BREAKING: Krugman's foreboding concerning November!

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

Cassandra's foreboding is worse:
The question came to President Trump at yesterday's somewhat less universally televised briefing.

Every one of our analysts groaned in despair. The question went like this:
REPORTER (4/10/20): Thank you, Mr. President. Speaking of testing, some experts, including Scott Gottlieb, have talked about 750,000 tests per week being needed before the economy is opened. Can you address that? Do you agree with those numbers? If not, how many tests per week do you think we should have before the economy is open, sir?
Amazingly dumb as that question was, the president's response may have even been dumber.

Set aside the question of how much testing we should be performing before we loosen restrictions. Focus instead on Trump's cluelessness. His full response went like this:
TRUMP (continuing directly): Yeah. I don’t like using the word "needed" because I don’t think it’s needed, but I think we’re going to try and hit a number like that. That’s a very high number, but we’re going to be trying to hit it, and we probably might be able to do that.
The president said they might be able to do it! The country might be able to perform 750,000 tests per week! Not that we need to, of course!

What made that question and answer so dumb? According to widely-accepted records, the country already is performing that many tests on a weekly basis.

Indeed, Trump has been boasting about it. Here he was in his televised briefing all the way back on Thursday, April 2:
TRUMP (4/2/20): We’re now conducting well over 100,000 coronavirus tests per day. It’s over 100,000 tests a day, and these are accurate tests and they’re moving rapidly, which is more than any other country in the world, both in terms of the raw number and also on a per capita basis, the most.
Ignore the claim about conducting the largest number of daily tests on a per capita basis. Focus on the highlighted claim, in which Trump said we were "now conducting well over 100,000 tests per day."

Trump had first made a similar claim in his March 27 TV show. This seems to have been one of the rare instances where his factual claim was correct.

According to the COVID Tracking Project
, daily testing exceeded 100,000 for the first time on March 27. The number has been been well over 100,000 per day ever since.

In short, the ace reporter asked the president if we'd be able to reach a weekly goal we've long since exceeded. Our president displayed no awareness of this fact when he gave his bungled response.

It fell to Vice President Pence to address this latest fail. Below, you see his first remarks after Trump left yesterday's briefing, mere moments after his fail:
PENCE (4/9/20): Well, good afternoon everyone. At the present moment, we have now cleared a more than two million tests across the country, and I’m pleased to report we’re testing more than 100,000 people a day now...
Pence seemed to be correcting the misimpression the president may have left. But in that initial Q-and-A, you see the nature of our national problem:

A handful of upper-end journalists are allowed to play a role in the president's daily TV show. The journalist who asked that question seemed to be working live and direct straight outta La-La Land.

His question was "answered" by our clueless commander. The cluelessness was mutual here—commander and journo alike.

Next week, we expect to explore the hapless behavior our upper-end press corps has put on display at these daily TV shows. In part, their haplessness has gone on display in the ways they've failed to question or challenge the commander's repeated absurd misstatements.

The upper-end corps and this clueless commander were basically made for each other. Yesterday's hopeless Q-and-A was the latest example. Our analysts tore at their hair.

In large part, this constitutes an anthropology lesson—a lesson about the limited intellectual horizons of our floundering species. Paul Krugman raises a related matter in his new column today.

On Tuesday, sheer insanity was put on display in the state of Wisconsin's election. Voters under stay-at-home orders were forced to stand in long lines, for hours, in order to cast their vote.

In Milwaukee, the usual 180 polling places were reduced to a mere five (5). Poll workers appeared in full Hazmat gear. Voters were given masks.

Truly, this is astonishing conduct. Republican leadership caused this lunacy to occur.

All too sensibly, Krugman interprets this as an act of voter suppression. As he ends his column today, he looks ahead to November:
KRUGMAN (4/10/20): Does anyone seriously doubt that something similar could happen, very soon, at a national level?

This November, it’s all too possible that Trump will eke out an Electoral College win thanks to widespread voter suppression.
If he does—or even if he wins cleanly—everything we’ve seen suggests that he will use a second term to punish everyone he sees as a domestic enemy, and that his party will back him all the way...

