A sampler of his recent whoppers:
- Maximum Of 60,000 Deaths
During a White House briefing March 29 in the Rose Garden, Trump referenced modeling that found there could be between 1.6 million and 2.2 million fatalities in the U.S. if no containment measures were taken.(May 3, US death toll is more than 65,000.)
“If we could hold that down … so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job.”
Trump moved the target again last week, predicting a maximum of 60,000 Americans would fall victim to the disease … “We did the right thing, because if we didn’t do it you would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe 2 million people dead… Now, we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people.”
- ‘We’ve Tested More Than Every Country Combined.’
A shortage of COVID-19 tests [is]… ultimately costing the health care system precious time. … Trump declared that “anybody that needs a test gets a test.” Dr. Anthony Fauci… contradicted the president…describing “the lack of available tests as an ongoing failure.”
Trump also promised “…individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed without having to leave your car.” … [and that] “Google was “very quickly” developing a website for checking symptoms and locating testing sites. Instead, Google issued “a statement that said the website was in “early development”….
“We had a chance to contain this outbreak, but we didn’t,” Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told ABC News.
“And as a result of that testing failure, over 60,000 Americans are dead and our economy has been shut down. It didn’t have to be this way.”
- There’s Plenty Of PPE For Health Care Workers
“We have masks. We have everything,” said the prez. … Pressed …about widespread accounts from health care workers of personal protective equipment shortages, Trump declared them to be “fake news.”
With dire shortages of vital supplies – protective N95 masks, gloves, gowns and face shields - health care workers have resorted to wearing trash bags or Yankees rain ponchos as gowns. In many places, doctors, nurses and other workers reuse masks that are supposed to be thrown away after a single use. In others, personnel are forced to use substandard equipment, like surgical masks that provide little protection compared to N95 masks. Health care workers are even staging GoFundMe campaigns to buy the supplies their employers aren’t providing. Some medical personnel have even been fired for speaking out against unsafe working conditions.
- A Coronavirus Vaccine Is ‘Very Close’
Feb 25: “We’re very close to a vaccine.”But, never fear, Jared Kushner is on the job. He summed it up and declared victory. “The federal government rose to the challenge. This is a great success story.”
Feb 26: “We’re rapidly developing a vaccine,”
Feb 27: “The vaccine is coming along well.”
Vaccines typically take years to develop and test and there’s always a chance that one is never developed. Dr Fauci dispelled “the president’s nonsense. A vaccine, he said … would take at least 18 months”….[and] offered a somewhat more optimistic assessment of the progress of developing a coronavirus vaccine: Immunizations could be available as soon as January. Eleven months actually would be a fast deployment for a vaccine preventing a virus that was only discovered last winter… In fact, we’ve never successfully created a vaccine for other coronaviruses.
News blues
According to the Guardian, “Trump is handling coronavirus so badly, he almost makes [Boris] Johnson look good.”We don’t need to wait for a full statistical analysis to know that Johnson has not been the worst world leader in this crisis, because we can declare a winner in that contest right now.
Each day Britons wake up to ever more jaw-dropping news from across the Atlantic. Last week, it was Donald Trump advising Americans to inject bleach. On Friday, it was his claim to have seen evidence that coronavirus was developed in a Wuhan laboratory, a claim denied by his own director of national intelligence. The shocking images of protesters wielding assault weapons storming into the state assembly in Michigan on Thursday night are hardly a surprise, given that Trump himself was tweeting “Liberate Michigan!” a matter of days ago, cheering on those who are demanding their states defy the advice of Trump’s own White House and prematurely end the lockdown that has so far proved to be the only way to stop the virus.
However bad Boris Johnson and his government of conspicuously few talents is … they can at least show a modicum of human empathy for those who’ve lost loved ones, a feat that continues to elude Trump. They have at least – eventually – united behind a coherent “stay home” message, rather than undermining that advice at every turn. They are not hawking quack cures and endorsing deranged conspiracy theories. They do not seem willing to countenance mass death in the insane belief that it will help them win an election.
It’s a low bar, but these are low times.
Going mobile?
My scheduled departure date is May 19. So far, at least half my trip – London to San Francisco - has been cancelled. Even if the first half - Johannesburg to London - isn’t cancelled, current Lockdown Level 4 rules prevent me crossing provincial borders prevents me travelling to Johannesburg.I missed the US Consulate’s deadline issued for its “last/final” repatriation flight to the US. I received another email yesterday:
We have been notified of Embassy of Qatar-coordinated repatriation flights to Doha in the coming weeks. It is not confirmed as a certainty; however, we are collecting information on prospective travelers to provide to the Qatar Embassy in the event the flights are approved.Hmmmm. Good news is "It is our understanding that travel between provinces will be permitted next week and thus no travel letter is needed."
Flight information:
- These flights will depart from Johannesburg only and will land in Doha. You must make your own onward arrangements from Doha; you will not be able to stay in Doha – only transit is allowed at this time.
- You will be responsible for finding your own transportation to either the Johannesburg airport or to a required staging area (if applicable); we are not aware of any domestic flights at this time.
- It is our understanding that travel between provinces will be permitted next week and thus no travel letter is needed.
- Currently, we do not have any further information on baggage allowances, flight cost, or specific flight times/final dates. We also do not know if business class seats will be available.
My choice? Stay here with garden, lawns, critters, and mental health discomforts… or sit in Doha airport until I can book a flight from Doha to California?
Is this Hobson’s Choice, Morton’s Fork, or Buridan’s Ass?
Hobson’s Choice: A free choice in which only one option is offered; i.e., “take it or leave it”.
Morton’s Fork: A a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives… or two lines of reasoning that lead to the same unpleasant conclusion. It is analogous to the expression, “between the devil and the deep blue sea,” and “between a rock and a hard place”.
Buridan’s Ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy in the conception of free will. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it will die of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other. The paradox is named after the 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan, whose philosophy of moral determinism it satirizes. (Thanks Kennon-Green.)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
David, artist and friend based in New Mexico, posts Stare, the world’s longest-living blog. This weekly/“weakly” notes:The coronavirus is killing people faster than the living can cremate or bury them. …the solution [is] obvious: reusable, composting caskets. That would get rid of the backlog of bodies and provide fertilizer to help with the upcoming food shortages.If humans weren’t so finicky about death and dying, David’s idea could work. It aligns with Lockdown Level 4’s stipulation not to travel to attend funerals.
Perhaps it needs more fleshing (ahem!) out.
How about simply slipping bodies – with or without coffins - into compost piles? Or stuffing bodies without coffins into garden sink holes? If charity begins at home, my garden sink hole has room to stuff bodies. Moreover, if my suspicious are correct, bodies would quickly be recycled by my sink hole’s debris-consuming dragon…
(Hmmm, talking about mental health…)
See photos Spying on Garden Creatures
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