting. But he wasn't done. Being a science guy, he asked the contact to collect more samples from other pools "for giggles". Same results.
https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1265199981016858625
snip
more at the top link
June 15, 2020
Label:
Sire ?– 0-21113, Sire ?– 9 21113-0
Format:
Vinyl, 12", Maxi-Single, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country:
US
Released:
1988
Genre:
Electronic, Rock
Style:
Industrial
Ministry - Stigmata
Label:
Sire ?– 0-21113, Sire ?– 9 21113-0
Format:
Vinyl, 12", Maxi-Single, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country:
US
Released:
1988
Genre:
Electronic, Rock
Style:
Industrial
June 15, 2020
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Oluwatoyin Salau, a 19-year-old protester who begged for justice in the wake of Black lives lost, has died.
Police and her family confirmed the death Monday morning.
Salau was found dead Saturday night after she went missing more than a week ago, on June 6, family members told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Salau was one of two homicide victims discovered Saturday night in southeast Tallahassee, a couple miles from where she was last seen at a library.
snip
https://twitter.com/lexi4prez/status/1272387011618451456
Florida protester Oluwatoyin Salau, 19, found dead in Tallahassee after going missing
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/15/oluwatoyin-salau-found-dead-tallahassee-black-lives-matter-protest-missing/3190606001/TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Oluwatoyin Salau, a 19-year-old protester who begged for justice in the wake of Black lives lost, has died.
Police and her family confirmed the death Monday morning.
Salau was found dead Saturday night after she went missing more than a week ago, on June 6, family members told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Salau was one of two homicide victims discovered Saturday night in southeast Tallahassee, a couple miles from where she was last seen at a library.
snip
https://twitter.com/lexi4prez/status/1272387011618451456
June 15, 2020
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/coronavirus-fda-revoked-hydroxychloroquine?ref=hpsplash&origin=spl
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday revoked its March emergency authorization of two malaria drugs touted by President Donald Trump as treatments for the novel coronavirus.
"FDA has determined that [chloroquine] and [hydroxychloroquine] are unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19," an agency announcement said. In addition to not helping treat the disease, the drugs were linked to "serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects."
The revocation of the "Emergency Use Authorization" does not affect long-approved uses of the drugs to treat malaria, lupus, arthritis, or related diseases, the agency noted.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1241367239900778501
In mid-March, Trump had vigorously endorsed the drugs as treatments for the coronavirus, following reports from China of its use in treatment regimens and a small French study, now widely criticized, reporting success with the drug. (The French study was a major basis for the FDA authorizing use of the drug on March 28, BuzzFeed News later determined through a public records release.)
snip
The FDA Just Pulled Chloroquine And Hydroxychloroquine As Coronavirus Treatments
The federal agency noted that the two drugs are "unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19" and could cause serious side effects.https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/coronavirus-fda-revoked-hydroxychloroquine?ref=hpsplash&origin=spl
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday revoked its March emergency authorization of two malaria drugs touted by President Donald Trump as treatments for the novel coronavirus.
"FDA has determined that [chloroquine] and [hydroxychloroquine] are unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19," an agency announcement said. In addition to not helping treat the disease, the drugs were linked to "serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects."
The revocation of the "Emergency Use Authorization" does not affect long-approved uses of the drugs to treat malaria, lupus, arthritis, or related diseases, the agency noted.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1241367239900778501
In mid-March, Trump had vigorously endorsed the drugs as treatments for the coronavirus, following reports from China of its use in treatment regimens and a small French study, now widely criticized, reporting success with the drug. (The French study was a major basis for the FDA authorizing use of the drug on March 28, BuzzFeed News later determined through a public records release.)
snip
June 14, 2020
I am in the South of France , all the news channels are absolutely tearing Trump apart, practically
calling him Le président raciste des États-Unis...The entire world is looking at the United States with absolute disgust . It is breathtaking how much the execution..of George Floyd and an American President’s reactions towards peaceful protesters for a photo op to Trumps non action do anything to offer any sort of leadership during these past weeks, besides ..stoking even more division through his tweets. He's decimated the United States standing around the world ! You need to vote that thing out in November !!!!