What if Trump loses? You know what he’ll do: He’ll claim that Joe Biden’s victory was based on voter fraud
, that millions of illegal immigrants cast ballots or something like that. Would the Republican Party, and perhaps more important, Fox News, support his refusal to accept reality? What do you think?

So that’s why what just happened in Wisconsin scares me more than either disease or depression. For it shows that one of our two major parties simply doesn’t believe in democracy. Authoritarian rule may be just around the corner.
Krugman looks ahead to November with foreboding. As we've told you, Cassandra's forebodings are worse.

Cassandra has suggested to us that there may not be a November election. Does anyone doubt that President Trump, under cover of pandemic, may not try to conduct such a move?

These ruminations involve basic anthropology lessons. Krugman often fails to distinguish between Republican leaders and Republican voters. Let us do so here:

On the leadership level, it may well be that "one of our two major parties simply doesn’t believe in democracy." Arguably, this raises questions about the possible extent of "sociopathy" and its near neighbors among this leadership class.

On the level of the rank and file, it has become increasingly clear that we human are strongly inclined to accept all tribal narratives at times of great tribal division.

"Man [sic] is the rational animal," we have long been told. In fact, we humans are the tribal animal, despondent anthropologists increasingly say.

That Q-and-A from yesterday's TV show describes a two-part problem. What happened in Wisconsin is just this side of insane.

That said, our discourse has been crazy for at least three decades now. The craziness has emerged from super spreaders in our burgeoning partisan media—in talk radio, in cable news and of course all over the web.

Our discourse has been crazy for decades. In one last anthropology lesson, amazingly few of us rational animals have seemed to notice or care.

Coming tomorrow: For our current 9-year-old kids, a look at how Wittgenstein starts

75 comments:

  1. Trump has almost no chance of losing if it is Biden he is running against.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People aren't excited about voting for Biden.
      They're excited about Trump not being their President anymore.

      Delete
    2. Why on earth would a party nominate someone people aren't excited to vote for? .

      Delete
    3. Trump has almost no chance of losing if it is Putin he is running for.

      FTFY

      Delete
    4. Trump doesn't need any help from Putin, Israel or anybody if it is Biden he is going up against. Just because Biden is almost senile and clearly very far over the hill.

      And that is just the tip of his iceberg of deficiencies and shortcomings.

      Delete
    5. @anon 1:36

      Then why is Trump so worried about Biden that he sends his goon squad out to collect fake dirt on Biden and extorts foreign leaders for such dirt? By your account, that effort shouldn’t even be necessary.

      Delete
    6. First of all, it's not fake dirt. Second, the reason why is because he is a warrior who doesn't just want to beat him, but wants to pummel and humiliate him. Which will happen for sure. Third, that was before Biden's mental shortcomings were obvious to the world.

      Delete
    7. I still feel it's unlikely that Creepy Joe will be nominated. These must be a limit event to the zombie cult's flippancy.

      They'll get rid of him somehow, and nominate a younger dembot with something resembling brain matter inside the skull.

      Delete
    8. I agree - Warren. She'll get beat too but it won't be the galactic humiliation Biden would receive.

      Or maybe she could take Trump out - the only way would be by relentlessly attacking the Democratic and Republican establishments. That's how Trump won. That's the only way to win now.

      Delete
    9. Nah. The Fake Indian is nobody. They want the phony hysterical give-me-million-ventilators-now-or-you-are-murderer fella.

      Delete
    10. The Fake Indian is a great nickname for a political candidate who wants to hold the Establishment accountable for their crimes.

      Leave it to Mao to step-up BIG TIME when someone threatens his heroes.
      Kudos, Mao. You're as funny as you think you are, for sure.

      Delete
    11. Somerby is dumb as shit.

      This dog won't hunt.

      That ship has sailed.

      High rates of testing would have been crucial back in January. Trump hand-waved, prophesied a miracle!

      SK was testing at a rate 700 times as high as the US.

      Germany is testing 200k/day, with a much smaller population.

      Germany is hanging on as the fourth largest economy in the world, CA is close to replacing it. Mazel tov.

      Delete
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  2. "In short, the ace reporter asked the president if we'd be able to reach a weekly goal we've long since exceeded. Our president displayed no awareness of this fact when he gave his bungled response."

