The Donald Trump Score Card

Is the corona virus debacle trump's Ides of March?
fun fact for you, on this date in 40 BC, Augustus Caesar had 300 senators, and knights executed for the assassination of Julius Caesar.

 

It's a new mutated virus. Some will have natural immunity, but since it's new and people haven't been exposed to it before, most won't. Us Native Americans are acutely aware of what new pathogens which nobody's been exposed to yet can do to decimate populations (Seen Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel). You apparently haven't gotten the memo yet. Party line iss changing. The Dear Leader has acknowledged a national emergency, and even Fox News pundits have made the pivot.

 

What I meant by what I saw in Sydney yesterday was cafes jam packed, nobody seemingly staying inside, crazy busy....cancelling other events didn't make them stay inside isolated


Maybe we got it all wrong even a month ago.

Extended lock downs, no handshaking, voluntary isolation etc

All that is dependant on Millennials, Gen Y, even Gen X actually giving a fuck in the first place

Also dependant on mom's initially wanting the kids to stay home from school...until the kid gives grandma the virus, 4 days later kid gets over it, grandma is on a respirator

 

You comparing it to smallpox now?

 

Among other things. Funny, I had a vet med researcher friend over who works with corona in cats. He was telling us about the difficulty of developing a vaccine. And of course the thing can always mutate into a more--or less--lethal form. He didn't seem to be nearly the know-it-all about it that you seem to be. What are your credentials again? Dr. Fauci says the mortality rate is ten times worse than the seasonal flu.
COVID-19 Mortality Rate 'Ten Times Worse' Than Seasonal Flu, Says Dr. Anthony Fauci
Fact is, we just don't know. It's a novel virus. Here's what Dr. Fauci said in sworn testimony:
"Well, if you look at the official counts of the 70-plus-thousand people infected and the about 2,000 deaths, the mortality — or the case fatality rate, as we refer to it, is approximately 2 to 2.3 percent.
If you compare that with seasonal influenza, which is 0.1 percent, this is a serious level of mortality, not as bad as SARS back in 2002, which was 9 to 10 percent, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, another coronavirus in 2012, which was about 36 percent.

I do not believe that the 2 percent is the really ultimately correct case fatality rate. And the reason I say that is because the denominator for that calculation is probably much larger than they are putting into it. For example, there are many, many individuals who have either asymptomatic disease or minimally symptomatic, which means they're not being counted as an individual who is sick. So, when the denominator gets much larger, then the case fatality rate will go down.
So, myself and other of my colleagues are figuring that it is likely 1 percent or less, when you count all the people who are infected and do the calculation for a fatality rate." That, of course, was before the WHO upped the mortality figure to 4.3%.

 

That would be ten times 0.1 not ten times 0.01 (shout out to stormback )


The mechanisms as to how when the virus first attaches to a cell and enters the cell, that is still unknown. There are no experts until someone figures that out

 

Terminal crush: Air passengers caught in Trump's travel ban
Multiple pressure points have undermined the administration’s efforts to keep the virus from entering the country — and now threaten to hasten its spread.
By SAM MINTZ, TANYA SNYDER and BRIANNA EHLEY
03/15/2020 12:41 PM EDT
Updated: 03/15/2020 02:11 PM EDT

Terminal crush: Air passengers caught in Trump's travel ban

"Massive lines ballooned across several U.S. airports this weekend as European travelers made a mad dash for home — a situation created by a confluence of missteps and policy choices by the Trump administration, including chronic airport staffing shortages and a flawed rollout of his European travel ban.

U.S. officials promised Sunday to address the most visible sign of the chaos — the jam-packed terminals where Americans returning to the U.S. are waiting hours for virus screening at several major airports, including Chicago O'Hare, Dallas Fort Worth and Dulles International. But those lines are just one of a series of pressure points that have undermined the administration’s efforts to keep the virus from entering the country — and now threaten to hasten its spread:"

 

Why the TV reality of Trump's coronavirus speech was scary instead of soothing
By Joe Ferullo, opinion contributor
03/15/20 10:30 AM EDT

Why the TV reality of Trump's coronavirus speech was scary instead of soothing

excerpt:

"And, most importantly, you have to relate directly to the camera, something that rarely happens with the unobtrusive reality-TV shooting style. Television hosts and news anchors I’ve worked with learned to think of the camera as if it were one of their best friends; they turned to the lens as if they were telling that friend a story about what happened today, or something exciting that’s about to happen. On the other side of the cathode rays, viewers at home relate to the anchor as if, yes, that person is talking to them.

Trump’s reality-TV training handed him none of those skills. So, in his coronavirus speech, he seemed distant, cut off from the camera and the viewer. It’s clear he plays best to a crowd, whether in an arena or at the State of the Union address, not to a lens. The cheers and applause — human responses of any kind, really — are the signals he needs in order to know he’s reaching people. But the Oval Office is more like an empty news studio. When the blinking red light goes on, it is just you and the person at home."

 

That's evident in Trump 'press conferences' that he usually has in open, outdoor settings that lack proximity, such as the lawn of the White House with the noise of the helicopter distracting everyone, in contrast to the press briefing room of the White House which he has rarely used himself. Trump once had a prerecorded realty TV style video of him played in the press briefing room when he was right down the hall and could have easily done it in person in front of the reporters.

