…trouble with the curve [DOT 4/5/20]

...it's a learning curve

…not that it matters or anything but as it happens I didn’t hate that movie…which, for a movie with Justin Timberlake in it is actually higher praise than it might sound like?

…but I’ll be honest…about the nearest I got to sport in my reading (while I was thinking about why Meg tends to worry about my state of mind…again) was this

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/u-s-women-s-soccer-demands-equal-pay-rejected-judge-n1198371

…& it reads like a curveball to me…the justifications I recall hearing for the exorbitant salaries of male sports stars tended to have their roots firmly in the boxoffice takings & last I checked the US men’s soccer team are not the ones pulling the crowds…so by the accepted rationale those ladies should be asking for more money than the guys

…all in all it makes about as much sense as this sorry set of sideshow shenanigans

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/03/justin-amash-libertarian-2020-election-trump-win-critics

…frankly it bothers me that people seem to be having trouble with this most simple calculus…another term of the Dolt45 off-brand apocalypse is very possibly more than any of us can weather

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/34-days-of-pandemic-inside-trumps-desperate-attempts-to-reopen-america/2020/05/02/story.html

…I know ol’ Joe is kind of a busted flush but damn it all we knew that going into this whole deal & in their wisdom he’s who “the party” went with so while these sorts of allegations shouldn’t be shrugged off

Tara Reade’s allegations against Joe Biden demand action.

…when the other guy makes him look like a fucking choirboy maybe there’s a different way to address that than trying to turn this into the male version of Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-vs-biden-2020-election-nightmare-women-me-warned-america-ncna1196746

Why Biden’s Choice of Running Mate Has Momentous Implications

…after all, there’s no shortage of malignant minds hard at work trying to make the lesser of two evils look like the road to hell

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-campaign-divided-over-how-to-attack-biden-amid-worries-over-troubling-poll-numbers/2020/05/02/story.html

…so there’s irony to spare

Anti-Vaccination Activists Are Growing Force at Virus Protests

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-coronavirus-blame-gop/2020/04/29/story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/02/donald-trump-us-coronavirus-testing

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/white-house-blocking-fauci-testifying-congress-about-coronavirus-response-n1198276

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/maryland-cancels-125-million-ppe-contract-with-firm-started-by-gop-operatives/2020/05/02/story.html

…under less calamitous circumstances this administration would be a fucking joke

“it’s the economy, stupid…”

…under these circumstances it’s a fucking insult

Pompeo Ties Coronavirus to China Lab, Despite Spy Agencies’ Uncertainty

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/birx-says-protesters-not-practicing-social-distancing-are-devastatingly-worrisome-n1198991

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/05/02/hospital-preparedness-coronavirus-federal-funds/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/03/donald-trump-reopen-us-economy-lethal-robert-reich

Before Covid-19, Trump Aide “demented shit-gibbon” Sought to Use Disease to Close Borders

…so while this looks to make some potentially exponential gains

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/oxford-scientist-says-its-vaccine-making-headway-could-show-efficacy-n1198946

…& this might make one or two people feel a little better

Murder Hornets vs. Honeybees: A Swarm of Bees Can Cook Invaders Alive

…the truth is…as most people paying attention have at least tacitly acknowledged for a while now…the model can only be as good as the data…& the data may not be all it’s cracked up to be

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/05/02/excess-deaths-during-covid-19/

The Covid-19 Riddle: Why Does the Virus Wallop Some Places and Spare Others?

…so let’s try to keep things in perspective, I guess

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/02/a-threat-to-health-is-being-weaponised-inside-the-fight-against-online-hate

…not that it doesn’t sound like they might be doing some good but even the folks in that story sound like they’re playing with toys I’m not sure the internet is old enough to use responsibly just yet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cellphone-monitoring-is-spreading-with-the-coronavirus-so-is-an-uneasy-tolerance-of-surveillance/2020/05/02/story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/covid-19-tracking-app-must-satisfy-human-rights-and-data-laws

…so, I guess what I’m saying…much to my own surprise…is that we don’t have to let this be the end of the fucking world…however much it might feel like it…& definitely not because the lunatics running the asylum say it’s so…just think of the possibilities

A Nest of Alien Asteroids Orbits Our Sun

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35 Comments

  1. last i heard rapinoe offered to be vp…coz hey why not..not like you need to be a politician to be the president…i mean..personally if we’re going that route i’d kick out biden and go with dwayne’the rock’johnson… i bet that big fucker could make not knowing what he’s doing look down right charming

  2. also…the rona numbers are a fun thing…
    over here weve only had 40k cases and 5k deaths hardly anything to worry about
    yet last month the amount of people what up n died was 4x what it was the year before
    not rona related ofcourse..they just up and died without getting a test and counting as rona
    im beginning to think that aside from south korea….everyones numbers are miles off

    • …I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to freak anybody out or anything but it seems pretty clear that with maybe a couple of exceptions nowhere has actually had a testing regimen that allows for a tally you could call accurate?