    Have you ever done a real-time presser in front of the whole country, dear Bob? Would you immediately recall the right number?

    Anyhow, if the number has already been exceeded, then be happy.


    "What if Trump loses? You know what he’ll do: He’ll claim that Joe Biden’s victory was based on voter fraud"

    I don't know what "he'll claim", but if indeed Creepy Joe is declared the winner, then some kind of fraud would definitely be the only reasonable explanation. Because obviously not a single humyn being will vote for Creepy Joe.

    And why would dembot Krug and you, dear Bob, care about His hypothetical claims? You don't seem to care at all about your zombie cult's - actual - insane claims that every US politician opposing them is a secret Russian agent.

    What gives, dear Bob?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've done a real-time presser in front of the whole country, and immediately recalled correct numbers throughout it.

      Let's face it. Trump is loser
      Sad.

      Delete
  3. "Amazingly dumb as that question was, the president's response may have even been dumber."

    This is a certainty, no matter what the question asked.

    Why does Somerby say "may have even been"? Doesn't Somerby know whether Trump is saying dumb things or not?

    Can you imagine Somerby in front of his classroom saying "Two plus two may be four"? Child raises hand and asks "under what circumstances is it not four?" Somerby responds, "I'll have to consult Wittgenstein about that."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TDH says,

      Amazingly dumb as that question was, the president's response may have even been dumber.

      Corby, trying to top both the reporter and Trump, asks,

      Why does Somerby say "may have even been"? Doesn't Somerby know whether Trump is saying dumb things or not?

      It’s rhetorical. It means the President’s response was also dumb, so dumb that it might have been worse than the dumb question.

      Corby continues:

      Can you imagine Somerby in front of his classroom saying "Two plus two may be four"? Child raises hand and asks "under what circumstances is it not four?" Somerby responds, "I'll have to consult Wittgenstein about that.”

      That’s a real knee-slapper.

      But why would an arithmetic operation be parallel to a judgment about the adequacy of a response to a reporter?

      What kind of child learning his addition tables asked “under what circumstances….?”

      For those of you keeping track, one answer is “under the circumstances of arithmetic modulo 3.”

      If you knew anything about Wittgenstein, you’d know that he’d have no problem with the truth of the proposition “2+2=4” in base 10. Which rather undercuts your amusing joke, which might be saved only by the fact that TDH, the Slowest Boy in the Class, might share your ignorance.

      Delete
    2. Hey, deadrat, you and Corby need to get a room, ok?

      Delete
    3. Bwahahahaha! If you think of this place as a chat room, then we've all the room either of us wants. But, really, 7:20P, if you can feel sexual tension on the comment section of a blog nobody reads, you need to ask Corby for a referral to one of her colleagues for some serious therapy.

      I don't even want to think about your fantasies involving David in Cal and me.

      Delete
    4. "...your fantasies involving David in Cal and me."

      He stares at you with a mixture of awe and respect, as you recite addition and subtraction tables.

      Delete
    5. If you think you're staring at me, Sparky, you really do need to get that referral from Corby.

      Tables? Subtraction?

      Delete
  4. "In short, the ace reporter asked the president if we'd be able to reach a weekly goal we've long since exceeded. Our president displayed no awareness of this fact when he gave his bungled response."

    Only autistic people and those whose job it is to count tests routinely carry such figures around in their heads. This is a gotcha complaint. There is no reason why Trump should know what our testing goal is or should be. His mistake is that he should have deferred to one of his wonks.

    Note that both Hillary and Bill Clinton could and did carry such figures around in their heads, but they were (1) interested in details, and (2) very high IQ individuals (unlike Trump).

    Trump's answer is dumb because he says testing is not needed. Even a big picture guy shouldn't have said that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only autistic people and those whose job it is to count tests routinely carry such figures around in their heads. This is a gotcha complaint. There is no reason why Trump should know what our testing goal is or should be.

      Could you be any more ignorant? Seriously, take some time to consider your answer. My guess is yes, since there appears to be no bottom.

      If either you or Trump knew anything about epidemiology, you’d know that the key thing to understand about COVID-19 is its transmissibility rate, called the basic reproduction number, or R0 (pronounced R-Zero or R-Nought). Roughly, it’s the number of people a sick person will infect.

