Trump

[gransoporro]

When Trump recently veered from being under the impression many major hospitals had only 2 ventilators to suddenly thinking actually we might need more of these his Whitehouse Coronavirus Taskforce contacted a man who'd tweeted the President saying something along the lines of URGENT, I can supply ventilators contact me asap. The man involved, Yaron Oren-Pines, with no background in the medical supply chains was involved in (I think) the manufacture of mobile phones, and simply by tweeting at the President he got a contracted to supply almost 1,500 ventilators at almost $70 million, which is being reported at around 3x the price you'd have been paying for a top-end ventilator prior to the pandemic, and it's not noted if the ventilators that were ordered from Oren-Pines (also the company name) would have been top-end.

No ventilators were ever delivered, and the contract was cancelled with what's been reported as the bulk of the money as being returned.

So several questions, how was the President ever under the impression that major hospitals had 2 ventilators each, why does tweeting in CAPS get his attention, why is the WH handing out contracts on the back of a tweet to an individual with no medical supply chain history, and what does getting the bulk of the money back actually mean, 'cause surely if Mr Oren-Pines gets to keep $2 million after supplying nowt that's not a bad return on tweeting Trump and then kicking back with a cold one?

The story of the hydrocloroquine: grass root investors tooted it on Twitter and got to talk about it on Fox (I believe Fox & friends). That is how Trump saw it and jumped, like Fox, on the miracle medicine wagon.

Same above, if you offer a miracle, the government will believe you because they want to believe. And the MAGA crowd likes only stuff that goes through the path above described (twitter-> Fox -> Trump/government/congressman). If you tell them about science or other sensible stuff, they won’t believe it: that is some conspiracy theory fertile ground. And they are pleased with government “thinking outside the box” because thinking inside the box is for liberals or at least political enemies.

[morepork]

The private sector is just fleecing the government at will. The refusal to centralise a response and distribute bulk supplies based on need in a coordinated fashion is such easy pickings for predators. All decisions are made in a small, closely guarded circle of not very bright people. Jared Kushner seems to be calling most of the shots and by thundering fuck, he is not very good at it. The result is some spectacular price gouging, or even outright fraud, a rapid draining of finances, and no net gain for public health. It's hard to imagine a worse response. This country will remain one large leper colony for years to come as this thing waxes and wanes with monotonous predictability on the strength of the idiotic bumblings of people in charge. For every competent governor there is a spastic science-denying fuckwit who will promote the re-seeding of the pathogen at intervals, undoing months of hard graft by people in competent areas. All the while, the federal government, totally neutered, sits back and lets it play out. I just can't believe how laughingly profound this masterclass in incompetence has been. There may even be a Noble Prize for excellence in fuckwittery on the cards.

[Mikey Brown]

What a picture.

[Digby]

Is that the plant in Arizona? If so kudos to the factory floor staff who took the moment to blast Live & Let Die over the speakers.

I'm also of course deeply impressed Fat Don has decided to reverse his decision to scrap the pandemic task force because he didn't realise it was so popular, as opposed to it should never have been scrapped in the first place, and popularity has nothing to do with the world of overcoming the situation

[morepork]

Drink it in

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

A little more on the "modelling" employed to justify reopening.

https://slate.com/business/2020/05/trum ... -dumb.html


You an see the seeds of the outright bullshit amplified by propaganda via a calculating media apparatus. The death of the 4th estate is one of the key elements in not just the broadcasting of willfully incorrect, outright dangerous information, but the incomprehensible possibility of this shower of bastards being in with a shot at re-election. Nearly half the population have been programmed by a virtual room 101. I can't see any sort of quick recovery from this, even when (if?) the public health crisis is dealt with. I'm not sure what my role here is in the long term, but I'm not liking what I see.

[zer0]

I can't see any sort of quick recovery from this, even when (if?) the public health crisis is dealt with. I'm not sure what my role here is in the long term, but I'm not liking what I see.

Might be time to swap MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for MIT, flea markets, Otara?

Can even embrace the Blues while you're at it.

[gransoporro]

Drink it in

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

A little more on the "modelling" employed to justify reopening.

https://slate.com/business/2020/05/trum ... -dumb.html


You an see the seeds of the outright bullshit amplified by propaganda via a calculating media apparatus. The death of the 4th estate is one of the key elements in not just the broadcasting of willfully incorrect, outright dangerous information, but the incomprehensible possibility of this shower of bastards being in with a shot at re-election. Nearly half the population have been programmed by a virtual room 101. I can't see any sort of quick recovery from this, even when (if?) the public health crisis is dealt with. I'm not sure what my role here is in the long term, but I'm not liking what I see.

