I believe there's a non-trivial chance the US will experience a rolling series of “Ireland events” over the next 45 days, where Covid cases explode exponentially in states where the UK-variant virus is established and behavioral Covid fatigue has set in.
From the 1/10 WH Coronavirus Task Force report to governors, released to press yesterday, "full resurgence" of viral spread in "nearly all metro areas", "fall/winter surge has been at nearly twice the rate of rise of cases as the spring and summer surges." cnn.com/2021/01/13/pol…
UK-variant SARS-CoV-2 strain now identified in 11 states.
This tweet - "awkshually N95 mask production is a problem that goes back decades and so was unsolvable by the Trump administration" - pisses me off more than you can possibly imagine.
But NOT because it attacks me or defends the Clowner-in-Chief.
No, this pisses me off because it’s a perfect example of learned helplessness – golly, this is a big challenge with a long history that will require some tradeoffs and hard choices, and of course NO ONE can do that.
Learned helplessness is the belief by ordinary citizens that change in the status quo is IMPOSSIBLE, even as 3,000 Americans die from Covid every day BECAUSE of that status quo.
“White House staff members will be among the first to be vaccinated.”
All of these fuckers have a stain on their soul that can never be washed clean. All of them. nytimes.com/2020/12/13/wor…
And don’t tell me current WH staffers have such important jobs that they should get vaccinated first.
This is two-shot vaccine before it’s effective. The second dose will come a few days before they’re all kicked out.
This is entirely a corrupt act for the soul-stained. Again.
As I understand this policy (I’d be happy to be proven wrong), outgoing White House pols like Transportation Sect’y Elaine Chao (and her husband, Senate maj. leader Mitch McConnell) will be moved to the head of the line for the vaccine.
“All due respect” is one of the most frequently used Sopranos lines, and the title of one of the best episodes, where Tony kills his cousin because it’s best for business.