      If R0<1, the disease will die out. If R0 > 1, the disease will spread, with explosive exponential force as R0 rises to 2. The R0 of COVID-19 is between 2.0 and 2.5. For comparison, seasonal influenza usually straddles 1 — if it’s under 1, then it’s a “good” flu season; over 1, not so much. Small pox is very infectious, R0>5; measles is crazy infectious, R0 up to 18.

      R0 isn’t constant. It will go down naturally if the disease confers some immunity. After a while, every one who gets the disease will be dead or immune, and there aren’t any more susceptible people to infect. R0 can be forced down artificially either by vaccination (if we’re lucky enough to have a vaccine) or by quarantine. The former got rid of polio; the latter is the biology experiment most of us are participating in.

      Testing is the only reliable way to determine R0, and thus the only way to determine whether the quarantine is working and how long it will be necessary to enforce it. Based on what we know from experience in other countries, we can work backward from the case fatality rate (percentage of deaths in reported cases) to get a rough estimate of R0, but it’s better to work from whole population numbers, and it’s the only way to figure the re-infection rate. Everyone assumes that people who recover are immune, making that last statistic 0. If that assumption is wrong, we’re basically all screwed until there’s an effective vaccine.

      The NYT reported today that there’s been a large increase in the NYC area of deaths at home. Likely many of these deaths are from COVID-19, but they’re not counted as COVID-19 deaths because there are no resources to test the dead. This means that the case fatality rate will give an underestimate of R0.

      So widespread and repeated testing is crucial to figure out what’s going on. The person in charge should be able to report what experts say is required.

      A full answer would include noting that testing should vary. There’s probably more testing needed for NYC Metro than in Niobrara County, Wyoming. No one is saying that Trump has to understand the statistical basis for determining a testing program, but he should be able to report what experts say is required for the worst case (probably still NYC) and perhaps a few hotspots (like Albany, GA). No one cares if he has the numbers in his head. He can read them from notes or on a teleprompter.

      This isn’t a gotcha question. It’s a question that begs the soi-disant wartime President to tell us that he understands the magnitude of the problem.

      Of course, all this assumes there are experts available to the gov to give good answers and data available to track recommendations. The latter is iffy since the CDC isn’t running a non-existent nationwide testing program. It’s every locality for itself. Italy has flattened its curve and run tests at about 14 per 1000 people. South Korea also has a flat curve and run tests at about 9.5 per 1000. Our new cases have ticked up in the last two days; we’ve run tests at 6 per 1000.

      We peaked about a week ago at 225K tests per day. We’ve dropped to about 160K.

      Go here: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-testing

      Delete
    2. None of this explains why Trump needs to carry those figures around in his head. He should have asked one of his staff to answer. Given that Digby isn't sure Trump understands that the corona virus is a virus (he seems to think antibiotics work against it), expecting him to know exact numbers is playing "gotcha". You don't have to lecture me about how pandemics work, although I'm sure your recitation was interesting to someone.

      Delete
    3. Perfect example of mansplaining.

      Delete
    4. None of this explains why Trump needs to carry those figures around in his head.

      Just because you failed to understand it doesn’t mean that the explanation was off base.

      I’ll try to explain again in smaller words (and by typing more slowly in the hope that you can follow).

      A President needs to understand the importance of testing and the magnitude of the task in carrying out the testing. He or she can’t do that without at least understanding the shortfall between the current level of testing being conducted and numbers of tests required per capita in the hardest hit areas of the country. Failure to know the number is an indication of a failure of involvement at some level.

      No one’s asking for an understanding of sampling statistics. It’s a simple matter of being able to say, “The NYC Metro Area is testing tk thousands of people a day right now. The experts tell me that we need to test tk% of the population, and if we can get up to tk thousands tested per day, we’ll be where we need to be by the end April.”

      You don't have to lecture me about how pandemics work, although I'm sure your recitation was interesting to someone.

      Oh, professor, I’ll accept your claim of uninterest, but don’t pretend you knew what I was talking about before I posted my comment. Your history of abyssal ignorance argues against it.