𝕭𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖆 𝖉𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖇𝖔𝖓
@BelladeBourbon
Equine Rescue in Flag of United Kingdom & Flag of Spain , Philanthropist, Animal Lover, Lover of Lovers, House of Bourbon , Order of the Golden Fleece CrownFleur-de-lis
https://twitter.com/BelladeBourbon/status/1271799282287460352
https://twitter.com/BelladeBourbon/status/1271799717513572352
June 13, 2020
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/biden-ukraine-recordings-oan/612454/
In what appears to be a signal of intensifying political warfare ahead of the November election, One America News Network, the Trump-supporting cable channel that has been promoting anti-Biden conspiracies for several months, says it has obtained several hours of secret recordings of then–Vice President Biden’s conversations with Ukrainian officials. If such recordings exist, they’re likely linked to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine and a Russian intelligence operation, two former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine and a former ambassador to Russia told me. The OAN employee who claims to have the tapes would not say what was on them, other than suggesting that they will be revelatory. In the audio that has been released elsewhere so far, Biden is heard dangling the promise of financial aid to Ukraine if its government ousted a prosecutor who was seen as corrupt—which Biden has previously said publicly was his goal, as part of a push for widespread reforms.
Conspiracists have alleged that this was intended to help his son Hunter escape charges of corruption, but an audit by Ukraine’s former top prosecutor released last week found no evidence of illegal activity by Hunter in his capacity as an energy-company board member. What is most remarkable here is that none of this is particularly surprising. Russian interference in the 2016 election has been closely studied over the past four years, and America’s vulnerabilities have only worsened in that time. As my colleague Franklin Foer wrote recently, “Russia’s interference in 2016 might be remembered as the experimental prelude that foreshadowed the attack of 2020.” That OAN is now a player in such interference suggests an escalation that the Biden campaign has been bracing for. Indeed, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul—who has recalled being secretly recorded himself, among other forms of harassment, when he was posted in Moscow—told me, "There’s never been a moment like this in American history.”
That includes 2016. McFaul said what he’s seeing now reminds him of tactics the Kremlin has used against its domestic political opponents. “It’s not to convince you of a different point of view. It’s to convince you that there is no truth,” he said. “When it feels like nobody’s telling the truth and there is no truth, the reaction to that is despondency and demobilization.” It’s hard not to feel some déjà vu here. In 2016, Russian intelligence agents hacked the emails of Democratic National Committee staffers and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and delivered them to WikiLeaks, as a way to get them into the American media. Some outlets learned a lesson from that episode, and have treated new Biden recordings out of Ukraine with care. Others have not. Andriy Derkach, who released the Biden tapes that have already come out, is a former member of a pro-Russian political party who graduated from a KGB-run academy in Moscow. OAN lends his efforts a veneer, however thin, of journalistic legitimacy.
The person now claiming to have more tapes is OAN’s Chanel Rion, the on-air personality who went with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, on his December trip to Ukraine in part to find information on Biden to help Trump. Rion, who has become famous for her conspiracy-inflected questions at White House briefings, emailed the Biden campaign May 29 claiming that she was working on an “in-depth report” about recordings that appear to be of Biden speaking with Petro Poroshenko, then the president of Ukraine. “We have over five hours of these recordings (beyond what has been posted online by Nabu Leaks),” she wrote, referencing a Ukrainian website suspected of Russian links. Derkach, a politician known as the “Ukrainian Putin,” has been a proponent of the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was really behind the interference in the 2016 election instead of Russia. And he has previously been eager to provide damaging material about Biden for Trump’s sake. Derkach released a batch of recordings three weeks ago, claiming that they had been made by Poroshenko and given to him by “investigative journalists.” (Poroshenko has said the audio is “fabricated.”) Most mainstream-media outlets have decided that the recordings that have emerged so far offer “little new insight into Biden’s actions in Ukraine,” as The Washington Post’s Carol Morello wrote after the recordings were first released.