      …so, yeah…you & me both, there

      • apparantly we have the ability for mass testing..we just arent doing it..it mostly kept for hospital staff and patients and some other essential jobs (and i assume the politicians…coz they think they are essential)
        kinda feels like intentionally keeping the numbers down so as not to scare the peasants what still have to work…
        used to be i’d at least be thinking about putting me tinfoil hat round about now….but i think im actually not wrong this time

  3. Justin Timberlake was in Alpha Dog and that was an excellent movie. Not because of Timberlake though. But I’d rather watch him than Clint Eastwood whose become such a predictable and lazy actor.

    • …I know a few folks who are decidedly not fans of Clint these days…& I have some issues with him myself, I guess…but I didn’t growing up & I guess he had more goodwill to burn with me than many

      …mind you, I tended to think of his bit in Gran Torino as a retired Dirty Harry the same way that Harry Brown seemed like Michael Caine as Carter if he’d survived to become a pensioner so I guess I might be a little soft in the head about this stuff

      …plus I really enjoyed this

      …there were a half-dozen of them each directed by a different person & Clint’s had some good things going for it

      • Aside from being a terrible person, which he pretty much always was, I don’t think he was ever a very good actor. Dirty Harry was fun, he was almost a comic book character. The westerns were good too, he did very little acting in them. But I thought Gran Torino stunk. Because he wanted to be taken seriously and played him like Dirty Harry. The last time I liked him was in A Perfect World. Maybe because he was barely in it, lol.

        • …Harry Brown was definitely a superior movie for the ornery old geezer sub-genre but I liked Unforgiven way back when & the pair of Iwo Jima movies he directed were pretty solid in some ways…although I guess he wasn’t in those

          …so I definitely get what you’re saying even if my tolerance for him is maybe higher than my tolerance for Timberlake?

  4. I need to check in to verify my understanding, because I feel crazy: governments, both local and federal, are “opening” their economies and intending to open schools, theaters, gyms, hair salons, and so on with the full knowledge that these actions are going to kill people. Even if, somehow, they don’t mean to do this maliciously, they are desperate to return to “normal” and are willing to sacrifice people for the illusion of “normalcy.” Right?

    There is no normal now. There is no going back to the economy of a few months ago. But people are so in love with their own lives, with the illusion, that this is their course of action.

    The other day, Lindsey Graham said that the unemployed would keep getting the extra federal $600 “over his dead body.” As always, this country will let people suffer needlessly and it will be another decade of pain.

    • They’re openly saying it, the people who warned that the Dems would institute death panels! There is no end to their hypocrisy, cruelty, and greed.

    • They still intend for people to get sick. They always intended for people to get sick. “Flattening the curve” never meant that people don’t get sick; it just meant that they don’t all get sick at once.

  5. The repubs are desperate to save the economy. That’s what they had to crow about whether it was deserved or undeserved. They don’t get that a lot of these new unemployed are not getting their jobs back. They don’t seem to understand that if none of the normal peeps have money to pay the rent – they certainly don’t have any money to buy any goods.

    • I’ve never been able to understand how normal people (not politicians, not economists) don’t understand that having so many people living paycheck to paycheck, is bad for the economy. There’s a lot of posturing about boot straps, but it’s quite simple: if people can’t afford rent they aren’t buying Starbucks. Therefore, Starbucks will not hire more people, therefore more people who don’t have jobs will not be buying ancillary services.

      If people have money freed up from buying necessities and healthcare, then they are more likely to go out and treat themselves which is apparently what our entire economy runs on if a month of restaurants, gyms, and hospitality being shut down tanks the economy.

      So it’s maddening to see at this stage the government, Dems included, are ignoring the Depression levels of unemployment and are not taking steps to address it.

