Airports filled with lines of people waiting to re-enter. Arbitrary shut down of flights to/from “Europe” (which countries?) that was declared by That Guy on Thursday night causes an influx of travelers that overwhelmed processing lines and any plan (hint: there was none) for medical mediation.
Continue reading The night before our company’s 2 week wfh policy and the whole country shutting downCategory: Culture and society
Notes on COVID-19, during the President’s address and prior
Most taken from Twitter “friends”:
- WHO declared it a pandemic today. (NPR link, I cannot find a WHO link.)
- South Korea performing 10,000 tests a day. US performed 8 today.
- “Misstatements” during the address, which was scripted, yet had to be corrected within 10 min:
- Ban all travel from Europe, s/b ban on foreign nationals and not trade or citizens. Most of Europe has equal or fewer cases than the US.
- Health insurers waive copay for treatment, s/b only for testing (insurers quick as fuck corrected that).
- Promises payroll tax relief, relief for sick workers, and waivers for small businesses, s/b Congress is reviewing those measures.
- Just yesterday, president said “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
- Gen. Michael Hayden: “I’m scared”.
- Dow futures dropped 3+% during his 11 min speech and up to ~5% an hour after.
- NBA suspends season. Rudy Gobert mocked COVID-19 on Monday by exaggeratedly touching every reporters’ microphone and is now the single cause of the shut down.
- 2 weeks ago: Italy had 322 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 1 week ago: 2,502, Today: 10,149.
Where are we at
I’m losing track. It started with the inquiry.
We just had an impeachment in the House (Wed 18 Dec 2019, mark this day). This outcome was written before the vote came; Democrats had the majority and had voted on impeachment three times prior. Those previous attempts were certain to fail–and are now held up as Democratic bias–but relatively inconsequential otherwise. Let’s face it: if the Republicans didn’t have an excuse for the accusation of bias they’d create it anyway. This time, the impeachment, stuck and it stuck with such gravity because of those who came forward.
Continue reading Where are we atWitness, 24 Sep 2019
Two women take down Trump.
Pic I took at the ATL airport picking up our bag from our Philadelphia trip, just as Pelosi’s speech was happening. So lucky to have witnessed history by accident.
C-SPAN’s archive of the announcement:
Greta Thunberg being more Greta than ever. Previous day.
Video of The Greta in action:
The fear
I sometimes feel guilt about mocking the worldview of conservatives. They are barren and small-minded and their anguish is so outward directed that it paints itself, cruelly, on our world in manner that is nothing but destructive. They’re a different species.
The environment they choose to cultivate themselves has destroyed them, Golum-like, and in turn tries to destroy us.
Alternately, I look selfishly at those I admire–and what I try to be–and see what we could be: wonder, excitement, possibility. The jolt-of-surprise in what everything everything has to offer. Those conservatives (“them”) I’m sure have passions; yet the passions they have that affect their acts toward others are nihilist-adjacent. Their passions are hate.
And their non-imagination.
They lack any infant possibility of abstract imagination and thought. Metaphor is far beyond their ken; all expression is. just. as. it. is. The lack of artistic consumption or ambition is testament. The Ron Swanson quote exists for a reason (“Metaphors? I hate metaphors. That’s why my favorite book is Moby Dick. No frufu symbolism, just a good simple tale about a man who hates an animal.”) and completely envelopes the explanation that there are no conservative humorists. Abstract thought is imprecise. blech
Is my pessimism-and-anger at their pessimism-and-anger some sort of pot and kettle situation? I want Trump’s followers listed and numbered and remembered and punished (carve a “T” in their foreheads a la Inglourious Basterds). Mark their names. Am I a McCarthy-ite? Look at reviled immigrants or minorities. If they were to be angry at those that perpetuate the injustice of their treatment, is it hypocritical? Are the Nuremberg trials reallly the same as a rigged court in fascist Italy?
These are sincere questions. But I know the answers.