We’re giving Jake a deserved rest today.
Here’s the round up, according to Meg.
Big yikes:
“The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst one-day fall – 1,190 points – losing 4.4%, as fears of a global pandemic hit investor confidence.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/27/coronavirus-could-trigger-damage-on-scale-of-2008-financial-crisis-covid-19
Just waiting for it…but it never comes, because we are in hell now.
More yikes:
“The announcement has cast light on Pence’s record as a lawmaker and his handling of a major public health crisis during his time as governor of Indiana. The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/27/mike-pence-hiv-indiana/
The author of the above story tweeted the following:
I’m sorry but men can you do better? A little? Tiny bit?
On the lighter (but still angry) side, I spent most of last weekend catching up on Sanditon on my DVR. However, after getting to the ‘Game of Thrones level’ bad ending, I’ve decided that Andrew Davies can fight me. Yes, I will take out an 83 year-old Welshman.
Spoiler Alert: Here, Davies reflects on the show’s controversial ending: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a31079438/sanditon-shocking-ending-andrew-davies-season-2-interview/
“The fate of “Sanditon” relies entirely upon how it performed with American audiences, as it failed to earn enough of a following in Britain for original broadcaster ITV to renew it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/02/27/jane-austen-fans-expect-happy-ending-masterpieces-sanditon-tested-their-limits/
Thankfully, it’s Bill Nighy to the rescue for an Austen fix. Maybe I’ll go see it this weekend.
Happy Friday!
Trump’s folks are doing everything they can to purge “disloyal”folks from the administration.
In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if Agent Orange put Pence “in charge” so that when he inevitably fails”to stood Covid-19,” Trump then has the excuse to actively try pushing him out of the Vice Presidency.
Since Pence *is* supposed to be “the sane Republican backup” in the WH.
Because Trump is a malignant narcissist, and can’t abide *any* threats to his power–he *always* has an angle he’ll attack from.
*stop*,not stood🥴
…sorry about that…editing is currently inoperable for comments but we’re hoping to get it restored as fast as our poor unpaid technical wizards/minions/suckers/godsends can find the time to un-bork things
…turns out some functions that seem free when you incorporate them don’t always stay free of you keep using them…there’s a WordPress learning curve
…although if there’s an appetite for it there’s always a possibility that they/we might be happier putting something together from scratch…although that’s probably a conversation for another day?
Thanks, I didn’t mean it as a comment on the ability to edit,though!💖
I just was feeling a bit lazy & decided not to try going into the editor and posted it as a comment instead,to save time,’cuz i had to get going for work😉🤣
It’s terrifying to think that pence is the sane one!
I think the biggest problem is that Pence will decide to “pray on it” for 2-3 weeks before taking any action, and then the action will be to defund more federal health agencies, because “waste” or some shit. Trump has already gutted the agencies that could possibly help:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/
Paul Krugman at the NYT talks about Trump’s “plan” (paywall, sorry):
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opinion/coronavirus-trump.html
Essentially, he thinks that this “administration” will address the coronavirus from the point of view of Trump’s self-interest (entirely plausible). They attack anything that makes Trump look bad (except Trump himself). The next step will be to blame the messengers (news media) and Democrats (probably Obama, certainly Hillary). But no action will get taken — though he will lie and say things are happening, as we’ve already seen.
It’s all from the climate change and border wall playbook.
I’m sure that putting Pence in charge is a tactical decision for the Trump folk on multiple levels. For Trump it’s easy to just pin all the blame on him when things get forked up. For the strategists in the administration, it’s an easy way to follow China’s route of lies and obfuscations to distract the public. It’ll also allow Trump to take the credit in the long run if things just blow over and the virus never becomes a full-blown crisis in the US without actually having done anything.
An evil part of me kind of hopes that the virus catches on here and goes through MAGA rallies like wildfire while the rest of us hunker down. But I’m aware that’s A: wrong, and B: unlikely because there’s no such thing as karma.
I think Pence is there as a loyalist and enforcer and there isn’t a longer game plan. It’s all reflex and short term thinking on Trump’s part, fueled by denial and worry about his latest hotel bookings.
The NY Times had an unintentionally disturbing article on the effects of the outbreak on the economy. They talked about possible action by the Fed. They talked about the odds against Congress taking significant action on taxes or other fiscal measures. And the disturbing part was there was exactly one throwaway line about actually addressing the potential health crisis.
The Times is notoriously sympatico with the Trump and the GOP point of view. And that’s where the scary part comes in. The reason the markets are freaking out, rather than simply retracting, is that they have no faith in Trump. And yet the NY Freaking Times news section can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the vacuum at the top that is driving the markets down.
When top media outlets are in the same boat as the White House and refuse to acknowledge basic facts, all we get is more disturbing delays.
I’m sure someday the Times will come around to gingerly noting that Trump’s monumental screwup made things crater, long after it would have helped to simply say what everyone else already knew. But for now, they’ll continue to toe the GOP’s line.
We are currently stoking the fires of a Panic®.
