The Man In The Mask

Trump masks up during a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.

In more important news, Trump currently rules a second national shutdown in response to a second wave of COVID-19.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said “we are not closing our country” if the U.S. is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections.

“People say that’s a very distinct possibility, it’s standard,” Trump said when asked about a second wave during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.

“We are going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country,” Trump said. “We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we are not closing our country.”

Obviously, time will tell. If there is a serious second wave, enough state and regional shutdowns will look like a national shutdown.

Comments

[rich]

good luck to any governor trying to do so.

[DrJ]

Erste! (In honor of Frau)

[rich]

not fairfax anymore ... surprisingly worse, montgomery.

(not sure king county will be an improvement either)

we're in this together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9BfvPjsXXw

i've linked this dozens of times during the kjom hour. great short film too.

Posted by: rich | May 21, 2020 at 11:12 PM

getting kjom started.

pottymouth activated.

[DrJ]

Zweite! (In honor of Frau)

[MissMarple2]

Melinda,

You have probably been busy today. Have you spotted all of the events that have been posted?

Seems like something is moving forward,

[Another Bob]

Nope. People got a taste of what the first one really meant. No way will there be a second.

[clarice]

Nope.No way. Karens can stay in their towers.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
39m
USA will be bigger and stronger than ever before!
=========================================
Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022)
@TeamTrump
· 3h
New @CNBC poll in key electoral states....

5,408 likely voters: AZ, FL, MI, NC, PA, WI.

@realDonaldTrump leads @JoeBiden 48% to 46%

Trump job approval: 50%

Trump is +11% over Biden on the ECONOMY!
10:40 PM · May 21, 2020

[Melinda]

MM-

Spotty internet at Porch’s favorite hangout. I’m looking at the 49th parallel at the moment, a k a Canadian border, but 42 miles from the closest town. Fresh skeeters, in case anyone’s curious, and they’re very, very hungry since hatching.

[rich]

sorry DrJ.

[MissMarple2]

Retweeted by the President Video at the link.

"One of the main reasons @realdonaldtrump got elected in the first place was Barack Obama" #TheFive pic.twitter.com/yg0i5x9gpC

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) May 21, 2020

[rich]

is there a recall provision for the governor in any of the hardest hit states?

[boris]

Between now and any 2nd wave it should be obvious the 1st shutdown failed to demonstrate effectiveness compared to states and countries that did not shut down.

Not saying it didn't help, just that if we were to impose the same standard of effectiveness demanded of HCQ Zinc & Z pack on the Shutdown treatment ... and the vast ruinous difference in side effects ...

Shutdown fail.

[MissMarple2]

“As one grateful nation, we proclaim: God bless our health care workers!” - @realDonaldTrump in Michigan pic.twitter.com/b10BkiMCSM

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) May 21, 2020

Video at link.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
15m
The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan, Dana Nessel, is viciously threatening Ford Motor Company for the fact that I inspected a Ventilator plant without a mask. Not their fault, & I did put on a mask. No wonder many auto companies left Michigan, until I came along!

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
9m
Do nothing A.G. of the Great State of Michigan, Dana Nessel, should not be taking her anger and stupidity out on Ford Motor - they might get upset with you and leave the state, like so many other companies have - until I came along and brought business back to Michigan. JOBS!

[rich]

michigan's recall is pretty broad-any statewide elective office

https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_recall_in_Michigan

the governor better start listening soon or she'll find herself out of a job.

[MissMarple2]

rich,

Totally agree!

[MissMarple2]

Heading for bed.

Nytol!

[Narciso]

Careful the mandibles might extend to aeize her pray.

[Porchlight]

If there is a serious second wave, enough state and regional shutdowns will look like a national shutdown.

There is not going to be a serious second wave, although the Blue Hell Overlords may try to pretend otherwise.

We're opening up. We're done with this deliberate destruction.

[Porchlight]

Spotty internet at Porch’s favorite hangout.

49th parallel? Lake of the Woods? Boundary Waters?

