“There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly, and in order for us to deal with that effectively, we have to put in place an infrastructure—not just here at home, but globally—that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly, so that if and when a new strain of flu like the Spanish flu crops up five years from now or a decade from now, we’ve made the investment and we’re further along to be able to catch it.”
— president who put pandemic response structure in place
.
“I don’t take responsibility for any of it!” — president who destroyed pandemic response structure
.
Thank God we have a Very Stable Genius who knows how to take care of stuff.
Day 5 of the Georgia Economic Recovery. I feel sorry for you political prisoners of Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. For the rest of us there is now hope.
Since 2010, American fiscal federalism has been defined by three overwhelming facts.
First, the country’s wealthiest and most productive states are overwhelmingly blue.
Of the 15 states least reliant on federal transfers, 11 are led by Democratic governors.
Of the 15 states most reliant on federal transfers, 11 have Republican governors.
Second, Congress is dominated by Republicans.
Republicans controlled the House for eight of the last 10 years; the Senate for six.
Because of the Republican hold on the Senate, the federal judiciary has likewise shifted in conservative and Republican directions.
A state bankruptcy process would thus enable a Republican Party based in the poorer states to use its federal ascendancy to impose its priorities upon the budgets of the richer states.
Dr. Kelli Ward, the far-right conspiracy theory-embracing chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, encouraged her Twitter followers to don scrubs and personal protective equipment while attending “reopen” rallies to bamboozle the media.
As protesters have staged rallies in various state capitols, demanding that the governors open businesses back up amid the coronavirus pandemic, images of health care workers counter-protesting them have gone viral.
The state’s Democratic party ridiculed Ward in a statement.
“If anyone’s status as a health care professional should be questioned it’s Dr. Kelli Ward’s, considering her unwillingness to promote the advice of health experts,” said Matt Grodsky, spokesman for the party.
“Irresponsible, shameful tweets like this do nothing to help people afflicted with the virus or the health care heroes who are working to save lives.”
Ward is a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
Earlier last week, Ward also falsely accused the counter-protesting health care workers of being phonies.
But even if they are real doctors and nurses, she said, “when they appeared at rallies they were actors playing parts.” She hashtagged that tweet with “Propaganda” and “FakeOutrage.”
Even before the COVID-19 epidemic, Ward was no stranger to half-baked conspiracy theories.
Across Atlanta, businesses are balking at the thought of allowing people into their establishments as Georgia’s coronavirus cases and deaths show no sign of following a sustained downward trajectory yet.
According to federal recommendations, Georgia should not be opening up businesses until sometime in June.
Critics of the governor call this a purely political move in a year in which he has faced much opposition, including from his own party.
Kemp has been at odds even with the Republican-majority legislature this session for his decision to place Kelly Loeffler in a US Senate seat, and he is looking towards an election year when demographics point to the red, southern state swinging left.
✄
When asked if the the state legislature’s session – suspended since 12 March – would also resume, the governor told WGAU’s Tim Bryant, lawmakers were “waiting to come back until it’s a safe environment to do so, and have the proper protocols where, you know, we can make sure that that’s not a dangerous situation for anyone that would need to be at the Capitol”.
He also mentioned in the same interview that he had asked his mother and his wife to stay home due to pre-existing conditions.
On 13 April, the three governors announced their Western States Pact.
The coordination between the members of the Western States Pact has gone beyond the governors themselves. Brown said their chiefs of staff have been sharing strategy. Their directors of public health have been sharing resources.
“I think we could say we are aligned in the framework. We’re all carving a path, but we’re each taking individual directions in terms of the path,” Brown said.
Similarly, Illinois’ governor, JB Pritzker, had been texting and talking on the phone with his fellow midwestern governors.
He had had a conversation with New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, where Pritzker suggested “we maybe need to all band together”.
In mid-April Pritzker, along with six other governors in the midwest, announced a partnership to reopen the regional economy.
The partnership includes both Democratic and Republican governors.
✄
The uniting idea behind the pacts is to formulate plans for easing restrictions and lockdown orders once the coronavirus threat dissipates.
Those plans so far vary from the Trump administration’s recently released guidelines for easing restrictions.
