Archive for March, 2020
Song of the Day 3/15: The Specials, “Ghost Town”
I don’t know about Wilmington, but Paris is, relatively speaking, a ghost town today, the first day of the ban on bars, cafes, bistros, brasseries and restaurants. The Specials released this single in 1981, during a nasty recession in the UK marked by riots and high unemployment. It reached the top of the British charts […]
Jews for Hitler!
Mike Matthew asked this question on FB: “Anyone else think it’s the perfect time to raise taxes on some millionaires and billionaires so we can maybe fund the infrastructure improvements we need for public health issues like the one we are currently facing?“ Some broke-ass #MAGA dummy replied: “NO! The government is not Robin Hood. […]
DL Open Thread: Sat., March 14, 2020
House Passes Major Aid Package To Address Results Of Pandemic. Typhoid Tangerine took no part in the negotiations, leaving them to Mnuchin. Nancy Pelosi, dealing from a position of strength, got almost everything she had pushed for: The agreement reached Friday is primarily aimed at expanding the safety net to cope with the potentially catastrophic […]
Coronavirus Update – The Vexingly Ironic End Game
There are two types of people in the Coronavirus world. For the sake of simplicity and accuracy, well call them “the Smarts” and “the Dumbs.” The Smarts see the coronavirus as a serious emergency situation that requires a sober, coordinated response to mitigate cascading public health emergencies. The Dumbs see the coronavirus as a media […]
Song of the Day 3/14: Bobby Darin, “Call Me Irresponsible”
Donald Trump, at his mulligan coronavirus news conference yesterday, uttered the line Joe Biden should use in every campaign ad from now to November: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” If I had the skills I’d put one together myself, with this song as the soundtrack over a series of photos of the Marmalade Menace. […]
Christiana Care Nurses Perform Random Acts Of Heroism
536 of them, to be specific. We as a community owe them a debt of gratitude. In a country where the President doesn’t want people to get tested b/c the numbers could make him look bad, we can only rely on each other. The actions of these public health professionals and the company they work […]
Trump Declares National Emergency
The press is all set up in the WH Rose Garden. I’ll update the headline if it turns out to be wrong.
I don’t think this will happen, but you have to think that Bernie and Joe are talking.
Now would be a good time for Bernie to drop out, cancel The remaining races and the convention. Nominate Biden By acclamation and chase Trump out of office.
This is absolutely a solution…the effect would be stunning with regards to party unity…the declaration should be with both on stage…
…immediately following should be the creation of a shadow government with persons with real expertise standing in as cabinet members…
…specific policies could be formulated and communicated to Americans as a very real plan of action when the Democrats take the White House and Senate…
– Via Eschaton Comments
My shadow government idea is catching on.
Song of the Day 3/13: Carole King, “It’s Too Late”
Somebody play this for Donald Trump, who still thinks barring people from the country will stop the coronavirus. The song, from King’s “Tapestry” LP, was a double-A-side single with “I Feel the Earth Move” in 1971 and reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
DL Open Thread: Fri., March 13, 2020
Gov. Carney’s State Of Emergency Declaration. When you see public officials acting responsibly, it kinda comes as a shock when you have at best a Bystander President. As critical as I have been of Carney’s ‘lack of vision thing’, he and his team are especially well-qualified to address this crisis, and he has acted swiftly […]
Joe Shows What a Real President Sounds Like
Joe Biden gave a speech about the coronavirus a short while ago that ought to help people remember what they threw away on Nov. 9, 2016. Here it is:
What are the market “circuit breakers” ?
I had to look this up…
Circuit breakers are designed to give the market time to cool off when price swings get too volatile. They halt trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when the S&P 500 hits predetermined levels.
Here are the levels to watch before trading is halted again or canceled today.
Level One (7% drop) – a 15 minute pause.
Level Two (13% drop) – a further 15 minute pause.
Level Three (20% drop) – Trading is closed for the day.
There is one caveat. The circuit breakers only kick in if the S&P 500 hits these levels before 3:25 pm ET.If the plunge accelerates past these marks after that time, there is no safety net until the closing bell.
So if things go to hell after 3:25, all bets are off.
Congress to Debate Tax Breaks to Encourage Leech Production
Lessons Taught But Never Learned
I don’t wish it but if this epidemic expands we are going to learn that we basically have a failed state. Those weird historical blurbs you read in museums about how the leeches didn’t work will be funny because, well, that’s us. We didn’t even have a leech stockpile.
A country people have called “Greece” has existed forever. They are used to failed states. They pick up the pieces and keep moving. We don’t have that long history of surviving utter failure. Plus we have all the guns and all the weirdos who think guns are the shit.
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