      In any case, the facts I recited don’t have as much to do with you than with my habit of backing up my claims. A habit you should think about adopting.

      Delete
    5. Perfect example of mansplaining.

      Perfect example of your attempted deflection from your own ignorance.

      It’s hard to convey the contempt your comment deserves.

      Delete
  5. I totally disagree with voter suppression efforts and think vote by mail or even computer voting should be permitted, but I can't help wondering what happens in Wisconsin when there is a snowstorm on election day? It is similarly life-threatening, especially for people in poor health, and people are advised not to leave their homes and stay off the roads. Voter turnout is depressed by weather but elections are not postponed. Why is that different than the current situation?

    ReplyDelete
  6. “Amazingly dumb as that question was,”

    The question didn’t strike me as dumb. The unnamed reporter is referring to a tweet yesterday from Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner (under Trump), who said that he and his fellow AEI contributors have calculated that (at least) 750,000 tests per week will be sufficient *to think about reopening the economy.* That is what the reporter is asking about, and he is asking if Trump agrees with that assessment. Somerby is only assuming that the reporter doesn’t know how many tests are currently being performed.

    It is Trump who evidently doesn’t know the current number of tests being performed, and who may not understand the connection, as touted by Gottlieb, between number of tests and opening up the economy, which Trump is so eager to do.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Crazy" is not a legitimate psychological or psychiatric term. It is name-calling. Labeling large groups of people crazy does nothing to advance any meaningful discussion about anything.

    Somerby is a bit unfocused about who and what has caused our crazy discourse. He blames the rank and file for being tribal, then he says that craziness comes from partisan media. Then he pats himself on the back by including himself in "us" as he says:

    "amazingly few of us rational animals have seemed to notice or care."

    He seems to think he is rational for labeling a big swathe of the populace's discussion "insane" because it is tribal or partisan. This, despite the fact that we have a multi-party voting system that includes two major parties whose job is to present a platform that is by-definition partisan, and to argue the merits of the candidates running on those platforms. But when we engage in democratic elections by participating in such discussions, and various folks in the media presents ideas for voters to mull over, we are engaged in insane discourse. Why? Because Somerby said so, and future anthropologists agree (perhaps because no one else does).

    ReplyDelete
  8. “Krugman often fails to distinguish between Republican leaders and Republican voters.”

    “On the level of the rank and file, it has become increasingly clear that we human are strongly inclined to accept all tribal narratives at times of great tribal division.”

    This posited division between leadership and the rank-and-file is bogus, at least to some extent. Perhaps there is some portion of the rank-and-file Republican and/or Trump voters who are completely clueless or misinformed about what the leadership is doing. But there must be a not insubstantial percentage who know and approve for various reasons.

    Calling these reasons purely “irrational” and/or “tribalism” is a way of expressing contempt for the political process whereby voters decide who better represents their views, it implies a lack of agency in the voters, and it creates an artificial distinction between leaders and rank-and-file; many political leaders, particularly at the state and local level, come from the rank-and-file themselves and express the views of the rank-and-file.

    And of course, the preceding applies to liberals as well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. “What happened in Wisconsin is just this side of insane.”

    No. It was engineered to ensure Republican victories. It was mean-spirited, naked partisanship. That didn’t seem insane to the Wisconsin GOP, nor even to the august US Supreme Court.

    Calling it insane is tantamount to ignoring the calculated strategy of it and the culpability of the Wisconsin GOP.

    We will have to see what rank-and-file Wisconsin Republican voters thought of it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. All I know is: the Wisconsin GOP tried to ensure that Democrats couldn’t or wouldn’t vote. I don’t give a rat’s ass whether they did it because they’re “sociopaths” or not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “The Republicans tried to steal an election in Wisconsin by potentially exposing people to a deadly virus. Damn they’re mean.”

      “No. You see, they suffer from a mental disorder; they are sociopaths.”

      “Ohhhh. Ok. Wow. What is a sociopath?”

      “Someone who does mean things.”

      “It’s so much clearer now.”

      Delete
  11. "Voters under stay-at-home orders were forced to stand in long lines, for hours, in order to cast their vote."

    Boo-hoo, dear Bob. Forced? Tsk. It was so outrageous that "Republican leadership" held guns to their heads.