Other governors have formed informal regional alliances. Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan; Washington DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser; and Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, hold regular calls.
New Hampshire’s governor, Chris Sununu; Maine’s governor, Janet Mills; and Vermont’s governor, Phil Scott, have remained in contact throughout the pandemic, although those states aren’t in the same formal east coast council with New York and others.
Publicly and privately governors have groused that the Trump administration has been frustratingly inconsistent and unhelpful in directing the federal government to fight the pandemic, pushing states to go at it alone or in the groups they have formed.
Apropos of nothing in today’s strip, but fun. Trevor Noah “…people were actually calling to ask if they should try disinfectants…. even the people dumb enough to drink bleach know not to trust something Donald Trump said.”
How reopenings will affect virus numbersIn Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp began lifting restrictions on small businesses such as salons and bowling alleys last week, experts say the death toll will likely see a sharp rise as a result. “There are a couple of conditions that really need to be met before you can safely lift social distancing restrictions,” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Celine Gounder said Tuesday.Those factors include a 14-day decline of cases and deaths, a hospital capacity for expected patients and the ability to do contact tracing and testing, she said. “Georgia doesn’t meet any of the criteria,” Gounder added. Youyang Gu, the researcher behind one of the models shared by the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, projects the number of daily deaths in the state will nearly double by early August. The model assumes social distancing will relax slightly as the state continues to reopen. The number of deaths per day in Georgia will jump from 32 fatalities on May 1 to a projected 63 people dying each day by August 4, the model forecasts.
kaffekup over 4 years ago
And so can a virus, CV.
Darsan54 Premium Member over 4 years ago
Lordy, the CV is more like Trump than we thought; highly infectious, dangerous to your civic/economic health and wants everyone to know his name.
braindead Premium Member over 4 years ago
“There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly, and in order for us to deal with that effectively, we have to put in place an infrastructure—not just here at home, but globally—that allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly, so that if and when a new strain of flu like the Spanish flu crops up five years from now or a decade from now, we’ve made the investment and we’re further along to be able to catch it.”
— president who put pandemic response structure in place
.
“I don’t take responsibility for any of it!” — president who destroyed pandemic response structure
.
Thank God we have a Very Stable Genius who knows how to take care of stuff.
jbmlaw01 over 4 years ago
Day 5 of the Georgia Economic Recovery. I feel sorry for you political prisoners of Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. For the rest of us there is now hope.
Silly Season over 4 years ago
Since 2010, American fiscal federalism has been defined by three overwhelming facts.
First, the country’s wealthiest and most productive states are overwhelmingly blue.
Of the 15 states least reliant on federal transfers, 11 are led by Democratic governors.
Of the 15 states most reliant on federal transfers, 11 have Republican governors.
Second, Congress is dominated by Republicans.
Republicans controlled the House for eight of the last 10 years; the Senate for six.
Because of the Republican hold on the Senate, the federal judiciary has likewise shifted in conservative and Republican directions.
A state bankruptcy process would thus enable a Republican Party based in the poorer states to use its federal ascendancy to impose its priorities upon the budgets of the richer states.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-mitch-mcconnell-wants-states-go-bankrupt/610714/
Silly Season over 4 years ago
Now the RW call for “False Flags” has begun.
~
Dr. Kelli Ward, the far-right conspiracy theory-embracing chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, encouraged her Twitter followers to don scrubs and personal protective equipment while attending “reopen” rallies to bamboozle the media.
As protesters have staged rallies in various state capitols, demanding that the governors open businesses back up amid the coronavirus pandemic, images of health care workers counter-protesting them have gone viral.
The state’s Democratic party ridiculed Ward in a statement.
“If anyone’s status as a health care professional should be questioned it’s Dr. Kelli Ward’s, considering her unwillingness to promote the advice of health experts,” said Matt Grodsky, spokesman for the party.
“Irresponsible, shameful tweets like this do nothing to help people afflicted with the virus or the health care heroes who are working to save lives.”
Ward is a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
Earlier last week, Ward also falsely accused the counter-protesting health care workers of being phonies.
But even if they are real doctors and nurses, she said, “when they appeared at rallies they were actors playing parts.” She hashtagged that tweet with “Propaganda” and “FakeOutrage.”