Another of his favorite modes is to conduct press briefings with a foreign dignitary beside him like a securty blanket, thinking that the press won't be as aggressive on him with a dignitary present.

It's a testament to the degree of Trump's fear of having to face reporters formally, intimately, and without distractions in a venue that confines time and space.

 

Trump says he is 'strongly considering' full pardon of Michael Flynn
By Jason Hoffman, Evan Perez and Chandelis Duster, CNN
Updated 2:57 PM ET, Sun March 15, 2020

Michael Flynn: Trump says he is 'strongly considering' full pardon of former national security adviser - CNNPolitics

excerpt:

"Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that he is "strongly considering" a full pardon for former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The President's tweet comes as America reels from the coronavirus outbreak, which has surpassed 3,000 cases and left at least 61 dead nationwide. In the tweet, Trump claimed that "the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has 'lost' the records of General Michael Flynn.""

 

Good, national hero that guy

 

I read in college history books that in the late 1890s the government sent small pox contaminated blankets and other items to Indian reservations in hope of spreading the disease among the native people. Not long after that right after WWII small pox appeared suddenly in northern Iraq. The government of Iraq told its people that the felt it was planted by foreign agents.

 

Nah … that guy was registered to vote as a woman.

 

Trump promised great healthcare, yet he squanders time and taxpayer money on fictitious emergencies and softening the public for pardons for his convicted associates during a health crisis.



The Coronavirus Swamps Local Health Departments, Already Crippled by Cuts
Many state and municipal health departments saw budget and staffing cuts a decade ago that were never restored.
By Julie Bosman and Richard Fausset
March 14, 2020

The Coronavirus Swamps Local Health Departments, Already Crippled by Cuts

excerpt:

"CHICAGO — A widespread failure in the United States to invest in public health has left local and state health departments struggling to respond to the coronavirus outbreak and ill-prepared to face the swelling crisis ahead.

Many health departments are suffering from budget and staffing cuts that date to the Great Recession and have never been fully restored. Public health departments across the country manage a vast but often invisible portfolio of duties, including educating the public about smoking cessation; fighting opioid addictions; convincing the reluctant to vaccinate their babies; and inspecting restaurants and tattoo parlors.

Now, these bare-bones staffs of medical and administrative workers are trying to answer a sudden rush of demands — taking phone calls from frightened residents, quarantining people who may be infected, and tracing the known contacts and whereabouts of the ill — that accompany a public health crisis few have seen before."

 

A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts
President Trump’s imprint on the nation’s appeals courts has been swift and historic. He has named judges with records on a range of issues important to Republicans — and to his re-election.
By Rebecca R. Ruiz, Robert Gebeloff, Steve Eder and Ben Protess
March 14, 2020

A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts

excerpt:

"The review shows that the Trump class of appellate judges, much like the president himself, breaks significantly with the norms set by his Democratic and Republican predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

The lifetime appointees — who make up more than a quarter of the entire appellate bench — were more openly engaged in causes important to Republicans, such as opposition to gay marriage and to government funding for abortion.

They more typically held a political post in the federal government and donated money to political candidates and causes. Just four had no discernible political activity in their past, and several were confirmed in spite of an unfavorable rating from the American Bar Association — the first time that had happened at the appellate level in decades.

Two-thirds are white men, and as a group, they are much younger than the Obama and Bush appointees.

Once on the bench, the Trump appointees have stood out from their fellow judges, according to an analysis by The Times of more than 10,000 published decisions and dissents through December.

When ruling on cases, they have been notably more likely than other Republican appointees to disagree with peers selected by Democratic presidents, and more likely to agree with those Republican appointees, suggesting they are more consistently conservative. Among the dozen or so judges that most fit the pattern, The Times found, are three Mr. Trump has signaled were on his Supreme Court shortlist."

 

A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts

excerpt:

"When Mr. Trump took office there were 103 unfilled federal court openings, in addition to a Supreme Court seat, in part because Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader of the Senate, and allies had refused to proceed with confirming many of Mr. Obama’s nominees. The last time so many vacancies had been left to a successor of the opposing party was when the federal bench was expanded by dozens of judges under President George H.W. Bush.

Mr. Trump wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. During his first three years in office, with Mr. McConnell’s assistance, he was able to name nearly as many appellate judges as Mr. Obama had appointed over two terms.

And he did so with great political flourish. More than one-third of the Trump appointees have filled seats previously occupied by judges appointed by Democrats, tipping the balance toward conservatives in some circuits that include largely Democratic states like New York and Connecticut. Even in the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit, a reliably liberal appeals court, Mr. Trump has significantly narrowed the gap between judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents."

 

From the New York Times
March 15, 2020

"President Trump has tilted the appellate courts rightward with conservative judges who are young, white, male and uncompromising, our analysis shows.

Working with his Republican allies in the Senate, above, he installed 51 judges in just three years — appointing more than a quarter of the appellate bench at a record pace. At least seven had previous jobs with Mr. Trump’s campaign or his administration, and all but eight had ties to the Federalist Society, a legal group with views once considered on “the fringe.”"

 

Yesereee. Moscow Mike!