snip
EXCLUSIVE: A changed name, an alleged fraudster dad and a VERY questionable resume: So how did Donald Trump's favorite White House correspondent pass security checks to become the social-distancing-defying briefing-crasher?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8181867/Fake-conman-dad-questionable-resume-Truth-Chanel-Rion-Trumps-favorite-reporter.html
She is Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter – invited back by his press secretary when other journalists had her network removed for refusing to socially distance at his coronavirus briefings. But a DailyMail.com investigation has uncovered serious questions over One America News (OAN) White House Correspondent Chanel Rion's background, finances, and how she obtained security clearance to be in the White House.
In fact, DailyMail.com can disclose that Rion changed her last name before applying for White House security clearance last year and that until becoming a correspondent for the conservative network last May, she had no obvious source of income, despite a social media profile filled with designer dresses and vacations in upscale hotels.
The 29-year-old has now flouted the White House Correspondents' Association repeatedly after it had OAN removed from the rotation of reporters allowed in the briefing room for Rion's refusal to follow social distancing guidelines.
Her latest appearance was on Wednesday, when once again she turned up at the back of the briefing room, defying the WHCA guidelines, and once again was invited by Trump to ask a question. It was her third day this week, starting with Monday night, when she boasted to DailyMail.com about a 'meeting' with his then-press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was moved to another job the next day.
snip
Is OAN the Leading Edge of Russian Misinformation?
The Biden campaign says Trump’s favorite TV network is peddling the Kremlin’s lies.https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/biden-ukraine-recordings-oan/612454/
In what appears to be a signal of intensifying political warfare ahead of the November election, One America News Network, the Trump-supporting cable channel that has been promoting anti-Biden conspiracies for several months, says it has obtained several hours of secret recordings of then–Vice President Biden’s conversations with Ukrainian officials. If such recordings exist, they’re likely linked to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine and a Russian intelligence operation, two former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine and a former ambassador to Russia told me. The OAN employee who claims to have the tapes would not say what was on them, other than suggesting that they will be revelatory. In the audio that has been released elsewhere so far, Biden is heard dangling the promise of financial aid to Ukraine if its government ousted a prosecutor who was seen as corrupt—which Biden has previously said publicly was his goal, as part of a push for widespread reforms.
Conspiracists have alleged that this was intended to help his son Hunter escape charges of corruption, but an audit by Ukraine’s former top prosecutor released last week found no evidence of illegal activity by Hunter in his capacity as an energy-company board member. What is most remarkable here is that none of this is particularly surprising. Russian interference in the 2016 election has been closely studied over the past four years, and America’s vulnerabilities have only worsened in that time. As my colleague Franklin Foer wrote recently, “Russia’s interference in 2016 might be remembered as the experimental prelude that foreshadowed the attack of 2020.” That OAN is now a player in such interference suggests an escalation that the Biden campaign has been bracing for. Indeed, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul—who has recalled being secretly recorded himself, among other forms of harassment, when he was posted in Moscow—told me, "There’s never been a moment like this in American history.”
That includes 2016. McFaul said what he’s seeing now reminds him of tactics the Kremlin has used against its domestic political opponents. “It’s not to convince you of a different point of view. It’s to convince you that there is no truth,” he said. “When it feels like nobody’s telling the truth and there is no truth, the reaction to that is despondency and demobilization.” It’s hard not to feel some déjà vu here. In 2016, Russian intelligence agents hacked the emails of Democratic National Committee staffers and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and delivered them to WikiLeaks, as a way to get them into the American media. Some outlets learned a lesson from that episode, and have treated new Biden recordings out of Ukraine with care. Others have not. Andriy Derkach, who released the Biden tapes that have already come out, is a former member of a pro-Russian political party who graduated from a KGB-run academy in Moscow. OAN lends his efforts a veneer, however thin, of journalistic legitimacy.