[Another Bob]

Ana Navarro May rate “that word” too...

https://twitter.com/ananavarro/status/1263575599907516416?s=21

[rich]

>>>We're opening up. We're done with this deliberate destruction.

Posted by: Porchlight | May 21, 2020 at 11:35 PM<<<

total agreement.

sunlight, fresh air, and warm weather ... the holy trinity of good health.

science bitches.

[Dave (in MA)]

TopSecretK9@topsecretk9·
I hope this tweet haunts the soulless
@ananavarro in her dreams for years to come
@CNN

[clarice]

Good night.

[rich]

good grief what is wrong with people.

you've seen the butcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woAcXSMyCEw

deftones

(from diamond eyes which just recently had its 10th anniversary)

[Melinda]

Porch-

Hiding out down the Gunflint Trail.

[Another Bob]

“Imagine how bad the mainstream media would meltdown if the DOJ lawyer that moved to dismiss the Flynn case left DOJ and hosted a fundraiser for @realDonaldTrump?"

@DonaldJTrumpJr

Weissman is headlining a Biden fundraiser.

[rich]

new yorkers fled their first lockdown and have been spreading the commie cough throughout the united states.

so not only is their incompetent leadership killing the resident elderly they trying to kill others all across the county.

thanks new york.

[rich]

working, vacation mel?

and country not county ...

[rich]

even the times agrees

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/us/new-york-city-coronavirus-outbreak.html

we had to burn down the us because of new york.

[rich]

“We now have enough data to feel pretty confident that New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country,” said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.

[Another Bob]

You wonder if NYC officials feel any responsibility for that?

[rich]

none at all. they are still prattling on about 'viruses don't respect borders'.

if florida had barred ny residents from the state they'd be in even better shape.

[Another Bob]

Didn’t Wilhelm tell people to go to the Chinese New Year celebrations?

No apparent mitigations of the subways or airports.

Did NY/NYC do anything that wasn’t too little or too late?

[Dave (in MA)]

Interesting juxtaposition of Tweets. Shiny-faced Nancy and...

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 12:04 AM

almost like the chinese communist party was running the whole of new york as a colony.

[rich]

another deftones track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSycaeY7qi4

phantom bride

(from gore)

they were supposed to play in dc in august but not sure if the show is still on ...

[Dave (in MA)]

Uday and Qusay Cuomo yukking it up on XiNN in the city where they were stacking bodies like cordwood.

[Another Bob]

And Washington state and the Nigerians?

Inslee too busy issuing shutdown orders and berating Trump to run a competent UI shop?

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 12:04 AM

it was the health commissar and i think he/she was joined by the usual virtue signalers ... and another winner pa has a health minister who doesn't even know what his gender is? let's put this wierdo in charge of the public health bureaucracy of the state ... seems reasonable.

wouldn't healthy be, just thinking out loud, a requirement for the job of health minister?

[rich]

let's put honeyboo on the president's fitness council doing public service announcements about fitness and healthy eating ...

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 12:11 AM

spending too much time getting his reserve army of contact tracers deployed ...

[rich]

let's get keith richard's on the council for a drug free america ...

[Dave (in MA)]

I still say that PA health official is Doug Schoen in drag.

[rich]

let's get jenna jameson to prattle on about chastity ...

[Another Bob]

It’s insane.

Sure, let’s put literal lunatics in charge. What could go wrong.

There might be one good thing that comes from this - people learn that putting morons in charge can have bad consequences.

[rich]

Posted by: Dave (in MA) | May 22, 2020 at 12:25 AM

it is a fundamental unseriousness of our political class at the local, state, and federal level.

in the back of my mind somewhere i'm sure i had a stray thought that the power of the state could do this, but that they would ... and they'd get everyone so wound up we'd have to have the right dress code to get our rations.

never never

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl2D7J_FL_U

korn

the likelihood we'll see another lockdown

[Another Bob]

Didn’t that PA health official bitch out a reporter over “misgendering” it?

Yeah, that’s the vital and important thing at the time.

