Irony score-unlimited

[JoeWeber 2,297]

The Trump administration is considering whether to create a special enrollment period for Obamacare coverage because of the coronavirus emergency, a CMS spokesperson confirmed.

All while suing in Court to shut down Obamacare. Nice.

[kallend 1,623]

Karma score too:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/22/sen-rand-paul-tests-positive-for-coronavirus.html

Sen. Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus

[Phil1111 910]

ACA, coverage for C-19 but no coverage for cancer. Because cancer kills and C-19 is a hoax. Its all very ....republican...

Jennifer Rubin: More Republicans Than Democrats Will Die Because Right-Wing Media Is Downplaying Coronavirus

The president and his Fox allies played down the public health threat to an audience largely made up of older Americans, the group most susceptible to the worst effects of COVID-19.

two weeks after President Donald Trump rallied conservatives to focus on the threat of socialism, his followers are splitting over the coronavirus pandemic.

Four examples of how C-19 exposes the irony of republican thinking.

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Phil1111

[kallend 1,623]

I wonder if Sen. Rand Paul is benefiting from a nice taxpayer subsidized healthplan.  The very thing he consistently opposes for the taxpayers at large.

[billvon 2,395]

3 hours ago, kallend said:

Karma score too:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/22/sen-rand-paul-tests-positive-for-coronavirus.html

Sen. Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus

How fortunate that senators can get the tests that most other Americans can't.

[JoeWeber 2,297]

Just now, billvon said:

How fortunate that senators can get the tests that most other Americans can't.

It is indeed. If not, I wouldn't be smirking right now.

[yoink 321]

5 hours ago, kallend said:

Karma score too:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/22/sen-rand-paul-tests-positive-for-coronavirus.html

Sen. Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus

Good.

 

Fucking prick.

[JoeWeber 2,297]

13 minutes ago, yoink said:

Good.

 

Fucking prick.

Roger that. Rand Paul: the eye doctor who can not see the forest for the tree's.

[billvon 2,395]

5 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Roger that. Rand Paul: the eye doctor who can not see the forest for the tree's.

All the really important people (Rand Paul, Harvey Weinstein, Tom Hanks, Debi Mazar, NBA players) are being tested, at least.

 

[JoeWeber 2,297]

6 minutes ago, billvon said:

All the really important people (Rand Paul, Harvey Weinstein, Tom Hanks, Debi Mazar, NBA players) are being tested, at least.

 

We have our standards and priorities. As we've been previously informed by the Orange One, that is the way the world has always worked. Serfs, please stand aside.

[yoink 321]

I'm not all that convinced what use testing is at this point. It would have been great 6 weeks ago, but the liklihood is 60-80% of the population are going to contract this thing.

[ryoder 1,381]

8 minutes ago, yoink said:

I'm not all that convinced what use testing is at this point. It would have been great 6 weeks ago, but the liklihood is 60-80% of the population are going to contract this thing.

You really haven't heard of "flattening the curve"???

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitigation-infection.html

Edited March 23, 2020 by ryoder

[JoeWeber 2,297]

4 minutes ago, yoink said:

I'm not all that convinced what use testing is at this point. It would have been great 6 weeks ago, but the liklihood is 60-80% of the population are going to contract this thing.

True, likely. But the blatant injustices must be observed. In the meantime it's everyone for themselves. 

Everyone here: get safe and take this seriously. You can isolate in fun, creative way's. Irritating and stubborn as we all can be we are also smart, clever people. Please, for my sake because I need the entertainment, be safe.

[Phil1111 910]

Come-on guys. First Rand Paul gets attacked by his neighbor and ends up with six broken ribs, then he gets verbally assaulted by passer-byes in a Washington restaurant. Now this! Here is an example of what's been directed at him.

"If a toxic waste dump came to life, it would be Donald Trump.

If a toxic waste dump came to life and had an air of moral superiority that was incoherently wrong on every count, it would be Rand Paul."

So mean spirited, yet so accurate.

[ryoder 1,381]

3 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

Come-on guys. First Rand Paul gets attacked by his neighbor and ends up with six broken ribs, then he gets verbally assaulted by passer-byes in a Washington restaurant. Now this! Here is an example of what's been directed at him.

"If a toxic waste dump came to life, it would be Donald Trump.

If a toxic waste dump came to life and had an air of moral superiority that was incoherently wrong on every count, it would be Rand Paul."

So mean spirited, yet so accurate.

And here is Rand Paul's father decrying the "hoax" just 6 days ago:

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/march/16/the-coronavirus-hoax/

[Phil1111 910]

2 minutes ago, ryoder said:

And here is Rand Paul's father decrying the "hoax" just 6 days ago:

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/march/16/the-coronavirus-hoax/

'The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree' The Pauls have the most mixed upside down, around and flat. Set of political philosophies that can exist in one place. Libertarian doesn't come close. They are trumpconomics on roids.

[headoverheels 291]

1 hour ago, Phil1111 said:

'The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree' 

The turd doesn't fall far from the ass.

