Looking at the Michigan county map of COVID-19 cases, and to me it looks to follow along the I-75 corridor.
Something for Republicans to think about, Donald Trump could have easily assured his re-election had he taken action to prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 crisis in January. His view of the world in which everything negative is an attack on him personally prevented him from seizing an opportunity true leaders would have ran toward. You have had plenty opportunities to learn about the failures of leadership, such as how George W. Bush handled Katrina and the 2008 Financial Crisis or how Herbert Hoover handled the Great Depression.
“What American pundits misunderstand when they brandish “market choice” as a weapon against social welfare, then, is that the social safety net does not extinguish human freedom but instead acts as its very condition of possibility (philosophers have called this the distinction between the realm of necessity and the realm of freedom). Indeed, the best safeguard against the novel coronavirus is the ability to voluntarily withdraw oneself from capitalism. Therein lies the problem.”
Industries that employ hourly labor make up the majority of capitalism in the United States, and most of the jobs these people fill cannot be done from home. If these people don’t get paid, they don’t have the freedom to buy. One of the main reasons for the drops in the stock market is the decrease in consumption of items being sold, not because products cannot be produced.
“Chinese Virus,” World Market via Instapaper
“Such dynamics expose a basic absurdity at the heart of our global society. It is not a system aimed at satisfying our desires and needs, at providing humans with greater amounts of physical utility. It is instead governed by impersonal pressures to turn goods into value, to constantly make, sell, buy, and consume commodities in an endless spiral.”
“Given this irrational social system of organizing wealth and value, it is no wonder that so many societies have found it impossible to contain the coronavirus by asking citizens to limit commercial activity.”
“Chinese Virus,” World Market via Instapaper
[The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What’s Coming - WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-interview-larry-brilliant- smallpox-epidemiologist/?utm_campaign=custom_feed_subscription&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nuzzel)
“Now that we’ve missed the opportunity for early testing, is it too late for testing to make a difference?
Absolutely not. Tests would make a measurable difference. We should be doing a stochastic process random probability sample of the country to find out where the hell the virus really is. Because we don’t know.”
This is what Republican leadership looks like. Through in how Rick Snyder handled Flint, Michigan and Donald Trump is handling COVID-19.
The number of positive test results in Michigan has jumped to 110.
I’ve learned that someone I know personally has been diagnosed as presumed to have COVID-19, they are waiting on the test results.
Today we learned of the first resident in Michigan who has died from COVID-19. The number of positive test results in Michigan has increased to 80.
Peregrine falcons have an egg at the Detroit Zoo water tower.
Hannah Arendt made [the comment that follows](Hannah Arendt made the comments that follow in 1974 during an interview with the French writer Roger Errera.) in 1974 during an interview with the French writer Roger Errera.
The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. (Emphasis added)
Consider for a moment why the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts the U.S. Government from preventing a free press and from instituting a national religion. National religions and state run press were two tools of tyranny during the 17th and 18th centuries and why the founders felt important to retrict the U.S. Government access to those tools. Unfortunately, I think the far right has found a loophole to the process.
The President of the United States is the chief administrator of the U.S. Government, as established by the U.S. Constitution. Trump may be right in that he was given a set of circumstances but he, as chief administrator of the U.S. Federal government is responsible for how the Federal government reacted and continues to react to those circumstances.
And when time comes for Trump to face election and whoever runs against him raises his actions in response to this crisis as measure of why he should not be elected, NOBODY, whether Republican or Democrat should cry foul on that issue being raised!
Michigan coronavirus cases now stand at 65.
So the U.S. government might send all of us a check that we will need to cash to use. Does anyone not see the problem with this scenario?
I think the hygiene recommendations in the last slide shown on this page does a good job of clarifying when you should wash your hands. When someone hears “wash your hands” I think they tend to think “after I use the restroom” but really it’s “wash your hands more!” How many of us wash/sanitize their hands immediately after getting their credit card back after it is given to a cashier? That’s what we are talking about.
Wash your hands more!
Aren’t Coronavirus tests point in time tests? If I am tested today and found negative, can’t you test me next week and find me positive? Seems we not only need to start testing but to keep testing, over and over again.
One addition I would make to the notes Dave wrote here is that Trump and his entire administration must be held accountable to the consequences of their decisions that caused the slow and ineffective response that resulted in loss of life and damage to the economy. The Republicans will do everything and say everything to make sure Trump is not to blame. Only one Republican, Mitt Romney, appears willing to do what is right for the country rather than what is only right for themselves.
Also, note, the problem here isn’t really with Trump, it’s with the people in the Republican party who enabled Trump to win their primary and be elected. Unless Republicans, starting with Republican Senators, start to publicly stand up against Trump and LEAD, they should all be held accountable. It’s time for Republicans to decided whether or not they are true Americans and true patriots. I so wish John McCain were still alive!
I am really curious to see what conclusions might be drawn by all the video conferencing being used for teaching during the pandemic. A bit potential problem is the digital disparity between affluent and impoverished communities.