The person now claiming to have more tapes is OAN’s Chanel Rion, the on-air personality who went with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, on his December trip to Ukraine in part to find information on Biden to help Trump. Rion, who has become famous for her conspiracy-inflected questions at White House briefings, emailed the Biden campaign May 29 claiming that she was working on an “in-depth report” about recordings that appear to be of Biden speaking with Petro Poroshenko, then the president of Ukraine. “We have over five hours of these recordings (beyond what has been posted online by Nabu Leaks),” she wrote, referencing a Ukrainian website suspected of Russian links. Derkach, a politician known as the “Ukrainian Putin,” has been a proponent of the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was really behind the interference in the 2016 election instead of Russia. And he has previously been eager to provide damaging material about Biden for Trump’s sake. Derkach released a batch of recordings three weeks ago, claiming that they had been made by Poroshenko and given to him by “investigative journalists.” (Poroshenko has said the audio is “fabricated.”) Most mainstream-media outlets have decided that the recordings that have emerged so far offer “little new insight into Biden’s actions in Ukraine,” as The Washington Post’s Carol Morello wrote after the recordings were first released.
snip
EXCLUSIVE: A changed name, an alleged fraudster dad and a VERY questionable resume: So how did Donald Trump's favorite White House correspondent pass security checks to become the social-distancing-defying briefing-crasher?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8181867/Fake-conman-dad-questionable-resume-Truth-Chanel-Rion-Trumps-favorite-reporter.html
Chanel Rion is the pro-Trump journalist for conservative network OAN, which was removed from White House briefings for her refusal to socially distance
She was promptly re-invited by then press secretary Stephanie Grisham and Trump again invited her to ask a question - and has been back twice since
DailyMail.com reveals new questions over how the 29-year-old is allowed into the White House
She was born Chanel Dyan-Ryan and only changed her last name legally last year when she applied for a 'hard pass' for the White House
For years she had no obvious employment but posed in designer dresses and at expensive vacation venues
She describes herself as a Harvard graduate but actually enrolled in Harvard's Extension School where entry requirements are much lower
She claimed to be part of Trump's 2016 campaign but a senior Republican told DailyMail.com they had no memory of her
Rion appears to have visited New Hampshire with her brother and sister and was photographed in front of a Chris Christie sign
Her fiance, a combat veteran who servied in Iraq, ran for Senate in a Republican primary in Missouri as Courtland Sykes but his real first name is Bob
She was promptly re-invited by then press secretary Stephanie Grisham and Trump again invited her to ask a question - and has been back twice since
DailyMail.com reveals new questions over how the 29-year-old is allowed into the White House
She was born Chanel Dyan-Ryan and only changed her last name legally last year when she applied for a 'hard pass' for the White House
For years she had no obvious employment but posed in designer dresses and at expensive vacation venues
She describes herself as a Harvard graduate but actually enrolled in Harvard's Extension School where entry requirements are much lower
She claimed to be part of Trump's 2016 campaign but a senior Republican told DailyMail.com they had no memory of her
Rion appears to have visited New Hampshire with her brother and sister and was photographed in front of a Chris Christie sign
Her fiance, a combat veteran who servied in Iraq, ran for Senate in a Republican primary in Missouri as Courtland Sykes but his real first name is Bob
She is Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter – invited back by his press secretary when other journalists had her network removed for refusing to socially distance at his coronavirus briefings. But a DailyMail.com investigation has uncovered serious questions over One America News (OAN) White House Correspondent Chanel Rion's background, finances, and how she obtained security clearance to be in the White House.
In fact, DailyMail.com can disclose that Rion changed her last name before applying for White House security clearance last year and that until becoming a correspondent for the conservative network last May, she had no obvious source of income, despite a social media profile filled with designer dresses and vacations in upscale hotels.
The 29-year-old has now flouted the White House Correspondents' Association repeatedly after it had OAN removed from the rotation of reporters allowed in the briefing room for Rion's refusal to follow social distancing guidelines.