Even before the COVID-19 epidemic, Ward was no stranger to half-baked conspiracy theories.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kelli-ward-arizona-republicans-reopen-covid-protests
Silly Season over 4 years ago
Kemp is still ’leading’…
From safely in the rear….
~
Across Atlanta, businesses are balking at the thought of allowing people into their establishments as Georgia’s coronavirus cases and deaths show no sign of following a sustained downward trajectory yet.
According to federal recommendations, Georgia should not be opening up businesses until sometime in June.
Critics of the governor call this a purely political move in a year in which he has faced much opposition, including from his own party.
Kemp has been at odds even with the Republican-majority legislature this session for his decision to place Kelly Loeffler in a US Senate seat, and he is looking towards an election year when demographics point to the red, southern state swinging left.
✄
When asked if the the state legislature’s session – suspended since 12 March – would also resume, the governor told WGAU’s Tim Bryant, lawmakers were “waiting to come back until it’s a safe environment to do so, and have the proper protocols where, you know, we can make sure that that’s not a dangerous situation for anyone that would need to be at the Capitol”.
He also mentioned in the same interview that he had asked his mother and his wife to stay home due to pre-existing conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/23/georgia-businesses-wary-governor-brian-kemp-reopen
Silly Season over 4 years ago
On 13 April, the three governors announced their Western States Pact.
The coordination between the members of the Western States Pact has gone beyond the governors themselves. Brown said their chiefs of staff have been sharing strategy. Their directors of public health have been sharing resources.
“I think we could say we are aligned in the framework. We’re all carving a path, but we’re each taking individual directions in terms of the path,” Brown said.
Similarly, Illinois’ governor, JB Pritzker, had been texting and talking on the phone with his fellow midwestern governors.
He had had a conversation with New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, where Pritzker suggested “we maybe need to all band together”.
In mid-April Pritzker, along with six other governors in the midwest, announced a partnership to reopen the regional economy.
The partnership includes both Democratic and Republican governors.
✄
The uniting idea behind the pacts is to formulate plans for easing restrictions and lockdown orders once the coronavirus threat dissipates.
Those plans so far vary from the Trump administration’s recently released guidelines for easing restrictions.
Other governors have formed informal regional alliances. Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan; Washington DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser; and Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, hold regular calls.
New Hampshire’s governor, Chris Sununu; Maine’s governor, Janet Mills; and Vermont’s governor, Phil Scott, have remained in contact throughout the pandemic, although those states aren’t in the same formal east coast council with New York and others.
Publicly and privately governors have groused that the Trump administration has been frustratingly inconsistent and unhelpful in directing the federal government to fight the pandemic, pushing states to go at it alone or in the groups they have formed.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/27/us-states-councils-pacts-coronavirus-trump
William Robbins Premium Member over 4 years ago
Apropos of nothing in today’s strip, but fun. Trevor Noah “…people were actually calling to ask if they should try disinfectants…. even the people dumb enough to drink bleach know not to trust something Donald Trump said.”
BeniHanna6 Premium Member over 4 years ago
Sorry Corona, you’re small potatoes compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918.
Sparkys44 over 4 years ago
Get it right people Covid-19 is a Virus, not a germ!
Back to Big Mike over 4 years ago
Virus, not germ.
david Long Premium Member over 4 years ago
How reopenings will affect virus numbersIn Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp began lifting restrictions on small businesses such as salons and bowling alleys last week, experts say the death toll will likely see a sharp rise as a result. “There are a couple of conditions that really need to be met before you can safely lift social distancing restrictions,” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Celine Gounder said Tuesday.Those factors include a 14-day decline of cases and deaths, a hospital capacity for expected patients and the ability to do contact tracing and testing, she said. “Georgia doesn’t meet any of the criteria,” Gounder added. Youyang Gu, the researcher behind one of the models shared by the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, projects the number of daily deaths in the state will nearly double by early August. The model assumes social distancing will relax slightly as the state continues to reopen. The number of deaths per day in Georgia will jump from 32 fatalities on May 1 to a projected 63 people dying each day by August 4, the model forecasts.
stefaninafla over 4 years ago
Sorry, the bubonic plague already has rights to that name.