[rich]

me and ab on the same frequency ...

drinks on me.

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 12:38 AM

it is of a piece with Harris trying to get a resolution through the senate calling wrongthink and wrongspeak as racist ... so what if it is?

[rich]

no virtues left unsignaled ... check every box. and then make up some more.

[rich]

i might carry on til 5 in the morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft-7at-gNTU

here to stay

korn

(any requests?)

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--And there are people who are calling it a case of racist selective outrage.--

Was the guy he was punching on white or a very pale black guy? His hair looked like he was at least partly black.

[Another Bob]

“fundamental unseriousness of our political class”

Concur. Goes along with an increasing unseriousness of the electorate. Maybe a bit of hard times straightens some of that out.

Shit, who am I kidding... we’re screwed.

[Another Bob]

Where were multiple victims Ig. The two I saw, vic looked white.

[rich]

local story. so much for that honest conversation.

i'd like to see the communications of the psyops of five eyes with the public health bureaucracy ... influence ops.

just sayin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcACvjXuclA

spike in my veins

more korn

[rich]

he may have vitiligo

[rich]

let's listen to that again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcACvjXuclA

We are the ones taking all the pain
Falling on our faces
They don't care anyway
Anyway, now
You're the one that makes me feel like I'm alive
You're the one that pushes me all the time
All the time, now

[rich]

>>>Shit, who am I kidding... we’re screwed.

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 12:51 AM<<<

hope i'm not contributing to that feeling.

[Another Bob]

“carry on til 5 in the morning”

I’m entering month three of work from home. It’s screwed me up mentally a bit. I’m violating one of the basic rules Stephanie suggested to me to keep a routine.

My bosses are in PDT and my customers are in Japan so I tend not to have early meetings. My team is also work-from-home and all keep their own hours. So I’ve stopped setting the alarm.

So I’m hitting bed much later than usual on “school nights” and getting up. much later. Going back to going to the office daily is going to be a grind.

[JimNorCal]

Korn-- Did My Time
https://youtu.be/TdRurT-hcFY

Help ease rich into his dark space ... :) :)

[Another Bob]

“ hope i'm not contributing to that feeling.”

Oh hell no.

At some cost to myself, I’m the mayor of my Realville. /Limbaugh.

My refusal to happytalk screwed up situations is legendary.

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 01:04 AM

i got screwed this week with work on two projects so i took most of it off ... one a s/w error was discovered in a utility that is pretty bad and the other was some racks were supposed to get built but didn't. went in and twiddled my thumbs and tried to make myself useful with busy work but i can only tolerate that for about a day or so.

some of the people that we have reporting watch way too much media and are terrified of being in the building.

[Another Bob]

But it’s a key to my ability to deliver, I think.

[rich]

Posted by: Jim,SunnyvaleCA,USA | May 22, 2020 at 01:10 AM

excellent selection jim!

[Dave (in MA)]

We were told March 12th we could work from home starting the next day. I stayed home on the 13th but went in the next Monday, and that was the last day. It was the next week that they told us we had to work from home except for a skeleton crew of IT people keeping things running. I wish I could shut off the alarm but we are maintaining our regular meeting schedule.

[rich]

i have to say i am glad that i've had something to go and do during this. i couldn't work from home with what i do and at least we've been able to keep the doors open.

[Dave (in MA)]

Gio DeBatta@GDebatta
·
Replying to @RealJamesWoods
Nursing home beatings. Election fraud. Two dams explode. And what’s Michigan AG prioritizing? “Orange Man Need Mask”

[Another Bob]

“ terrified of being in the building”

Yeah, I have a couple of those. The exec types who have to kiss ass of the local authorities a little and the HR types who are living for the idea that they’re making momentous decisions instead of being glorified clerks, are both contributing to the freakout via overcautious planning, monitoring and communications.

My company has had a few cases in the west coast offices, one possible in my burgh but a different building, and a few who had to quarantine due to a suspected contact. Big yawn so far.

[JimNorCal]

ABob: "FISA renewal is in more trouble than thought."

