2020
Andrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now
The qualities that make him a problematic governor in normal times are right for a crisis like the one we’re in.
Andrew Sullivan: Reality Arrives to the Trump Era
Andrew Sullivan finds similarities between the initial public reactions to the coronavirus, the gay community’s initial reaction initial to the AIDS epidemic – which, as a gay man, Sullivan lived through – and the 1918 Spanish flu.
In all three cases, the initial reaction was denial and complacency. Even people who accepted the reality of the situation failed to gauge its seriousness and react appropriately.
Ira Glass, at this American Life, compared the current period to waiting for biopsy results from the doctor.
www.thisamericanlife.org/696/low-h…
Julie and I have been through biopsies a few times and the metaphor is perfect. You walk around living your life as usual – eating, working, watching TV, etc. – and not even feeling particularly scared most of the time. But in the back of your head is this little bubble of fear. You know that everything could turn awful very soon. Or it could all be … nothing.
Also, this from Sullivan:
With Trump, we have a deeper crisis, of course. Trump is incapable of admitting error, numb to any form of empathy, narcissistic even in a communal crisis, and immune to any kind of realism. He simply cannot tell anyone bad news. And he cannot keep a story straight, which is essential for public health. His only means of communication is deceptive salesmanship.
(Emphasis mine.)
At the end of this weekend’s This American Life, Glass announced that he’d been exposed to the virus and was going into self-quarantine.
A white Republican mayor seeks the truth about Tulsa’s race massacre a century ago
Two more seasons of Bosch, then no more. Alas!
Even with coronavirus, the US toilet paper supply remains strong. Interesting article for supply chain nerds.
“Barring a new craze for mummy costumes, the actual use of toilet paper is unlikely to increase.”
He comes to talk to his dad every day since the nursing home is on lockdown https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/fjlguv/he_comes_to_talk_to_his_dad_every_day_since_the/
Anbara Salam on Twitter:
“As a public service in these stressful times I’d like to offer, as a palate cleanser, the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
The lobster pool float completes the tale.
The Man With 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Just Donated Them
Cut the guy some slack. He’s in a perfectly legitimate business, he saw an opportunity and he overreacted.
If you hate the guys who hoarded all that hand sanitizer, wait until you find out that a few hundred people have hoarded half the wealth in the country.
And they’re not keeping it in their garage, either.
P.S. If you sent this guy death threats, he’s not the asshole. You’re the asshole.
Cory Doctorow: TikTok’s secret guidelines require moderators to suppress videos from old, ugly, fat, disabled and poor people.
How to prepare for coming layoffs: Good advice from Cory Doctorow, who’s been self-employed for nearly 20 years. :)
Cory Doctorow: An Italian hospital fixed its ventilator with 3D printed parts.
Went to the store. Did not buy extra TP. Did buy extra coffee.
It’s called “priorities.” Look it up.
NBC’s Saturday Night Live Various Artists Arista Records/USA (1976)
The opening to Chiller Theater scared me when I was a kid. I couldn’t watch it.
Still scares me now but I’m a grown-ass adult so I made myself sit all the way through.
Republican blogs are pushng the meme that Uncle Joe has dementia. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at that, because the Republicans are also criticizing the Bidens for nepotism. I expect they’ll next criticize Biden for having a bad combover and orange spray-tan.
I’ve seen the videos that purport to show Biden’s senility and I just don’t see it. In one he wanders off-camera during a Facebook Live chat. In another, he stumbles over when he would take office as President. In neither case does this seem like anything other than a gaffe.
Sure, I’ll watch the debate closely tonight to see if Biden seems to have all his faculties. But even if Biden is so deep in dementia that he doesn’t know his own name, I’d still vote for him over Trump.