      • By “economy” they don’t meant yours and my wages and bank accounts and buying power. They mean the stockmarket. Hoarding the wealth to begin with is more efficient than distributing it and waiting for it to trickle back up.

    • Yeah, I hope I’m wrong but it seems like “reopening” is going to boost the virus’s numbers and still not help the economy. People aren’t going to go to a place just because it’s open, and certainly not if all their fucking neighbors are sick and dying!

  6. I talked to my daughter this morning about the murder wasps. She’s a wildlife biologist who specializes in invertebrates. Apparently there was only 1 nest found on Vancouver Island last summer and it was destroyed. There have been no confirmed sightings although cicadas, European Hornets, southern yellow jackets, sawflies, hoverflies, a beetle, and even a moth have been “identified” as Vespa mandarinia. She says while it is possible for the species to establish here it hasn’t yet. And that it is no worse than the European Hornet which has been in the US since the late 19th century. She’s royally pissed off about what she calls irresponsible coverage. Mostly because she’s been getting calls all morning from people who think they are seeing them in their back yards.

    • …that’s certainly a relief for the rest of us, if not for her

      …the oven-of-bees trick is still amazing to me, though…who knew?

      well, aside from smart people like your daughter, I guess…

      • Its a very cool trick.
        My daughter doesn’t suffer fools gladly but in her professional capacity she can’t just screech, “It’s not a murder wasp you fuckwit!” at the callers. And I get a kick out of her having to politely explain. But, I’m not telling her that of course.

    • Remember back in the 70’s when “killer bees” migrating from South America were going to be The End Of American Life As We Know It? I’ve still never seen or been within 100 miles of one.

      • I don’t know how close that is to Vancouver Island. Maybe they were from that nest. She sent me a US Fish and Wildlife report stating only 1 nest last summer had been confirmed, and that they other reported sightings were misidentified. It’s also possible that there are other nests that haven’t been found. There was a worker found dead near the border close to the area the nest was found. They didn’t verify that the worker was killed by the wasps. But it did say that around 30 people are killed by the wasps in Japan each year. So it’s not that they can’t be dangerous. But she pointed out that 27 people are killed by lightning in the US each year, and 40 people by domestic dogs. But people all over the country are reporting they have murder wasps now. It’s not FAKE NEWS but it’s definitely sensationalized news.

        • My friends in Bellingham we’re sharing links from their local papers about them being found in the county. It’s right next to the border, but a bit of a flight from Vancouver island to the mainland. It’s definitely something the state has been actively searching for. I’m kinda surprised the rest of the country is freaking out, but people are bored.

          • Some of the coverage of it has been crazy – MURDER WASPS FROM ASIA!
            And I can’t help but feel like there’s some racism involved because right now people are thinking of scary things coming from Asia – viruses, killer insects!
            It is an environmental concern, if they establish it’s another assault on honeybees. But people are thinking that they’re a serious threat to human life, and they really aren’t. And many people only read headlines anyway. So they didn’t see that they were found in Washington state. But like I said, I’m getting a bit of a chuckle from my poor daughter fielding calls from people here in KENTUCKY who swear they saw one fly past. And as my daughter said ” as if the average person can identify an insect on the fly!”

  7. I don’t understand the hot takes that Amash is going to ensure a Trump win – I think it’s just as likely it could cut the other direction. There is just not a lot of data that tells us disaffected would-be Trump voters would rather go to Amash than Biden. I would argue if they were willing to vote Democrat, it wasn’t because they like Biden but simply because they hate Trump. It’s hard for me to understand why the exact people who would do something so strategic as to cross party lines to get Trump out, would turn around and decide to protest vote without caring whether Trump wins again.

    It just doesn’t make sense to me. I just don’t think those are the same voters.

    • …I think you might be right about them not being the same voters…but I think the fact that there were electoral college votes that Trump picked up off the back of margins smaller than the number of votes cast for a third party last time around is enough for the math to worry people the moment there’s more than the two options in front of anybody?

  8. “There is something missing,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said last week in a campaign broadcast. “I feel bad for him. I wish his wife would pull him out of this.”

    for whom is he talking about?

    🙂

  9. After observing how people acted in our state’s soft opening this past weekend, our work leadership got in a quick conference call and we all agreed to crank up the distancing measures in the workplace. We can’t afford to shutdown because our production is considered essential, and therefore can’t afford any worker to risk getting it without trying out best to prevent any spreading under our roof.

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