Wait, it didn't already pass?

[JimNorCal]

DaveMA: "Uday and Qusay Cuomo yukking it up on XiNN"

Brill.
This is why we pay Dave the big bucks: totally deserved!

[rich]

we've had two, one in our building there have been a few suspected. most of the absenteeism has been because of the stress and freakout factor of getting into the building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuAC9YIC2Bs

staind

mudshovel

i wish i had some explosives and bad attitude ... i'd be bombing dc tonight

/justkidding

sortof.

[Another Bob]

“glad that i've had something to go and do during this”

I complain some but I’m getting paid, so that puts an upper limit on it.

I don’t think my outfit had any business being declared “essential” but here we are.

[Another Bob]

“ABob: "FISA renewal is in more trouble than thought."

Wait, it didn't already pass?”

I won’t even pretend to understand the minutia of congressional rules, but I read that the vote/bill you’re referring to was more of a “proxy” vote, but the discussion about the “real” vote indicates it’s very close.

(shrugs) I could be all wet.

[rich]

hats off to the bull

chevelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRLd1Cgbdg

who knew so much bull could bring the nation and supposedly a free people to their knees.

hats off fearfactory, well played.

[rich]

Posted by: Another Bob | May 22, 2020 at 01:31 AM

given what we have seen, i hope every state takes a long and hard look at what their health bureaucracies can actually do and compensate business owners for what they can.

[JimNorCal]

.

[rich]

i need to dig into some filter and prodigy.

#notmydarkplaceyet

#marilynmansoniswhenitgetsdark

#staytuned

[rich]

wow that is aggressive jim.

[KevlarKid]

aBob- FTR i read your takes on things. always find what you write to be thought provoking, respectABLE, and with the requisite sideways angle D'onofrio brought to prime time on L&O.

Tango on! ➡️🦆🦆🦆🦆

[rich]

there are two i'd like to link but the short films are p0*nag ra ph phic

... it is still early during this kjom.

[JimNorCal]

Bigger fish ....
Hewlett Packard realizes that a full quarter with no revenue is bad ...
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/22/hpe_q2_2020/
HPE's Black Thursday: Staff face pay cuts or the ax, office closures to save $1bn+ after coronavirus slams IT titan

[JimNorCal]

"He also said he expects that up to 50 per cent of HPE’s workforce may never come back to work at its offices, and instead work from home, and is thus considering ditching at least some of its buildings to “reduce its real estate footprint” to cut costs."

Big changes will work their way through the system

[rich]

some of that might be based on fear especially the "work from home", but a sober reminder that nothing is guaranteed

survivalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSsRt_1l740

nin

the panopticon state (oh yes, i've got a few more ideas) in music video form

[Another Bob]

Believe it or not KK, I’ve not watched one episode of any L&O blah-blah-blah series. I suck at that sort of pop culture - find most of it a waste of time. So I’ve no clue what the “sideways angle” might mean.

But it sounds vaguely cool, so I’ll take that and run ;)

[rich]

fiction (dreams on digital)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczLNctogZk

orgy

from vapor transmission

[MJW]

A notable aspect of the DC court's mandamus order is that it appears to presume mandamus is justified unless Sullivan can somehow distinguish the Flynn case from Fokker. It seemed to me that the largest hurdle for the mandamus petition was persuading the court that there was an issue that couldn't wait at least until Sullivan actually refused to dismiss the charges. Yet that would be a preliminary matter, to be decided before considering whether Sullivan was acting properly.

[rich]

it'd be nice to see that black-robed tyrant put in check.

impeached.

removed from office.

disgraced.

[rich]

get chief justice roberts on the phone to clean up his house ...

[rich]

opticon

orgy

another minute closer to #mydarkplace

[MJW]

. . . appears to presume the court has already concluded mandamus . . .

To make my meaning clearer.

[rich]

surprised you aren't a lawyer. interesting comments.

[rich]

and of course i'd have left off a link

opticon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiiBKhbDh2c

let's let the reserve army of contact tracers determine what we can and can't do.

