“White House officials also hope Americans will grow numb to the escalating death toll and learn to accept tens of thousands of new cases a day, according to three people familiar with the White House’s thinking, who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations.” Grow numb. To life being defined by a serious sickness.
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This is surrender. It is negligence as policy. No, it is failure as policy. And it is a wish that we surrender for the sake of Trump’s political future.
Kos of Kos notes that that the nasty guy has been sticking with his basic message: black and brown people are coming for you. That was a central message of his speech at Mt. Rushmore. It was the message that got him elected. But this time it isn’t working. And Kos shows polls that verify that. The line doesn’t scare white suburban women anymore. They’re more concerned about a virus that really is coming for them, a response to which the nasty guy has bungled. Badly.
Some thoughts from me: As a wanna-be authoritarian, the nasty is interested in only two things. One is does it help him look good? The other is does it make the rest of us look worse? Demanding a reopened economy makes him look good. Killing us off with the virus makes us look like losers – sheesh you must be a loser if your immune system can’t handle this virus. So he did what he knew how to do – make sure the virus could spread unimpeded and stir up racial hatred.
And much to his surprise… We object to that happening. He thinks he is so fantastically wonderful, so how could the rest of us possibly not love what he’s doing? That means he will be incapable of trying to do anything that would, in our eyes, fix the situation. We’re on our own to get through this mess.
So a guess what I think may be in our future – with the disclosure that my crystal ball is as muddy as everyone else’s is. Because of the virus and the economy our situation will only get worse. Our view of his lack of leadership will get worse. I think he’s going to lose in November. And he’ll then call on the white supremacy militias to attack the rest of us to restore him to office. It will get bad.
I hope I’m wrong. About the militias.
Dr. Ali Nouri, a molecular biologist, and president of the Federation of American Scientists, tweeted a couple videos demonstrating how a cough might spread microdroplets containing the virus through a room and how they might linger for up to 20 minutes. This is part of new developments showing the virus might linger in the air for a much longer and travel farther than originally believed.
Mark Sumner of Kos explains what that means for what we do. The biggest area of danger is staying a while in an enclosed place that isn’t well ventilated that may have infected people. So stay away from such places. Or do what you need to and get out. Also, keep doing the physical distancing and the hand washing. And keep the mask on.
Khaled Beydoun quotes Sarah Kendzior in a tweet:
Poverty is not a character flaw. Poverty is not emblematic of intelligence. Poverty is lost potential, unheard contributions, silenced voices.
Dave Wagner, who has a PhD in history, tweeted:
It's ironic the GOP built their brand on anti-communism, because as a former scholar of the Soviet Union, I can tell you the Trump regime has a ton in common with their approach: particularly their belief that words are mostly performative rather than possessing a fixed meaning.
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Words don't mean anything to these authoritarian monsters. It's all word salad designed to provoke harnessable emotional responses. Their lack of concern for logical arguments is the ultimate indication of their contempt: they don't think you're smart enough to care.
I didn’t post yesterday evening because the opera streaming at the Met Opera site was La Bohème by Puccini. The second half of Act 1 is perhaps my favorite part in all of opera music (though once reminded of something else I may change my mind). This section starts with Mimì entering the garret and telling Rodolfo her candle has gone out. After a while Rodolfo has an aria saying he has fallen in love with Mimì. She responds with an aria saying by golly she has fallen in love with him. That is followed by a duet confirming their love. The music is glorious and gives me chills every time. Opera at its most romantic.
The second act is moments later. It is Christmas Eve in Paris with a huge crowd. Musetta flirts with her current boyfriend and her previous boyfriend (Marcello, Rodolfo’s roommate) and everyone has a good time (except maybe the guy stuck with the bill). The third act happens in February. Rodolfo expresses his fears of loving someone so sick. In the fourth act well into spring, Musetta brings the very ill Mimì to the garret, where she dies. Cause of death: poverty. She couldn’t afford a doctor.
I had thought about listening to acts 1 and 2 and stopping, since I know what happens after that. But the whole thing is just over two hours and the singing and acting was so good I watched it all. During the first act as Rodolfo listens to her sing her reply he’s got this wonderfully silly smile.
The Wikipedia page for the opera has audio of the two wonderful arias and the duet in the section describing the plot of Act 1. I didn’t listen to see how good the quality is. One can note the names of the tunes and look for good recordings elsewhere.
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