Her latest appearance was on Wednesday, when once again she turned up at the back of the briefing room, defying the WHCA guidelines, and once again was invited by Trump to ask a question. It was her third day this week, starting with Monday night, when she boasted to DailyMail.com about a 'meeting' with his then-press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was moved to another job the next day.
snip
June 13, 2020
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/virus-will-win/612946/
A second wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has. In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the virus is no longer growing at an exponential rate, the threat it poses remains significant: According to a forecasting model by Morgan Stanley, the number of American cases will, if current trends hold, roughly double over the next two months. But neither the impact of mass protests over police brutality nor the effect of the recent reopening of much of the country—including the casinos in Las Vegas—is reflected in the latest numbers. It can take at least 10 days for people to develop symptoms and seek out a test, and for the results to be aggregated and disseminated by public-health authorities. Even so, the disease is slowly starting to recede from the public’s attention. After months of dominating media coverage, COVID-19 has largely disappeared from the front pages of most national newspapers. In recent polls, the number of people who favor “reopening the economy as soon as possible” over “staying home as long as necessary” has increased.
And so it is perhaps no surprise that even states where the number of new infections stands at an all-time high are pressing ahead with plans to lift many restrictions on businesses and mass gatherings. When the first wave of COVID-19 was threatening to overwhelm the medical system, back in March, the public’s fear and uncertainty were far more intense than they are now. So was the reason to hope that some magic bullet might rescue us from the worst ravages of the disease. At this point, such hopes look unrealistic. After months of intense research, an effective treatment for COVID-19 still does not exist. A vaccine is, even if we get lucky, many months away from deployment. Because the virus is spreading especially rapidly in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, from Latin America to Africa, heat is clearly no impediment to its dissemination. Perhaps most important, it is now difficult to imagine that anybody could muster the political will to impose a full-scale lockdown for a second time. As one poll in Pennsylvania found, nearly nine out of 10 Republicans trusted “the information you hear about coronavirus from medical experts” back in April. Now just about one in three does. With public opinion more polarized than it was a few months ago, and the presidential election looming, any attempt to deal with a resurgence of the virus is likely to be even more haphazard, contentious, and ineffective than it was the first time around.
In the fullness of time, many books will be written about why a country as rich, powerful, and scientifically advanced as the United States failed quite so badly at coping with a public-health emergency that experts had predicted for many years. As is always the case, competing explanations will quickly emerge. Some will focus on the incompetence of the Trump administration, while others will draw attention to the country’s loss of state capacity; some will argue that the United States is an outlier, while others will put its failure in the context of other countries, such as Brazil and Russia, that are also faring poorly. I do not intend to offer a first draft of history. We are too close to the events to judge, with a cool head, which factors are most responsible for putting us in our current tragic situation. But I would like to offer a partial list of individuals and institutions who, however central or peripheral their contribution to the ultimate outcome, have helped to get us into this mess: If the virus wins, it is because the World Health Organization downplayed the threat for far too long. If the virus wins, it is because Donald Trump was more interested in hushing up bad news that might hurt the economy than in saving American lives. If the virus wins, it is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, created to deal with just this kind of emergency, has proved to be too bureaucratic and incompetent to do its job. If the virus wins, it is because the White House did not even attempt to put a test-and-trace regime into place at the federal level.
Although we do not yet know the effect of more recent events on the course of the pandemic, or what exactly will happen in the coming weeks and months, the list of culprits will likely be even longer than that. If the virus wins, it may also be because Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds as Floyd was pleading for his life, setting off protests that—as righteous as they are—could well result in mass infections. If the virus wins, it may also be because 1,200 public-health experts obfuscated the mortal risk that these mass protests would pose to the most vulnerable among us by declaring not only (as would be reasonable) that they supported them as citizens, but also (which is highly implausible) that they had determined, as scientists, that they would actively serve “the national public health.” If the virus wins, it may also be because so many states moved to reopen before getting the pace of infections under control. If the virus wins, it may also be because the right-wing-media echo chamber is starting to downplay the risk that a second wave poses to Americans. If the virus does win, then, it is because American elites, experts, and institutions have fallen short—and continue to fall short—of the grave responsibility with which they are entrusted in ways too innumerable to list.
