Check The Timelines

I think we need to see the COVID-19 timeline compared with the impeachment timeline.

Here are a few highlights, as I've been able to piece some of this shit together:

The first case of what would become known as COVID-19 was recorded in November 2019.

In the December-January timeframe, American intelligence agencies (and other entities, in this and other countries) reported to federal officials about the concerns coming from the pros at CDC and WHO.

Articles of impeachment were presented in the Senate mid-January, and the votes to acquit were take on February 5.

They knew.

• At the very least, there were loud and urgent warnings of what was coming
• After 3 years, they knew damned well that 45* was poorly equipped to handle much of anything beyond an ad lib photo op

They knew what was coming and they left that orange blob in place.

A wiser man than I admonishes us never to assume nefarious intent when looking at even the most glaring instances of ineptitude.

But how do I adhere to that when it seems like it just gets more obvious that something's up?

Corona Madness

Quarantine: Day 11, and the natives are getting creative.

Today's Pix

click 'em

⬇︎👁⬇︎

Today's Navel-Gazer

...except that the argument here is that navel-gazing don't feed no bulldog.

Hannah Arendt and the Post-Enlightenment.

We're stuck in a perpetual loop between labor and work (two different things according to Arendt), and all the value of participation in the real world around us feels like it's missing - like we're missing out on something...it's all kinda pixilated...the way Facebook gives us pixilated "friends" who aren't quite the real thing...pixilated expressions of approval that mean less than a real thumbs-up...it gives us a world where we're all cogs in an economic machine rather than real people active in our communities.

A COVID-19 Reminder

When I say "the curve seems to be flattening a little", that's not our cue to get happy and start thinking 45* might be right about opening everything up again by Easter.

We're still in the hair-on-fire-holy-fuck-this-just-gets-worse part.

The inflection point is a right good bit down the road yet.

COVID-19 Update

In the US, the growth is on track with the 1.2 daily multiplier currently in effect.

Globally, it's flattened a bit at about 1.1 

As China gets the pollution machinery rolling again.

Comparison:

A Poem

From a Twitterer called @HellBentVet

As the blood was drying 

On the hands of the few 

Who could have stopped him 

The fat orange demon laughed 

At their utter destruction 

Their blind love-drunk faith 

His greedy claws clutched the bank codes 

Of their billions 

And flew the family 

To their new old home In Saudi Arabia

Today's Tweet

Some Tweets age pretty well.

Just imagine Donald Trump in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. We can’t afford that kind of risk.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 8, 2016

COVID-19 Update

The good news is that the curve is starting to flatten out a little.

The rate of new confirmed cases is doubling about every 3 days now, instead of every 2 days.

That's not a great indicator of great progress though - we're still in the Hockey Stick part of the curve.

The bad news is that we've still got (mostly) GOP assholes telling people to worry about the stock market instead of dead Americans.

Failing

Brian Tyler Cohen

Seth Meyers

It was January 18th before Alex Azar finally got a call thru to 45*, trying to get him up to speed on COVID-19, and Trump interrupted him to ask when flavored vapes would go back on the market.