They can use this virus to quarantine without cause or reason and since this virus is coming from a region of the world where the people look different I don’t trust the seperation to be just. We’ve dealt with a few coronaviruses this century and the professionals have shown they’re pretty good at what they do. This is a bad virus but we’re surrounded by shit that can kill us at the drop of a hat, including dropping a hat.
The irony is that it was the Alex Joneses of the world that said Clinton would use the CDC to set up internment camps. No doubt they’re cool with it if the Asshat-in-Cheif does it.
…never underestimate the allure of disaster capitalism to the self-styled masters of the universe
…there’s been a significant pattern of highly suspicious & extremely lucrative last minute trades coinciding with the crap the dotard spills all over the markets these last few years
…don’t have a link handy but thereve been some pretty clear articles put together about it off & on?
This is the first thing I’ve read which has actually managed to frighten me a little bit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/27/us-workers-without-protective-gear-assisted-coronavirus-evacuees-hhs-whistleblower-says/
Punchline is that HHS sent a bunch of workers to do intake with the Americans being brought back from China, and they weren’t given any protective gear or training–then the HHS workers were sent back home on commercial airlines. One person went to her boss about it and was promptly retaliated against.
When China punished the doctor who blew the alarm on the first stages of the spread, the US press was full of hot takes about how authoritarian fear of transparency is a danger to the public.
The same people are going to treat the Trump’s exact same instincts with kid gloves. These reporters, editors and pundits simply cannot bring themselves to change their hack mindsets.
Having all the ‘science’ flow through Mother’s Hubby is a kin to (Behind)Barr’s edict that all campaign investigations go through him. They can control the narrative and scare the populace into submission.
If it goes on long enough they can use it to cancel the elections or prohibit those that look like they come from the same region of the world the virus does from voting.
I fear this leads to a 9/11 type of reaction.
> It’s all from the climate change and border wall playbook.
it’s not just the climate change and border wall playbook. it’s the playbook for everything.
> They attack anything that makes Trump look bad (except Trump himself). The next step will be to blame the messengers (news media) and Democrats (probably Obama, certainly Hillary). But no action will get taken — though he will lie and say things are happening, as we’ve already seen.
isn’t this the response to everything?
A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that Narcissist used to make me riled
And I knew if I had my chance
That I wish those dumb Trump fuckers would break their trance
And maybe they’d smarten up for a while
But February made me shiver
From every post on the info river
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I sighed
When I read about his inept lies
But something burned me deep inside
The day Corona Pence arrived
So goodby bye, Great American Lie
Drove my Chevy to the Walmart but Walmart was dry
And them dumb ole boys were eating up’n spreading Trump’s lies
Postn’ ignorant lies till they die
Postn’ ignorant lies till they die
…bravo that man[chu candidate]
And now Don McLean is stuck in my head.
I’m still stuck on ‘mother’s little helper’!
https://deadsplinter.com/2020/02/26/deadsplinter-up-all-night-old-habits-die-hard/#comment-6846
I can’t shake it off…
#art
Remember folks: stock market corrections are normal and actually pretty good. It keeps things from getting even more overpriced and is essentially protection against a bubble bursting. Besides, unless you’re planning to retire in the next five years and still have all your investments in stocks, none of this will matter 10 years from now.
There is no doubt the stock market was in a bubble stage for a while. The Fed had been propping it up, which is of course what you should not do when the economy is relatively strong, and now the fall is being worsened by the realization that the Fed isn’t in a good position to intervene.
It’s also being made a lot worse because the Trump administration’s failure to do anything remotely rational is injecting a ton of uncertainty into the market. They’re now stampeding to price in that incompetence.
The obvious irony is that the morons in finance would be so much better off if they made a break with the GOP and had accepted a reasonable tax, budget and regulation deal with the Democrats a long time ago. But they are always driven by short term interests and lure of niche market profits, and can never think in macro terms.
I do agree about the correction but if it is only the Chinese pulling out it could do long term harm to the markets and our treasury if they start calling for their bonds, about $1.2Trillion.
China was key to keeping us propped up under W and jump starting the recovery. Now we’ve started a trade war with them and they’re in the mist of a crises. I can see the possibilty that find or have found a better partner and when things settle down and they reinvest it is not in the US.
“none of this will matter 10 years from now”
Unless one has some cash available,to throw *into* the stock market, because corrections can be a GREAT time to *buy* stocks😉
…appreciate the optimism implicit in there still being retirement to look forward to
Ha! I just got vested at work yesterday (my third anniversary). At my job, this means that the company releases matching funds to your 401k and your account effectively doubles. Normally, this would be cause for celebration. Currently, I’m scared to log in and look.
Pssst, it’s Fur Face Friday!
https://backtalk.kinja.com/fur-face-friday-1841975073
luna looks lovely. clyde too. but the goats can’t be topped!
So many cuties, but those goats were pretty adorable.
> I’m sorry but men can you do better? A little? Tiny bit?
that’s a no. don’t expect good things from most of us meg
The bar is soooo low