[jim nj]

I still have a very spotty internet connection but I have been able to collect enough for a

worldometer look see

Date all cases new cases %change tests
5/18 1,550,294 22,630 +1.4% 11,834,508
5/19 1,570,583 20,289 +1.3% 12,233,987
5/20 1,593,039 22,456 +1.4% 12,647,791
5/21 1,620,902 27,863 +1.7% 13,056,206

Date new tests new cases %positive
5/18 335,305 22,630 +6.7%
5/19 399,479 20,289 +5.0%
5/20 413,804 22,456 +5.4%
5/21 408,415 27,863 +6.8%

The last time I posted we seemed to be near a 350,000 testing capacity per day. Now we're at 400,000 per day.

A few thoughts on testing capacity. I think there is even more capacity then the number of tests indicate. That testing capacity is uneven across states and may not be as robust as needed in some states and particular localities. That the number of people being tested may be less due to people volunteering for tests and more due to new mandatory testing of some sub-groups of people, like in nursing homes.

I think the novelty of testing has declined and that the most worried are still the most likely to volunteer for tests. I am heartened that we now have enough testing capacity that we can cover the nursing homes and first-responders even if that is the mandatory component.

My sense is that beyond the stupid mandate of governors ordering nursing homes to accept any patient that the severe lack of tests and PPE compounded that even more.

Even though the %positives have declined below 10% since March 5 and are now below ~7.0% I still don't think the results are random yet. So I think the actual positive rate is lower.

My greatest hope in the current testing regime is that all of our nursing homes have the capacity now to do defensive testing on a regular basis.

[jim nj]

MJW,

I got that same sense of the Mandamus order for a response from Sullivan.

SWC faulted the request for a writ from Powell for not just dryly stating the facts. Powell used adjectives like a reporter would use, and I found it appropriate. Why write a writ saying that the judge is wrong on these technical points when one can argue that he is also horribly wrong, and biased, on the whole thing.

IANAL, so I don't know what Sullivan's argument will look like, but I doubt it will convince the Court of Appeals to allow him to maintain control over this.

And it would seem to me that to maintain control of this he would have to present a compelling legal argument AND address the bias issues that were raised in Powell's writ.

I'm not wondering if he will be stomped on. I'm wondering how badly he will be stomped on.

Will the court simply order him to dismiss the case or will they find him unfit to do so and order his replacement to do so?

[MJW]

SWC faulted the request for a writ from Powell for not just dryly stating the facts. Powell used adjectives like a reporter would use, and I found it appropriate. Why write a writ saying that the judge is wrong on these technical points when one can argue that he is also horribly wrong, and biased, on the whole thing.

I agreed (and still agree) with SWC. Though I suppose one can't argue with success -- and getting as far as she has with the petition is success -- I don't think it was due to the (to my way of thinking) overly emotive language. I doubt it really helped with the Republican-majority panel, and I believe it would have hurt if she'd drawn a Democrat-majority panel.

[jim nj]

Contract tracing is the new ventilator issue.

We need thousands of people to go to nursing homes where the new mandatory testing will be done to ask, "Hiya, Honey, where have you been lately?"

This whole tracing thing is based on the idea that we will have huge testing capacity and can go out, in a big way, into the general population. That hordes of people will show up for testing and so many will test positive that the tracers will be busy tracing possible contacts.

Well, enough governors have laid out the dire consequences of voluntarily testing, and testing positive, that only the deathly ill will show up for testing.

Testing will remain useful for those people who are experiencing adverse symptoms and need care. I think the rest of the people, particularly in the hard-hit states, would rather have access to an antibody test.

Widespread antibody testing in the hard-hit states would give us a better idea on how quickly we can open up.

[MJW]

surprised you aren't a lawyer. interesting comments.

Thank you very much. Sometimes I wish I'd gone to law school, as I seriously considered after graduating college, but I suspect pontificating on legal issues is a lot more entertaining than the day to day work of most lawyers.