    ...incidentally, one cough in a supermarket can infect a hundred people. Waiting in line outdoors is far less dangerous.

    "In Milwaukee, the usual 180 polling places were reduced to a mere five (5)."

    Oh? Did "Republican leadership" also hold a gun to the head of Milwaukee's zombie mayor? I guess they are almost as all-powerful as The Dark Lord Putin, eh, Bob?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The voting by mail option had its issues too.

      https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/politics/wisconsin-election-absentee-coronavirus.amp.html

      Delete
    2. Somebody sounds a little bored with quarantine.

      Delete
    3. Mao,
      I liked it better when you pretended to hate the establishment.

      Delete
    4. Tsk. If voting by mail has issues, it has to be the fault of the evil "Republican leadership". Not to be confused with "Republican voters".

      Delete
  12. Republicans may lose the presidency, but they have the courts, they'll probably keep the Senate. The party would never give him permission to risk its entire reputation on such a stunt.

    I can assure you Paul Krugman, the reason Trump says stuff like "Maybe I won't leave" is precisely because it upsets the liberal dandies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and please, nobody start saying "precisely" a lot... bad writing crutch.

      Delete
  13. The governor of Wisconsin is Tony Evers, a Democrat who took office on January 7, 2019. I'm pretty sure that Milwaukee and Madison are both Democratic cities. So, how is this mismatch of polling places the Republicans' fault?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Republicans control the legislature there; they refused to allow the Gov postpone the election. You may have heard that there is a pandemic going on, and a stay-home order in Wisconsin. They couldn’t get enough poll workers to work the polls. Republicans also refused to extend the deadline to ensure everyone could get an absentee ballot.

      But surely, you are capable of finding that out yourself, rather than asking stupid ignorant questions.

      Delete
    2. Excuses, excuses.

      So, in Wisconsin the executive branch is completely helpless, but everything happening on the federal level is Orange Man Bad. Right, dembot?

      Delete
    3. In Milwaukee, the usual 180 polling places were reduced to a mere five

      That is not the legislature's fault.

      Delete
    4. There is a pandemic, David. They couldn’t get enough poll workers to man the polling stations. The Republican controlled legislature refused to allow the governor to postpone the election until the crisis is past. It is the legislature’s fault.

      Delete
    5. "They couldn’t get enough poll workers to man the polling stations."

      Tsk, how awful. Poor Milwaukee mayor, the innocent victim of the awful circumstances and evil "Republican leadership" (not to be confused with "Republican voters").

      He looked everywhere - everywhere I tell you - but alas poll workers were nowhere to be found...

      Delete
    6. That is not the legislature's fault.

      David, you really truly are a worthless piece of shit.

      In the 2018 midterms in Wisconsin, the incumbent republiCON Scott Walker was defeated by a narrow margin by Democratic candidate Tony Evers. Further, US Senator Tammy Baldwin crushed her republiCON opponent by over 10%.
      In the races for US House, Democratic candidates total votes beat republiCONs by a similar margin, yet the GOP walked away with a 5 - 3 majority.
      In Statewide races, Democrats won a clean sweep including for AG, SoS, Treasurer and Lt. Gov. Democrats won them all.

      However, interestingly, for the State Assembly,

      Republicans won a fairly wide majority in the Wisconsin State Assembly, the Democrats garnered nearly 9 percent more of the overall statewide vote. [19] [20] In addition, Wisconsin was notable for being the only state in the 2018 elections where Republicans won a majority of the state’s seats in the U.S. House while Democrats won a majority of the overall votes.

      In fact, despite democratic candidates getting 9% more statewide votes for the state legislature, republiCONs walked away with 63 out of the 99 seats. Amazing.

      This august body of legislators last week spent approximately 17 seconds to consider and reject the Governor's request to delay the election and issue mail in ballots to all registered voters.

      What we have learned then is republiCONs will literally kill their constituents in order to maintain their minority power.

      You can go fuck yourself, David.

      Delete
    7. "In fact, despite democratic candidates getting 9% more statewide votes for the state legislature, republiCONs walked away with 63 out of the 99 seats. Amazing."