I am going on memory, from 30 years ago. The cubic fit can become negative when extrapolating since it is a polynomial function.

Since we are talking about deaths, it doesn’t make sense. People will not come back from the dead after May 15. So why use it? We know why, I am afraid.

Unless they are predicting the zombie apocalypse on May 15. That is an even more daring prediction!

[morepork]

And so the campaigning begins. Last time it was dastardly Mexicans. This time it is the Chinese plotting to take over the world with bioterrorism. A xenophobic tool for every job it would seem. You could divert 8 billion dollars the stupid wall siphoned off the military budget and use it to award government contracts to companies to produce millions of valid diagnostic tests and distribute them across the country to be used in containing spread. But no, have a whinge about foreigners, because that what the idiots want to hear.


I fucking give up.

[Which Tyler]

I fucking give up.

We've heard that before.

[morepork]

I fucking give up.

We've heard that before.

Don’t be a bitch. I’m allowed a wine or two every now and then.

[Digby]

Hey, they're very busy awarding government contracts in the face of this pandemic, and Jared and Wife Daughter are doing sterling work to make sure those contracts go to friends and supporters of the President rather than somewhere useful, so be nice!

[gransoporro]

I fucking give up.

We've heard that before.

Don’t be a bitch. I’m allowed a wine or two every now and then.

You mean 2-3 times a week, right?

[morepork]

Nice play there bitch.

The USandA is now officially the Typhoid Mary of global health. Petulantly refusing to acknowledge the biological fact that all human beings are a vector for disease. The White House is now throwing up cases of staff being positive for the virus, yet still remains dismissive of the benefits conferred to everyone by strict social measures. Commenting on the increasing incidence of one positive case within the inner circle, the orange physician said:

""She's a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time," President Donald Trump said on Friday during a meeting with congressional Republicans at the White House. "And then all of the sudden today she tested positive. She hasn't come into contact with me. She's spent some time with the vice president."

"This is why the whole concept of tests aren't necessarily great," the president continued. "The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test where it's good and then something happens and all of the sudden. She was tested very recently and tested negative, and then today I guess for some reason she tested positive. So Mike knows about it and Mike has done what he has to do. I think he is on an airplane, going to some far away place, but you'll be able to ask him later on. But they've taken all of the necessary precautions. I understand Mike has been tested, vice president, and he tested negative."


During this meeting of congressional republicans, no one wore a mask, they sat close together, and they all fingered each others microphones.


What will it take to bring these repugnant cunts down to earth?

[canta_brian]

Maybe they will come down to earth so hard they will end up 6 feet under.

[morepork]

But...but...but...what about them? Their polling numbers (WTF).....please love me




Not exactly hard to see where this waste of spunk's real priorities lie.

[Son of Mathonwy]

But...but...but...what about them? Their polling numbers (WTF).....please love me




Not exactly hard to see where this waste of spunk's real priorities lie.

But swine flu only killed 12.5 thousand in the States. Strange that he would invite comparison. But then ... strange man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swin ... ted_States

[Digby]

Not exactly hard to see where this waste of spunk's real priorities lie.

Is it fucking any women who sufficiently remind him of his daughter?

[Which Tyler]

FB_IMG_1589140591350.jpg

[morepork]

If you cant stand the heat, get out of the press conference.

[Mikey Brown]

I normally think these things are pretty cringey and awful but this one really does nail the way this guy's brain works.

[morepork]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanc ... 5/fulltext

[Digby]

Although a wise man has noted if you don't test anyone you will not have any (confirmed) cases, and the wise man can probably create a link without too much outside assistance

[Digby]

Boom, there goes another Inspector General, you stay classy Donny!

[Stones of granite]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52717161

Asked what was his evidence of hydroxychloroquine's positive benefits, Mr Trump said: "Here's my evidence: I get a lot of positive calls about it." He added: "I've heard a lot of good stories [about hydroxychloroquine] and if it's not good, I'll tell you right I'm not going to get hurt by it."

I bet he's lying.

[Digby]

Yes, but on the other hand he's declared a national emergency (around the pandemic?) that allows him to sell arms to Saudi without congressional oversight, team fat orange bastards for the win!