snip
The Virus Will Win
Americans are pretending that the pandemic is over. It certainly is not.https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/virus-will-win/612946/
A second wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has. In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the virus is no longer growing at an exponential rate, the threat it poses remains significant: According to a forecasting model by Morgan Stanley, the number of American cases will, if current trends hold, roughly double over the next two months. But neither the impact of mass protests over police brutality nor the effect of the recent reopening of much of the country—including the casinos in Las Vegas—is reflected in the latest numbers. It can take at least 10 days for people to develop symptoms and seek out a test, and for the results to be aggregated and disseminated by public-health authorities. Even so, the disease is slowly starting to recede from the public’s attention. After months of dominating media coverage, COVID-19 has largely disappeared from the front pages of most national newspapers. In recent polls, the number of people who favor “reopening the economy as soon as possible” over “staying home as long as necessary” has increased.
And so it is perhaps no surprise that even states where the number of new infections stands at an all-time high are pressing ahead with plans to lift many restrictions on businesses and mass gatherings. When the first wave of COVID-19 was threatening to overwhelm the medical system, back in March, the public’s fear and uncertainty were far more intense than they are now. So was the reason to hope that some magic bullet might rescue us from the worst ravages of the disease. At this point, such hopes look unrealistic. After months of intense research, an effective treatment for COVID-19 still does not exist. A vaccine is, even if we get lucky, many months away from deployment. Because the virus is spreading especially rapidly in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, from Latin America to Africa, heat is clearly no impediment to its dissemination. Perhaps most important, it is now difficult to imagine that anybody could muster the political will to impose a full-scale lockdown for a second time. As one poll in Pennsylvania found, nearly nine out of 10 Republicans trusted “the information you hear about coronavirus from medical experts” back in April. Now just about one in three does. With public opinion more polarized than it was a few months ago, and the presidential election looming, any attempt to deal with a resurgence of the virus is likely to be even more haphazard, contentious, and ineffective than it was the first time around.
In the fullness of time, many books will be written about why a country as rich, powerful, and scientifically advanced as the United States failed quite so badly at coping with a public-health emergency that experts had predicted for many years. As is always the case, competing explanations will quickly emerge. Some will focus on the incompetence of the Trump administration, while others will draw attention to the country’s loss of state capacity; some will argue that the United States is an outlier, while others will put its failure in the context of other countries, such as Brazil and Russia, that are also faring poorly. I do not intend to offer a first draft of history. We are too close to the events to judge, with a cool head, which factors are most responsible for putting us in our current tragic situation. But I would like to offer a partial list of individuals and institutions who, however central or peripheral their contribution to the ultimate outcome, have helped to get us into this mess: If the virus wins, it is because the World Health Organization downplayed the threat for far too long. If the virus wins, it is because Donald Trump was more interested in hushing up bad news that might hurt the economy than in saving American lives. If the virus wins, it is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, created to deal with just this kind of emergency, has proved to be too bureaucratic and incompetent to do its job. If the virus wins, it is because the White House did not even attempt to put a test-and-trace regime into place at the federal level.
Although we do not yet know the effect of more recent events on the course of the pandemic, or what exactly will happen in the coming weeks and months, the list of culprits will likely be even longer than that. If the virus wins, it may also be because Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds as Floyd was pleading for his life, setting off protests that—as righteous as they are—could well result in mass infections. If the virus wins, it may also be because 1,200 public-health experts obfuscated the mortal risk that these mass protests would pose to the most vulnerable among us by declaring not only (as would be reasonable) that they supported them as citizens, but also (which is highly implausible) that they had determined, as scientists, that they would actively serve “the national public health.” If the virus wins, it may also be because so many states moved to reopen before getting the pace of infections under control. If the virus wins, it may also be because the right-wing-media echo chamber is starting to downplay the risk that a second wave poses to Americans. If the virus does win, then, it is because American elites, experts, and institutions have fallen short—and continue to fall short—of the grave responsibility with which they are entrusted in ways too innumerable to list.
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,419