 

[yoink 321]

2 hours ago, ryoder said:

You really haven't heard of "flattening the curve"???

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitigation-infection.html

Of course I have. But that curve relates to the rate of INFECTION, not the rate of detection. 
 

6 weeks ago identifying carriers and isolating them would have had a measurable effect on the hospitalization rate. Getting ahead of the infection by identifying exactly who has it and isolating them specifically would have made a big difference.

 

Right now, with all the ‘stay at home’ orders, identifying EXACTLY who has the virus is less important because that ship has sailed. The social isolation orders are a poorer form of the same thing - trying to get carriers isolated, but it's probably too late for that in terms of stopping the spread. 

If you present with a fever, shortness of breath and persistent cough you’ve probably got it and should go to hospital. If you don’t have those symptoms EVEN if you are tested and found to carry it, then you stay at home.

Testing right now is data corroboration of our models and it makes people feel good.

At this point the social isolation orders and people sticking to them are the most important thing. Data on exactly who carries it is a nice to have, but like I said, it makes people feel as though something useful is being done.

Edited March 23, 2020 by yoink

[billvon 2,395]

3 hours ago, yoink said:

I'm not all that convinced what use testing is at this point. It would have been great 6 weeks ago, but the liklihood is 60-80% of the population are going to contract this thing.

Yes.  And two weeks after, say, 20% of the population has it and then gets over it, they can go back to work.  They can work in hospitals, deliver goods, work at Starbucks and research vaccines in labs full of people without fear of spreading the disease.  And that's a very important place to get to.

Quote

 If you don’t have those symptoms EVEN if you are tested and found to carry it, then you stay at home.

Agreed.  Then after two weeks, you can go back to work.

[yoink 321]

45 minutes ago, billvon said:

Yes.  And two weeks after, say, 20% of the population has it and then gets over it, they can go back to work.  They can work in hospitals, deliver goods, work at Starbucks and research vaccines in labs full of people without fear of spreading the disease.  And that's a very important place to get to.

Agreed.  Then after two weeks, you can go back to work.

But we're past that. By the time enough kits have been manufactured to test the working population almost everyone will have been exposed anyway, because people are shit at self deprivation over long time frames. And the rate of production of the kits and testing would have to match the rate of infection - which I doubt. Plus we don't even know if it's possible to re-contract this particular virus.

 

Don't get me wrong - I think testing is good and useful. I just don't think it's the priority. We missed that chance. Right now the priority should be on survival, not recovery - How do we distribute food to a populace that shouldn't go and get it? How do we maintain the mental health of a population in shut-in environment*? How do we facilitate this self isolation thing? How do we prepare the health system for an influx of cases?

Personally all of those would take precedence.

 

 

 

*I've worked from home for the last 5 or 6 years, and it can get lonely. Seriously. For people who are used to interacting with dozens of people a day to suddenly go to ONLY mixing with their family, it's a huge risk of depression that isn't being considered. 

[feuergnom 22]

5 hours ago, billvon said:

Yes.  And two weeks after, say, 20% of the population has it and then gets over it, they can go back to work.  They can work in hospitals, deliver goods, work at Starbucks and research vaccines in labs full of people without fear of spreading the disease.  And that's a very important place to get to.

Agreed.  Then after two weeks, you can go back to work.

sorry but that won't work because after these two selfconfined weeks you could get in contact with people carrying the virus once you get out...
take a look @ how things are going elsewhere like half of europe. this will take longer. much longer

[kallend 1,623]

9 hours ago, billvon said:

All the really important people (Rand Paul, Harvey Weinstein, Tom Hanks, Debi Mazar, NBA players) are being tested, at least.

 

But, but....

'Anybody who wants a test gets a test';   Donald Trump, Mar 6, 2020

Was he LYING?

[wmw999 2,120]

Frankly, I think he already deserves the Medal of Freedom. He's clearly not comfortable with this administration, but he's sucking it up and going where he thinks he can do the most good for the most people -- again, and again. I've heard my husband repeatedly say "he should quit, no one with any credentials should work with that administration." But that would hurt more people. 

There was a good editorial about him in the NY Times yesterday. It's probably behind the paywall, so here:

Quote

WASHINGTON — It’s not easy being a national treasure.

“I’m exhausted,” confessed Tony Fauci when I reached him Thursday evening in the middle of another 18-hour workday.

“I have changed my tune a bit, probably thanks to my wife,” said the 79-year-old director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “About a week ago, I was going about four or five days in a row on about three hours of sleep, which is completely crazy, ’cause then I’ll be going on fumes. The last couple of nights, I’ve gotten five hours’ sleep, so I feel much better.”

He said he misses the endorphins of power walking, and he is wracked when he gets home at midnight and it’s too late to answer calls and emails.

“I gotta get rid of this guilt feeling,” he murmured about that moment’s 727 emails.

He said he has not been tested for the coronavirus but takes his temperature every day and usually has it taken another couple times before White House press conferences and meetings in the Oval.

