"When asked if he would make the decision to loosen social distancing recommendations even if it went against the advice of federal public health officials, Trump said: 'If it was up to the doctors they might say shut down the entire world.'"
"'We haven’t yet even seen signs that the growth is slowing, much less reversing. Now is the time to tighten restrictions on contacts that could transmit the virus, not loosen them,' Lipsitch said. 'If we let up now we can be virtually certain that health care will be overwhelmed in many if not all parts of the country. This is the view of every well-informed infectious epidemiologist I know of.'"
"Trump weighs restarting economy despite warnings from U.S. public health officials":
wapo.st/2J7ButF Yesterday the narrative was we all need to go home and stay there.
Today the narrative is we can't ruin the economy, when can we restart it?
You can't find a Democrat taking Trump's position, unless you consider Lloyd Blankfein, who recently left his position as head of Goldman Sachs, a Democrat. Then again, these Wall Streeters have it good either way. Trump is on their side, Biden took all their money, they're gonna win no matter what. But you? You're screwed.
I just got an interesting e-mail from Matt Pyken:
"Did you hear him today?
Trump’s gonna ignore everything the doctors say and restart the country - why? Because the ONLY THING he cares about is getting re-elected, and he’s made the calculation that if the economy fully tanks he’s toast. And what do NY, CA and Washington State have in common? Almost all the cases and ZERO chance of ever voting for Trump - so he could give 2 shits if people here live or die. Now, does this backfire? Does the whole country get it and it’s a disaster? Maybe. Probably. But if they can deal with it a little better everywhere but CA, and NY and Seattle, then they’ll leave us to die - 70% Biden voters anyway."
I'm don't wear a tin foil hat, and I think the whole country is going to endure massive coronavirus infection, but unfortunately I think Matt is on to something.
We've got a divided country. The right doesn't care if the left falls, and to a degree the left doesn't care if the right falls, although nowhere near as much. We're playing team sports when the last I checked we were all human beings and in it together. But that's today's selfish ethos: "It's what's good for me, I need to pay less taxes and get the government out of my hair and...when I have a loss, someone has got to pay, I can't endure, I never sacrifice, I need to be made whole."
This is how we got into this mess. America told everybody to shop, so they had no savings, especially after they saw what their neighbors possessed and were doing. And the penalties for missing a payment are so severe, but no one is standing up for them, other than Elizabeth Warren (and a few more, but Liz has been the most vocal). And the right has turned Warren into a pariah, and the left wing media bought it, promoting the idea that she was a schoolmarm, strident and unelectable. And when she failed, they changed their focus to Bernie Sanders. He's a socialist in bed with Cuba and no one likes him and nothing will get done and no one will vote for him, so his candidacy must be killed, and when he's done we'll say nice things about him, like we do at anybody's funeral.
Did you see Biden speak today?
bit.ly/3bl8PNR He looks just as bad as Trump, reading the teleprompter badly. We laughed at Trump two weeks ago, do you think people are not laughing at Biden?
Furthermore, you had to scroll down the website/app to find this story, Biden may have finally spoken, but he's far from controlling the narrative.
This is a game folks, and you've already lost.
First and foremost, the rules have been eviscerated, facts don't matter, and we can argue all day what's real and what's not but the truth is those in power have moved beyond, are laughing at us as they pull the strings to screw us.
And of course the right is getting screwed too, but they don't want anybody to get social welfare, they don't want people of color and immigrants getting a leg up, so they can't vote Democratic, no way.
And the Democrats are an elite tribe who have contempt for everybody else, paying lip service to the little people and then lining their own pockets. Once again, Wall Street got money after the crash of 2008, you lost your home. Socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the poor. And somehow Bernie is the enemy.
So what we need is a consistent counternarrative. But just like the auto workers in the south refuse to unionize for fear the company will take revenge, people are scared to stand up to the DNC. Let's go with old Joe, progress must be slow, everybody likes him. Huh?
So, once again, the narrative is now different. It's not about whether you're gonna die, whether we have enough medical equipment, but just when can we reopen America to boost the economy. If you're dead, too bad, money talks, even though you're not getting this money because if the corporations don't exist you don't get paid and riches trickle down and therefore, STFU!
The person with a real bead on this is Naomi Klein, she wrote a book called "The Shock Doctrine" back in 2007. She posits when there is a crisis, the bad actors, the government, institute changes to their advantage that ultimately hurt the people. Everybody's so confused and uptight they'll go along with anything that ensures their safety. Give you some money, stop your responsibilities so we can stay at home and ride this out? No, the media will keep telling you how you're gonna go broke and the world is gonna fall apart and people die in car crashes so therefore, suck it up and do what's right for the country, which they say is you, but it's not, it's them.
No, now is the time for the news media to stand up to Trump, to not only point out the fallacies and untruths he is proffering, but to promulgate a counternarrative that they drill into people's heads!
But no, they won't do that! Because they say they're "fair," in a world where Fox News is anything but. Take a stand, come on, the "New York Times" did against Bernie, then again, the right has neutered the NYT and WaPo and driven their constituents to not only Fox, but insane websites.
This is a fight for our lives.
And it's also a fight for our souls.
Now is the time to stand up, now is the time to get organized.
But musicians are seen as mercenary, and everybody with a buck is in cahoots with someone else with a buck so they won't take a stand. Yup, don't want to give up those privates!
This is the world we live in, I'm just pointing out the truth.
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