      It amazes you, dear Hillary, only because you're an ignorant psycho-witch.

      The rest of us know all too well that your zombie serfs tend to swarm in few zombie-districts. Usually in the most shithole districts, incidentally.

      Delete
    8. The rest of us know all too well that your zombie serfs tend to swarm in few zombie-districts. Usually in the most shithole districts, incidentally.


      ***
      Our observation: The less-than-500 counties that Hillary Clinton carried nationwide encompassed a massive 64 percent of America’s economic activity as measured by total output in 2015. By contrast, the more-than-2,600 counties that Donald Trump won generated just 36 percent of the country’s output—just a little more than one-third of the nation’s economic activity.
      ***

      "shithole districts", eh?

      Delete
    9. Yeah, Hillary, if coke-snorting counts as economic activity.

      Delete
  14. Yesterday's number of US corona virus tests rose to 163,000. We may well be the highest per capita testing country now, although we are not the per capita leader in total tests.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You say “we” are testing.

      But who is “we?”

      “In the absence of a national testing strategy, states go their own way”
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/07/testing-coronavirus-trump/

      Delete
    2. Wrong, Germany is testing more with less population.

      It is not a competition.

      The time to have appreciated high rates of testing was months ago when every other country was taking it seriously while Trump smugly worried about how it would affect his poll numbers and reelection.

      Delete
    3. Mass testing is a waste of money and labor.

      Not to mention, a real risk to infect more people. Which is exactly what zombies wish for - to stretch the doom and gloom period till November.

      Delete
    4. Are they testing people on welfare? The people who you have judged and look down upon your whole life?

      Delete
    5. I was just sad yesterday to read that you had lived your whole life with an ethical code that people on welfare should be looked down upon. Decades hence people will look at that as completely insane. They will be looking back at a time where we only thought of our fellow humans in economic terms. They will laugh at our shallow insanity.

      But it will just have been another stop on our forward progression.

      We were just doing our best with what we had as you have been your whole life while making that ethical judgment.

      Delete
    6. Lol. Every dembot's jumping at the opportunity for virtue signaling and to demonstrate contempt for the working people. How charming.

      Delete
    7. @6:12 wrote: We were just doing our best with what we had as you have been your whole life

      Yes, that is a change in values. In the old days people didn't just take it for granted that everyone was doing their best with what they had. People were more judgmental.

      Delete
    8. The fact remains the US has been woefully inadequate when it comes to testing, which is vitally important to getting a handle of the Trump virus. No we are not number one with per capita testing.

      Delete
    9. Hmm. I thought it was General Tso's virus.

      But if indeed Our Beloved Commander defeated General Tso and conquered the virus, so much the better.

      Delete
    10. Trump supports voter suppression because Trump is General Tso's chicken.

      Delete
    11. David in CalApril 10, 2020 at 8:22 PM

      That doesn't mean they weren't doing the best they good with what they had in the old days. Just like we are now when we value people only in economic terms. There was a Trump fan here the other who was bragging that he was rich and famous. Rich and famous!! So what? That doesn't mean a thing unless it is moral. People have been taught to think only in economic terms. Rich and famous is automatically good without regard to morals. A mother on welfare, raising a child ... we look down on her. We look down on motherhood!!! Do you know how insane that is? We look up to any fool with money and we look down on mothers. God weeps. But we'll get over it. That will come to pass. Everything must pass.

      Delete
  15. “On the level of the rank and file, it has become increasingly clear that we human are strongly inclined to accept all tribal narratives at times of great tribal division.”

    So forget about all those posts where Somerby implored liberals to figure out why The Others voted for Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  16. “Krugman often fails to distinguish between Republican leaders and Republican voters.”

    Republican voters had more than a dozen candidates to choose from in the 2016 primaries. They chose Trump.

    Republican leadership in 2016 was almost wholly anti-Trump.

    Somerby needs to refine his narrative a wee bit.

    ReplyDelete
  17. If you’re not as prepared as you need to be, please take heed:

    https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-may-cause-some-food-shortages-says-government-document-223308504.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. So it is A-OK to quote Krugman recycling a hyper-partisan narrative?

    Good to know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For values of hyper-partisan equaling true.

      Delete
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