 

When I spoke with him, he had been missing from the White House briefing for two days and Twitter blew a gasket, with everyone from Susan Rice to Laurence Tribe seeking an answer to the urgent query, “Where is Dr. Fauci?”

Donald Trump, the ultimate “me” guy, is in a “we” crisis and it isn’t pretty. The president is so consumed by his desire to get back his binky, a soaring stock market, that he continues to taffy-twist the facts, leaving us to look elsewhere — to Dr. Fauci and governors like Andrew Cuomo and Gavin Newsom — for leadership during this grim odyssey.

Dr. Fauci chuckled at speculation that he was banished due to his habit of pushing back on Trump’s hyperbolic and self-serving ad-libbing.

“That’s kind of funny but understandable that people said, ‘What the hell’s the matter with Fauci?’ because I had been walking a fine line; I’ve been telling the president things he doesn’t want to hear,” he said. “I have publicly had to say something different with what he states.

“It’s a risky business. But that’s my style, Maureen. You know me for many years. I say it the way it is, and if he’s gonna get pissed off, he’s gonna get pissed off. Thankfully, he is not. Interestingly.”

 The first time I talked to Dr. Fauci was during a panic in the mid-80s about stopping another virus, the cause of the heartbreaking AIDs crisis. Then, as now, he was honest, brave and innovative. He told me that he tries to be diplomatic when he has to contradict the president about what “game-changer” cures might be on the horizon and whether everyone who wants to be tested can get tested.

“I don’t want to embarrass him,” the immunologist says, in his gravelly Brooklyn accent. “I don’t want to act like a tough guy, like I stood up to the president. I just want to get the facts out. And instead of saying, ‘You’re wrong,’ all you need to do is continually talk about what the data are and what the evidence is.

“And he gets that. He’s a smart guy. He’s not a dummy. So he doesn’t take it — certainly up to now — he doesn’t take it in a way that I’m confronting him in any way. He takes it in a good way.”

On Friday, a trigger-happy Trump was so quick to talk up the fabulous possibilities of an antimalarial drug in combating the virus that Dr. Fauci had to pump the brakes, taking the microphone to explain that we do not know yet because controlled testing is needed.

The president returned to the lectern to press his unscientific case and compliment himself: “I’m a smart guy,” he said. “I feel good about it. And we’re going to see. You’re going to see soon enough.”

Probably thinking about all his government staffers working round-the-clock, Dr. Fauci could not help rubbing his forehead and cheek — going against his own advice to the public — when Trump cracked a joke about the “Deep State Department.”

Though the scientist listens respectfully when the president and the vice president are talking, he somehow manages to emit an “Oh my God, please don’t say that” vibe when the two men scamper over the line. When Mike Pence went into false-hope overdrive, saying, “I just can’t emphasize enough about the incredible progress that we have made on testing,” Dr. Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, the administration’s virus response coordinator, exchanged a whispered aside that sent the internet into a frenzy.

 

Dr. Fauci assured me that, despite their crosscurrents and an early overconfidence about how easy it would be to control the path of the virus, the president “absolutely” now gets the threat of “the invisible enemy,” as Trump calls the virus.

Still, Trump managed to have an hourlong press conference about public health guidance in which he relentlessly ran afoul of public health guidance.

He wants to think of himself as a wartime president, but he can’t rise above his pettiness and defensiveness long enough to stop trashing White House reporters who are simply trying to do their job under perilous circumstances. He also can’t move away from his old standby, xenophobia.

Trump has never understood anything about government, so he doesn’t know what the C.D.C. versus the F.D.A. versus FEMA should do. His improvisational leadership style was vividly — and disturbingly — on display Friday during a call with Chuck Schumer, who urged him to invoke the Defense Production Act to get ventilators and masks to desperate states — despite the president’s cavalier remark a day earlier that the federal government is “not a shipping clerk” for the states. “Then POTUS yelled to someone in his office to do it now,” a Schumer spokesman reported.

Trump is just a petrified salesman who believes in perception over reality. He thinks if he can create the perception that this is going to be a quick fix and there’s a little pill coming, then the stock market will roar back, along with his 2020 momentum.

With F.D.R. and the Great Depression, the only thing to fear was fear itself. With Trump and our new abyss, we have to fear not only fear but also the ignorance and misdirection of the White House and the profiteering of senators. Not to mention the virus.

 

Wendy P.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

2 hours ago, feuergnom said:

sorry but that won't work because after these two selfconfined weeks you could get in contact with people carrying the virus once you get out...
take a look @ how things are going elsewhere like half of europe. this will take longer. much longer

Once you've had it and gotten over it, you have the antibodies in your system.

You can't get it again.

People who've had it and recovered can go out and be in contact with infected people without worry.

[wmw999 2,120]

Just now, wolfriverjoe said:

Once you've had it and gotten over it, you have the antibodies in your system.

You can't get it again.

People who've had it and recovered can go out and be in contact with infected people without worry.

Are they sure of that? Last I read, they weren't sure about that yet. They're hoping, but not sure. That'd be great. But depending on how it mutates.

Wendy P.